RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me and One Time I Kissed Him First' by
5 HEART READ
Title: Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me and One Time I Kissed Him First
Author: Anna Martin
Published: May 20, 2016
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: Garrett Leigh
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Length: 200 Pages
Tags: MM; Gay; Bi-Sexual; Friends to Lovers; New Adult; HEA; Coming out; Coming of Age; Angst: Light
BLURB:
When you realize you want to marry your best friend at age six, life should follow a pretty predictable path, right? Maybe not.
As a kid, Evan King thought Scott Sparrow was the most amazing person he’d ever met. At seventeen, his crush runs a little deeper, and nothing seems simple anymore. Scott is more interested in football and girls than playing superheroes, and Evan’s attention is focused on getting into art school. A late-night drunken kiss is something to be forgotten, not obsessed over for the next ten years.
When life suddenly brings them back together, it doesn’t take much for the flame Evan carried for Scott nearly all his life to come roaring back, and Evan discovers that life sometimes has a strange way of coming full circle.
REVIEW:
I haven’t read a story by Anna Martin that I haven’t loved. And Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me and One Time I Kissed Him First did not let me down in the least.
Childhood friends-to-lovers is a very favorite trope of mine. Although in this particular story we don’t begin with how Evan and Scott first met. We meet them years later during the summer of 2004 when all that’s on their minds is hanging out with friends and having a good time. It’s their last year of high school and one night at a party Evan and Scott share a drunken kiss. Their “second” kiss.
For a long time Evan always thought of himself as “weird”. He was the quiet, shy kid who is passionate about art…….and Scott.
Scott, who has been his best friend since they were kids. Evan slowly comes to realize that he has a serious crush on his best friend. And that one drunken summer night truly brings his feelings to light.
“Making out. With his best friend. Whom Evan had had a crush on since forever.”
The story then jumps forward ten years to 2014. Evan and Scott have been mostly estranged during that time, though the reader does not yet know why.
Evan, now 28, lives on the beach in North Carolina as an artist while Scott resides in Chicago.
Over the years Evan has become very close with Scott’s younger sister Lacey. And as Lacey is getting married, Evan heads to Virginia to attend.
At the reception both men have a chance to get away and talk. As Scott confesses secrets to Evan they share their “fourth" kiss…...and one night of passion.
“I knew you had a crush on me…”
“For close to five years of my life. And you were my best friend…”
The author then takes you back to the summer of 1994 as Evan and Scott meet in the second grade, quickly becoming inseparable, bonding over the Hulk and other action heroes.
“I got a new best friend. His name is Scott…”
I really enjoyed this part of the story. Evan and Scott are so innocent and sweet. Typical boys running around building forts getting dirty and, best of all, they just have so much fun together.
Scott decides one day because they’re such best friends, and if they really like each other, that they should get married. Evan cheerfully agrees and they share their “first” kiss.
Now we jump to 2006 as Evan and Scott share their “third” kiss when Evan is home in Virginia on Christmas break from college.
Evan has officially “come out” and has a boyfriend. While at a party Scott is clearly ready to pursue his feelings for Evan, and takes a chance, kissing him. Evan torn about his feelings for Scott but not wanting to hurt him or his boyfriend, pulls away, causing a separation between the two men that will last until Scott’s sister's wedding.
“I thought I was your best friend Evan.”
Now traveling to 2015 Evan receives a phone call that will literally change both men’s lives forever!
I actually really like the way that Anna Martin formatted Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me.... It makes the book so hard to put down as you want to find out what happens to these men’s friendship. I think it is very clever how we get glimpses of Evan and Scott’s lives growing up - together and apart. We are able to see these two go from boys to men and finally figure out that their paths always lead back to each other. And on this journey is where we see them share their “fifth” kiss.
Throughout the whole book, as a reader, you’re hoping these two guys get their acts together and just admit to one another how much they mean to each other. My only real issue with the story is that you never get to “hear” Scott’s point of view. The story is told from Evan’s point of view and I found while reading that it would have been nice to be in Scott’s head for awhile. He has such a hard time coming to terms with identifying as bisexual and I would have liked to learn more about the reasons why.
Anna Martin writes really good romance and Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me… is no exception! I found myself falling in love along with Evan and Scott. I enjoyed watching them grow as individuals and as a couple. Martin shows her readers just how wonderful it is rediscovering a friendship and realizing that you were meant to be -- in love with your best friend.
Review copy obtained from Dreamspinner Press at no charge in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Anna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the south- west of England and now lives in the slightly arty, slightly quirky city of Bristol. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English Literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.
Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, Anna is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theater (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), going to visit friends in other countries, baking weird and wonderful sweets, learning to play the ukulele, and Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.
Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, pre-reading, and creative ass kicking provided by her best friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept responsibility for anything Anna has written.
