The International Kissing Club
Ivy Adams
Publisher: Walker & Company
Release Date: January 3, 2012
Pages:  400
Challenges: Debut Author Challenge

Rating: 3.5 stars

Piper, Cassidy, Mei, and Izzy have been best friends their whole lives. And they’ve always agreed on one goal: to get out of tiny Paris, Texas, and see the world. The school’s foreign exchange program seems like the perfect escape: Piper will go to the original Paris; Mei will go to China; Cassidy will go to Australia; and Izzy, unable to afford the program, will stay at home. To add spice to their semester away, and to stay connected to their best friends, the girls start The International Kissing Club, a Facebook page where they can anonymously update one another and brag about all the amazing guys they’re meeting. After all, these girls are traveling abroad: amazing guys abound at every turn! But sometimes fun, flirty vacation flings turn into more serious romances, and sometimes you don’t return from abroad the same person you were. Will the girls’ relationships-and their friendships-be able to survive?

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams was an interesting read. It turned out to be a very different book from the one I was expecting. Once I got well into the book, I found the story to be very cute and I didn’t want to put it down.

The International Kissing Club had a very slow beginning. Nothing much happened until well over 100 pages into the book. Then I found that things picked up. Even then I definitely favored Cassidy and Izzy’s storylines, they were my favorite. Mei also had a ton of great moments. I just wasn’t as crazy about Piper’s storyline, I am not really sure what that was about. I did have a bit of a hard time believing some of the reactions towards the girls facebook page for The International Kissing Club – I just thought some instances where it was addressed would not go so smoothly.

I was so mad at the end – I had gotten so invested in the storylines, and then it ended! I wanted to know more and find out what happens for each of them. I felt like each of the girls had hit a high point, then it just ended.

The characters were a lot of fun. All the guys the girls found in their travels were great. I particularly loved Lucas, and that was the storyline I wanted to see more of the most I think. I really loved the development of the characters over the time-span of the book.

This is definitely the read for someone looking for a light, fluffier read, and doesn’t mind a slow start. Once the book picks up, it’s one of those addicting reads. Overall, The International Kissing Club was a cute read.