Just Kiss Me Rachel Gibson
Romance Contemporary
July 26, 2016
Avon
Reviewed by Tori
Favorite Quote:
“Things To Buy When I’m Rich List:
- Pink candy house
- My own ice cream store
- Beeper-Momma says only drug dealers have beepers-as if!
- A pool
- A rabid monkey to bite Henry.
Vivien Leigh Rochet (the brat) has reached the pinnacle of success as a Hollywood actress just like she always dreamed. When she learns her momma has passed away, she drops everything and returns home for the funeral. Seeing the wealthy family she and her momma lived and cleaned for, the Whitney-Shulers, brings back all the angst of her childhood. The dislike, the shame, and the jealousy she felt for this family that seemed to have it all and lorded it over her and her momma. Especially her nemesis, Henry Whitney-Shuler. But as Vivien begins to settle her momma’s affairs and pack up her house, she learns that the things weren’t quite as she remembers and that little white lies have a way of making more than just the baby Jesus weep
Henry Whitley-Shuler (the butt-head) has spent his life keeping the family name pristine and its scandalous secrets hidden. An overachiever from birth, this former Wall Street shark came home to relax and heal after heart attack at age 33 left him staring his mortality straight in the eye. Seeing Vivien again is quite a blast from the past. Henry remembers her as an outrageous, spoiled, pain the butt teenager who spent most of her days going through his and his brother’s stuff or creating havoc and lying about. Now all grown up, this gorgeous goddess standing before him has him tied up in knots, knots he doesn’t want or need.
As Vivien and Henry tap dance around the past and their feelings for one another revelations come to light that upturns Vivien’s very existence, causing her to question her past, the Whitney-Shulers, and everything her momma ever told her.
First off, I’d like to note that in the book, the characters are referred to as Vivien and Henry, not Vivian and Harrison as listed in blurb.
Rachel Gibson’s Just Kiss Me is an amusing lightweight romance contemporary that revisits the life of a young woman in a small southern town and the secrets that often thrive there. Layered with some laughter, love, and a wee bit of crazy, Gibson reintroduces a pair of childhood frenemies who come together as adults amidst grief, secrets, and scandals.
I have always enjoyed Rachel Gibson’s romantic contemporaries. Though formulaic in their layout, the appeal has always been Gibson’s infectious mixture of romance, humor, endearing characters, and hints of angst will have you laughing your way to the end. Her characters are wonderfully flawed and their journey to love is often filled with pitfalls and much needed doses of self-discovery. I expected all that and more for this one but sadly it misses the mark.
Set in Charleston, SC, Gibson introduces us to Ms. Vivien Leigh Rochet, giving us insight into her childhood through her memories and passages from her teenage diary which shows us a normal and very dramatic teenager with a large chip on her shoulder, a penchant for sweets, and a gift for the extreme. The passages were cute but a little too invasive and long-winded.
Vivien, ever the diva, draws us a picture of a girl from the wrong side of the tracks who makes good and stays away until an unavoidable issue brings her home. The antagonism we see from Vivien towards the Whitney-Shulers is both amusing and telling. The class divide was something Viven always felt even though it was never verbally uttered to her or her momma. Her determination to show them all was the drive that turned her into the huge star she is today.
The only problem with all this is Vivien really didn’t have a terrible childhood. The usual teenage mishaps and prejudices are alluded to; catty girls, stupid boys, and so on but the majority of her anger reserved for Nonnie and Henry-the matriarch and heir apparent of the Whitney-Shuler family is unjustified. Henry and Nonnie chastised her for various things she did as a child and she deserved it. In my opinion, she deserved more. She snooped, stole, broke things of theirs, and blatantly lied about it. Yet she holds on to her righteous anger like a blanket to soothe her to sleep at night. The longer Vivien stays in town, the more she begins to see Henry and Nonnie as adults and not the villains of her youth. She also sees just how helpful they were to her momma and pass along that same help to her as she deals with her momma’s death.
Vivien and Henry were such opposites growing up; Vivien was a self centered drama queen and Henry was a serious, studious boy whose life had been mapped out from birth by his mother. Older now, they still exhibit some of the same personality flaws yet they fit together nicely now and that attraction calls for some investigating. The romance is fun in that Vivien and Henry have some delightful and sly tongue in cheek banter that plays out like foreplay but the chemistry between them was lukewarm. They seem to skip from blossoming lust to fully bloomed love in the blink of an eye which isn’t helped by the fact Vivien is out of town for weeks at a time. There are some cute texts and a lot of internal monologue letting us know how they feel but the emotions aren’t there to back it up. As I stated earlier, they fit together nicely but it feels more like a deep comfortable friendship than a passionate love. They say the right things and the sex is hot and enjoyable but I was never convinced they were falling in love because we never see it.
The secondary characters were nothing more than plot devices to egg the conflict(s) on. As everything is told from Vivien and Henry’s points of view, I never felt as if we got to know anyone beyond the protagonists. Nonnie isn’t the ogre Vivien remembers her to be and Henry’s brother Spence is a silly sweet man who shines with every scene, yet both of them are merely used to add more drama and angst without giving us anything substantial in return. The most charismatic and unpredictable character in the story is Vivien’s momma whom Gibson fleshes out rather well but sadly she’s the only one we don’t get to meet.
Just Kiss Me will appeal to those who want a lightweight romantic escape that doesn’t require much commitment from the reader. While I thought this one was okay, it lacked the sparkle and overall quality I have come to associate with this author.
Grade: C-
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