BOOK REVIEW | First Kiss Hypothesis by Christina Mandelski

Title: First Kiss Hypothesis
Author: Christina Mandelski
Series? No  
Publisher: Entangled: Crush  
Publication Date: November 6, 2017
Source: I was contacted to read The First Kiss Hypothesis for review. Thank you so much Melissa! All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Nora Reid believes scientific laws control everything, even love. With her grandparents’ epic first kiss story cemented in her brain, Nora develops a hypothesis she’s determined to prove:for each person in the world, there is exactly one other person, and at first kiss, they’ll experience an immediate and intense reaction.

But after four years of zero-reaction kisses, she comes up with a new theory: maybe that pesky crush on her stunningly hot best friend Eli Costas is skewing her results.

She needs to get rid of him, and fast.

Eli Costas is an injury-prone lacrosse star with a problem—the one chance he had at winning over the girl next door resulted in the most epically sucktastic first kiss ever. And now she’s…trying to get rid of him? Hell no. It’s time to disprove her theory and show her exactly what she’s missing.
Game. On.

Disclaimer: This book contains a stunningly hot lacrosse player who isn’t above playing dirty to win over the stubborn girl-next-door of his dreams.

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The First Kiss Hypothesis is about two best friends - Nora and Eli. Nora and Eli both are secretly lusting after each other, but there is one main obstacle in their bath, Nora's hypothesis. Inspired by her own grandparents, Nora decides that the first kiss she has with her true love will be magical and earth-shattering. Considering that her and Eli's kiss when they were 13 was horrible, Nora has dimissed the idea that Eli could be the one for her. 

When I read this synopsis, I was so excited to read this book. I love reading about best friends who are secretly in love with each other. Maybe it's because I never have had a super close male friend, but I love inserting myself into the story.

My main issue with The First Kiss Hypothesis was the characters. I could not connect with them. I found Nora to be really annoying. She is so set in her ways, and can't even see who her decisions impact and could hurt others. I do realize that she is a teenager, but I just couldn't care for her that much. I did like Eli a bit more, but he didn't leave a lasting impact on me. He did grate on me sometimes (he's so immature sometimes!), but overall he was an okay character. I won't remember him in the long run, but I'm glad that at least one of the protagonists worked out for me. 

What made up for this big issue was how quick the book is how fast paced the book was! Even when I wasn't loving the book, I could not stop reading. I needed to know what happened, and Mandelski did a very good job at ending the chapters at a cliff-hanger, which made me keep reading. I love it when I feel compelled to read and read, and that's exactly what I got from this.

I also really liked reading about the struggle to decide where to go to college. There are so many factors when it comes into choosing which colleges to apply to, let alone which one to accept if you get accepted into multiple. I had a personal connection with Nora's decision. She applies to Emory University, which is a school that I also applied to. I didn't end up attending there, but it was cool to see a school I used to be so interested in!

I also liked the family aspect of this book! I've mentioned this a ton in my reviews, but I love when the families of the protagonists are present. Though they weren't too important, it was nice to see some parents in the mix! The most important family member was Nora's grandmother, who suffers from dementia. I have never had a family member with dementia, but I thought it was great that her grandmother wasn't just swept under the rug because of her illness. 

At the end of the day, I didn't love The First Kiss Hypothesis, but I did have fun with it! I don't think I'll remember a lot of the plot in 5 months, but I would recommend this book. If you are looking for a quick, fun read, then The First Kiss Hypothesis is the book for you!

With that, I give this book 

3 out of 5 Stars!