Review: I Kissed a Girl

There’s no easy to way to say this: I didn’t enjoy I Kissed a Girl. I finished it but I think I had some sort of hope that maybe, just maybe, it would get better. Alas, I just wasn’t a fan of Jennet Alexander’s debut novel.

Here’s the book’s description:

Lilah Silver’s a young actress who dreams of climbing out of B-list stardom. She’s been cast as the lead in what could be her breakout performance…but if she wants to prove herself to everyone who ever doubted her, she’s going to need major help along the way.
Noa Birnbaum may be a brilliant makeup artist and special effects whiz-kid, but cracking into the union is more difficult than she imagined. Keeping everyone happy is a full-time job, and she’s already run ragged. And yet when the beautiful star she’s been secretly crushing on admits to fears of her own, Noa vows to do everything in her power to help Lilah shine like never before.
Long hours? Exhausting work? No problem. Together they can take the world by storm…but can the connection forged over long hours in the makeup chair ever hope to survive the glare of the spotlight?

Over the last couple of years I have gotten way better at not finishing books I’m not enjoying. Life’s too short and there are far too many books out there to keep reading books that you don't like. I had received an egalley of this one but I ended up listening to it and that’s probably the only reason I kept reading – I didn’t have another audiobook lined up. Plus, nothing was really, completely, totally wrong with the book. It just wasn’t…great.

The romance was super insta-love and I really couldn’t see what the women saw in each other. Well, that’s not strictly true. On their own, both Lilah and Noa were pretty OK. They just so completely did not suit each other, in my opinion (you know, from the peanut gallery). Even though Noa had a celebrity crush on Lilah, she was really judgemental of everything Lilah liked and did. How is that ok? And I never felt like we got a decent enough apology for how much of a dick Noa had been. There are other women out there, Lilah. Your first bisexual relationship doesn’t have to be with someone super attractive who’s treated you like you’re from Legally Blonde.

And the whole stalker thing? Which, by the way, was not mentioned at all in that description but was a massive plot point. It was…cringey. Lilah was being gaslit. The people (cough men cough) in charge were pretty dismissive of her worries. Jokes on them, the guy who was stalking her was completely unhinged and it was Noa who had to swoop in and save the day (sort of…I had really stopped caring by this point so the nuances of how Lilah was saved might have been a bit lost). Just not an enjoyable plot point for me.

This novel did have a lot of diverse rep which is always nice to see. Noa’s gay, Lilah’s bi (a massive part of the story was her coming to terms with that and her pretending to be someone she wasn’t because that’s what she thought gay girls needed to be like) and they’re both Jewish.

I’d suggest giving I Kissed a Girl a miss but some people might enjoy Jennet Alexander’s novel. I might check out what she writes next – we’ll have to see if the description catches my interest!

*An egalley of this novel was provided by the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca, in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*