Review: Kiss Date Love Hate

    

Title: Kiss Date Love Hate
Author: Luisa Plaja

Series: None
Pages: 278

Publisher: Random House Children's Books
Release Date: February 2nd 2012 (UK)
Source: For Review
Rating: 4 stars
100 Book challenge: #12

What if you could change your friends' lives and loves through the settings of a computer game...? 

Lex Murphy's group of friends have all dated, hated, ignored and lusted after each other for the last few years. If only there was a way of matching people perfectly to avoid all the unrequited love, dumping and drama! Then Lex's friend George is given a mysterious Sims-like game by his software-testing dad which involves building character profiles in the categories of Life, Looks and Love. Lex and George populate the game with avatars for all their mates, making a few 'wishful thinking' adjustments to the settings - and find that the next day these tinkerings have come true! But how long can this new calm, loved-up atmosphere continue?

When I first heard of Kiss Date Love Hate, the premise intrigued me but it looked a little young so I wasn't sure if I would like it. Despite not requesting a copy of KDLH I received a copy and decided to give it a go. Fortunately for me I did as I ended up really enjoying it.

The start of the book seemed a little juvenile but once I finally got into the flow of it and actually remembered what I was like at 15 I was able to connect with Lex and understand her choices a little better.

Plaja is really effective at creating realistic characters that, whilst have flaws, are likeable and relate-able. I didn't agree with all of Lex's decision but I have to admit that I understood why she did some of them. Some things, however, did not make sense to me but teenagers do irrational things so it is to be expected. George, the best friend, was a really sweet guy despite being a little douchy at times. Drew was another great character and I loved how he was a little misunderstood.

The ending of the book really caught me by surprise and I did not expect that twist at all. It really added a little something extra to this light fun read. I was so shocked I literally gasped out loud. A book hasn't made me do that in quite some time!

If you are a looking for a light quick read that has romance and some real characters that you can relate to, please pick up Kiss Date Love Hate. I definitely must try some of Plaja's other titles after reading this.

One issue I had, which had nothing to do with the story, was the lack of chapters. I find chapters to be a great (and only fitting) place to stop reading so I found that really hard to adjust to. As I said this did not affect my opinion of the novel itself.