Book: A Thousand Boy Wishes by Tillie Cole

Self-Published March 2016|316 pages

Where I Got It: I own the e-book

Series: None

Genre: YA Contemporary

One kiss lasts a moment. But a thousand kisses can last a lifetime.One boy. One girl. A bond that is forged in an instant and cherished for a decade. A bond that neither time nor distance can break. A bond that will last forever. Or so they believe.When seventeen-year-old Rune Kristiansen returns from his native Norway to the sleepy town of Blossom Grove, Georgia, where he befriended Poppy Litchfield as a child, he has just one thing on his mind. Why did the girl who was one half of his soul, who promised to wait faithfully for his return, cut him off without a word of explanation?Rune’s heart was broken two years ago when Poppy fell silent. When he discovers the truth, he finds that the greatest heartache is yet to come.A stand-alone young adult tearjerker romance, recommended for ages fourteen and up.

I’ve heard a lot about this book, and I was in the mood for some cute and sweet and something that would probably result in me sobbing my heart out because it had been ripped to shreds.  I sort of it with this book. but not really.

The crying happened, so it did get me emotionally, but it wasn’t cute and sweet, and it was…blah.  That is really the best way to describe this book.  I wanted to love it, I really did.  Maybe I don’t have a soul or something, because I’m clearly in the minority here.  I do drink my coffee black (at least when I make coffee at home or at work, but Starbucks and various other coffee shops are a different story), maybe that goes with my apparently black soul.

There will be spoilers, just in case anyone is wondering.  You might want to stop reading here, if you don’t want spoilers.

Anyway, back to the book.  Their friendship/romantic relationship was so weird.  It was one-sided to the point of no one else seemed to exist for them.  Rune seemed friendless, and while Poppy seemed to have a few friends, she seemed to keep them at a distance.  Literally, no one else existed for them.  Their families seemed to fade in the background as well.

When she stopped talking to him, I literally thought she was pregnant at first, but that wouldn’t have explained why Poppy and her family moved away for a couple of years.  Her dying of cancer was cliche and boring, and it sort of felt like I was reading a Lurlene McDaniel book.  I’m not sure if anyone else remembers them, but they’re those YA books that focus on sick kids?  Something about A Thousand Boy Wishes reminded me of those books.  It felt sort of tired, and maybe I’m over the whole girl-dying-of-cancer thing.  Maybe if I hadn’t read other books (like The Fault In Our Stars or If I Stay), I would have liked it a little more.  It’s like a mix of Nicholas Sparks, The Fault In Our Stars with a dash of Lurlene McDaniel.  I’m not kidding.

Poppy and Rune were really wooden/cardboard, at least for me.  The fact that they liked music (Poppy) and photography (Rune), could have been an interesting aspect to the book, but it was boring and uninteresting and just sort of there.  There seemed to be very little character development, and it felt like they were just going through the motions.

Also, Rune being from Norway?  I swear, it’s sole existence was for him to seem like this mysterious, exotic bad boy. Exotic seems like a weird word to use, because for some reason, I don’t associate it with Norway, of all places.  But it made him different and appealing to all of the girls.  He is literally the manic pixie dream boy, and it was irritating. Poppy, not so much, but it was there.  And Rune being Norwegian- it was pretty much there to get him away from Poppy, so she wouldn’t have to face him once she got sick.  Makes it easier to not talk to him when HE’S IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT COUNTRY.  Him moving was there so he could turn into this horrible, soul of darkness person that hated everyone and everything, because she clearly would not have stopped talking to him if he were still in Georgia.

And don’t even get me started on epilogue, which was a complete and total cop-out in my opinion.  I know it wrapped things up and gave him some closure, because HE DIED AND END UP IN HEAVEN WITH HIS POPPY.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME WITH THAT EPILOGUE?

I’d rather read the HP epilogue.  Admittedly, that’s grown on me over the years, but the one at the end of this book? Seriously?  I did not need to read that.  He randomly dies 10 years later?  That’s it?  That is not the happy ending I thought I’d get, considering this book is described as romance.  I wanted him to move on, find some happiness in a world where Poppy isn’t living, but that never seemed to happen for him in the fast forward we get.  Yes, there’s closure, and Poppy was his entire world, but…I would have been fine had the epilogue not been included.

I did like the concept of a thousand kisses, and writing down your memories of the really good/meaningful ones. And the cover is really pretty.  I’d frame that and hang it on my wall, it’s that pretty to look at.

3 stars.  I know I spent pretty much this whole post ranting about this book, but I really can’t bring myself to give it a lower rating.  I get why people love this book so much, and it was well-written enough, even though it was full of cliches that didn’t appeal to me.  It’s cute enough, and I did like it, even though it doesn’t seem like it. I don’t even know why I like it, but I do.