Book Review: It Felt Like a Kiss by Sarra Manning

It Felt Like a Kiss follows leading lady Ellie Cohen as she ventures into the most turbulent time of her life. When the tabloids find out that she’s the illegitimate child of a famous rock star they have a field day. That’s where David Gold, her fathers lawyer comes into it. Is this charming man really looking after her best interests or is he just looking after his?

The first thing I have to mentioned about this book was how shocked I was to find out that the author was born in the UK. Even though the book was set in London, I was convinced she was american. The constant reference to air-con (maybe I move in the wrong circles but I don’t know anyone with air-con) and the use of Fahrenheit was a bit off putting. Putting all that aside, this was a great a book. I liked how both sides of the compassionate spectrum were shown within the characters, you had the ruthless, power hungry pricks, alongside those who live their lives trying to see the best in people. Of course, you then had those in between, but with all of these you got a sense as to how they became that way and why they act like they do. An interesting element of this book was how the author flicked between the past and the present. This was a great way of showing how things from the characters past were effecting them in the present without having the characters talk or think about it vividly themselves.

The story started off quite slow, then suddenly started to rush through things, particularly when David Gold is introduced as her lawyer, so i feel it could have been a bit longer and more time spent in the action of the scandal. Due to the pacing, the romance felt a bit forced, and I never really warmed to the love interest. However, even if you removed the romance element of this book completely it would still be a good read due to everything else going on. Apart from the romantic element, the main relationship was that of Ellie and her mum Ari. This was a great mother daughter duo and you really got a sense of how strong their relationship was and just how important they are to each other.

Once the book really got going it was hard to put down, it only took me two days to read and if I’d started on a weekend I probably would have done it in one.  Excited doesn’t even cover how I felt when reading the end of this book. The last few chapters had me quite literally sitting at the edge of my seat. Overall this is a book I would definitely recommend 🙂