A THOUSAND BOY KISSES by TILLIE COLE

‘Rune pressed a kiss just below my ear and whispered, “Sleep, baby. I got you.” And he did. He had me. Just like I had him.’

Yet another genre and yet another winner from the supremely talented and versatile Tillie Cole. Not just a winner, but now our favourite of all her books and that’s no easy feat considering we have loved everything this author has written. From the funny to the gritty, from the emotional to the uncomfortable, we’re convinced there is NOTHING this lady can’t write and both agree when we say this is THE most beautiful, emotional and stunningly written love story we’ve ever read. This book is as special as special can be.

‘Kiss eight hundred and nineteen was the kiss that changed it all. The kiss that proved that a long-haired brooding boy from Norway and a quirky girl from the Deep South could find a love to rival the greats. It showed that love was simply the tenacity to make sure that the other half of your heart knew he, or she, was adored in every way. In every minute of every day. That love was tenderness in its purest form.’

We’ve enjoyed books, we’ve been moved by books and we’ve cried over books but never and we mean NEVER have we been left so emotionally wrought yet so completely satisfied after finishing a story. We found ourselves talking, sobbing and reliving every exquisite moment, of which there were numerous. And so it was with swollen eyes and overflowing hearts that we chatted into the early hours of the morning never wanting to relinquish our feelings for Poppy and Rune.

‘She knew she had me, just as much as I had her. We were all we needed.’

There wasn’t a page that wasn’t highlighted as this book penetrated our souls and left us feeling so unbelievably thankful and privileged to have experienced this unforgettable story of love in its most beautiful, searing and epic form.  A book such as A Thousand Boy Kisses doesn’t come along often, so when it does, we possessively hold each word in our hearts and treasure every single emotion as we did with Rune and Poppy’s story. This story encompasses everything that makes us passionate about reading.

“I used to know a boy, a boy I loved with my whole heart, who lived for a single moment. Who told me that a single moment could change the world. It could change someone’s life. That one moment could make someone’s life, in that brief second, infinitely better or infinitely worse”

Poppy Litchfield and Rune Kristiansen created a bond of friendship at five years old that would blossom into a love story to rival the greats. They truly were two parts of one heart in every sense of the word. Despite their tender years, their love was extraordinary and it was epic and there is no doubt this came across in Tillie’s story as we lived and breathed the enormity of their feelings.

“I’m half a heart. This, who I am now, was due to a life devoid of you. This darkness, this anger, was born from you not being by my side. Poppymin. My adventurer. My girl.”

Tillie Cole doesn’t have to force emotions from us, they are elicited spontaneously from the natural fluidity of her writing. This lady writes from the heart and not only were our tears falling freely on the pages, but we also felt hers in every word as she brought us the sweetest girl; an old soul with a perception of life that belied her years, and the brooding boy who moved into her street and into her heart. She taught him what it was to love and feel and together they created something that went beyond mere love.  Breathtaking doesn’t begin to describe their story. Heartbreaking is an understatement. Uplifting doesn’t do it justice. There really are no words to do this story justice.

“Maybe we’re like the cherry blossom, Rune. Maybe we loved too much too young and burned so bright that we had to fade out.’

From the innocence and exuberance of childhood to the confusion and pain of youth, we lived it all. We fought their battles and lived through joy and heartbreak with them yet we haven’t even scratched the surface of their story, you couldn’t imagine for one minute how this story plays out. We know we didn’t.

‘I was going to do this for her. I was going to do my damnedest to make her happy. I’d win her back. I’d win her back as the Rune I was now. There was no choice. This was us. This was our new adventure. ‘

Told in dual POV for optimum effect, there is so much to experience in A Thousand Boy Kisses and we cannot stress enough that you must go into this story spoiler free and experience it all as the author intended. Don’t ask, just feel.

We do love YA stories however we know some readers evade this genre. To those readers we would urge you to still pick this book up. The nature of the story and the delivery from this author is well worth putting those thoughts aside to experience something so positively beautiful.