Kiss Me First - Lottie Moggach
Published: 04/07/13
Publisher: Picador
Pages: 300
This book has been on my wish list for a very long time so I was thrilled when the lovely Francesca agreed to send me a copy to review.
The cover is wonderful and sparked my interest instantly; as you all know I am a cover lover. The blurb really confused me so I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I started reading. It took a while for me to piece together what was happening but I loved that this book made you think, it didn’t just hand everything to you on a plate, it really left a lot to the reader.
The main premise of this book is as follows (taken from goodreads):
When Leila discovers the website Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the website’s founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, and is flattered when he invites her to be part of “Project Tess.”
Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they email, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman–because soon, Leila will have to become her.
As I read Kiss Me First, I felt like I was taking a cold shower, it was such a refreshing and clean new idea for a book and it was unlike anything I can ever remember reading before. It cleverly touched on multiple ethical issues, included a look at mental health, explored the notion of love and was all uniquely squeezed into the modern world of the internet. The main driving force behind this novel however was ‘life’. And made me think, what does it mean to be alive?
This isn’t a light fluffy read and yet it’s not a heavy read; it’s more a thought provoking one that leaves you, the reader, to make up your mind about a lot of things in the plot. The ending isn’t closed, quite the opposite actually, it leaves so many avenues open which often frustrates me but I liked being able to give these characters my own ending.
The title is ambiguous and although there are links to it in the book, it is something else that is left open to individual interpretation.
Lottie has a powerful narrative voice; it speaks clearly and beautifully with little fuss. She knows what she wants to say and she says it. I loved her writing style and I am over excited that this is only her debut. I think we have some absolute corkers coming our way from Lottie in the future!
Definitely worth a read!
Publisher: Picador
Pages: 300
This book has been on my wish list for a very long time so I was thrilled when the lovely Francesca agreed to send me a copy to review.
The cover is wonderful and sparked my interest instantly; as you all know I am a cover lover. The blurb really confused me so I had absolutely no idea what to expect when I started reading. It took a while for me to piece together what was happening but I loved that this book made you think, it didn’t just hand everything to you on a plate, it really left a lot to the reader.
The main premise of this book is as follows (taken from goodreads):
When Leila discovers the website Red Pill, she feels she has finally found people who understand her. A sheltered young woman raised by her mother, Leila has often struggled to connect with the girls at school; but on Red Pill, a chat forum for ethical debate, Leila comes into her own, impressing the website’s founder, a brilliant and elusive man named Adrian. Leila is thrilled when Adrian asks to meet her, and is flattered when he invites her to be part of “Project Tess.”
Tess is a woman Leila might never have met in real life. She is beautiful, urbane, witty, and damaged. As they email, chat, and Skype, Leila becomes enveloped in the world of Tess, learning every single thing she can about this other woman–because soon, Leila will have to become her.
As I read Kiss Me First, I felt like I was taking a cold shower, it was such a refreshing and clean new idea for a book and it was unlike anything I can ever remember reading before. It cleverly touched on multiple ethical issues, included a look at mental health, explored the notion of love and was all uniquely squeezed into the modern world of the internet. The main driving force behind this novel however was ‘life’. And made me think, what does it mean to be alive?
This isn’t a light fluffy read and yet it’s not a heavy read; it’s more a thought provoking one that leaves you, the reader, to make up your mind about a lot of things in the plot. The ending isn’t closed, quite the opposite actually, it leaves so many avenues open which often frustrates me but I liked being able to give these characters my own ending.
The title is ambiguous and although there are links to it in the book, it is something else that is left open to individual interpretation.
Lottie has a powerful narrative voice; it speaks clearly and beautifully with little fuss. She knows what she wants to say and she says it. I loved her writing style and I am over excited that this is only her debut. I think we have some absolute corkers coming our way from Lottie in the future!
Definitely worth a read!
Laura