“Pact number three: No matter what happens.. we will escape from Pine Bluff and live out our dreams in the wode world beyond.” Boyfriends or relationships may make you happy short term, but you never know when it will come to an end, friendship and family will last forever with unforgettable memories. The book is about a teenage girl named Claire trying to fit in and find the perfect guy throughout middle school and college. With that, many friendships break, and families are torn apart. The conflict of this novel is when Claire goes behind her best friend Megan's wishes with her boyfriend Luke, and Claire ends up losing all of her friends. She even gets bullied by the whole school.

This book gives you a real-life teenage experience. Claire is just a teenage girl who wants to fit in and have the guy of her dreams. She also struggled with trying to go to a college where her parents would accept her because her sister was the favorite “golden child”. This book takes place in a small town called Pine Bluff in Arkansas. She has 2 of her main best friends, Megan and Amberly. They all try to be those pretty popular girls with jock boyfriends. This book is emotionally filled with twists and turns. For example, Claire deals with family issues after her older sister leaves for college and her little brother dies. She feels the need to reconnect with the family and put all the pieces back together. She would cope with going to alcohol-related parties with her friends and getting all twisted up with any guy she finds cute. Along with that, trying to find the perfect guy was a major accomplishment and dealbreaker for her. Whenever she got into a relationship, things either didn't feel right to her or they would break up. She had to maintain a balance between her friends, family, and relationships, all along with going to school and trying to get into a good college.

The theme of the book is family and friendship because this book focuses on friendships over boys. Megan and Claire make many “pacts” throughout the book and their friendship such as not letting guys get in the way of their friendship since they broke their bond over Luke. Throughout the book, Claire is very involved with her friends and family almost every day. As mentioned, Claire also struggles with family issues and was the person to put their family back together when they were all struggling. She makes it very clear in the book that family and friends matter most to her.

I recommend this novel because it has real-life teenage experiences of relationships, school, and friends additionally with twists and turns. However, it also is mainly about teenage romance, so if you like a good hectic romance book of teenage girls trying to find the perfect guy throughout middle school until college, you will love this novel. ( )

So good! Review to come! ( )

I went into this expecting something light and fun. I got so much more, and I loved it!

I love Claire/CJ’s character. Even though things are a mess at home she has a confidence that I don’t think I could muster. She manages to keep her grades up, be there for her family, and be there for her friends when they allow her to. She struggles with moral, and friendship, problems throughout the book. I think that is something all teens can relate to. I know I did when I was that age.

I love all the topics covered in this book. Some of the issues aren’t direct to CJ’s story, but they are highlighted on, and I think the way things were handled was great. I also love the friendship aspect. I know when I was in school there was always some kind of jealousy among friends. It could range from being friends with other people, boys, and even academics. CJ learns a lot about all these facets throughout the book. There were some situations that had my in tears. Not just because I could connect, but because as a mom, some of these things were similar to things that I’ve experienced.

I highly recommend this to all readers. 17 First Kisses shows the importance of family, friends, and figuring out who you are. Loved every minute of it. ( )

17 First Kisses was completely not on my radar, until it showed up in a package from HarperCollins, along with something I’d actually requested. I often side-eye these accompanying books, but I am so glad that Allen’s debut novel showed up on my doorstep. I was charmed right from the get go by the setting and the real high school-ness of it. Allen tackles a lot of deep subjects in her debut: family, grief, sex, friendship. Despite that, the novel still is a pleasant read, rather than depressing. It’s a novel that makes you think about the good sides of growing up, of the promise the future holds.

Read the full review at A Reader of Fictions. ( )

I wanted to read this one because I wanted to know what the tragedy with her family as well as find the dirt on the 17 kisses as well as her current crush.

I immediately felt for Claire. I was always the girl that had a hard time with boys, especially at first. She had a great narrative voice and it was so easy to read from her perspective and laugh with her, worry about her mom with her, and reminisce about those kisses and how they went wrong.

It was such a shame that the new guy to school, Luke, in the present, was in the middle with her and Megan, Claire's best friend who is gorgeous and who all the guys seem to fall for, even ones that Claire has liked and kissed. But Megan liked Luke too and it became a strain on their relationship because neither of them really wanted to step down. It is hard seeing a friendship tested like that, but an important dynamic to explore since hot sweet guys can make us as women's heads a little fuzzy, us hormonal and make some questionable decisions.

Some interesting twists came up with Luke besides the fact that he was leading on two girls. Some of it I saw coming others I really didn't. But while he added drama to the story, I think that the main message is about so much more than kissing. I liked the emphasis on friendship and showing the many ways they can be damaged, repaired, stretched, formed and all other sorts of things. There was also a big focus on Claire's family. They weren't the most functional because of their tragedy, but who could blame them. I was so glad to see them all start to grow and let life run its course without letting it drag them down out of it. The parents were dynamic characters in the story too, and I liked that none of the issues were gift wrapped, it showed that it took time, patience and lots of hard work to get through tragedy.

Parts of the story is told in flashback and it gives a unique look not only in Claire's string of kisses and failed relationships with guys, but also a more emotional view of the past tragedy within the family so that I felt it and was more emotionally invested rather than it just being mentioned. At first it was a little hard to keep all of the characters (guys especially) straight from one another, but they all played a role on how Claire sees guys, her and Megan's friendship.

Seeing them when they were first best friends makes the tension between them over Luke harder to read. I can see both sides of it, but it just seems like the closeness they have, everything they have done to be there for each other should take precedence. I know it was a hard road, but I did appreciate how in the end it worked for them despite their issues, even if maybe not quite as easy as could have been if they'd made different choices.

One thing that I really wanted as I read this first part of the book was to see more growth in Claire in that she didn't let the popular crowd and peer pressure make her own decision for you. I get that some of these kisses were in elementary school and really don't count, or from spin the bottle, which I also wouldn't say adds to reputation... However, there were some where she ended up there because she didn't want to lose approval. Now, I understand that is a driving factor, but I just wanted her to realize her own value and use her own mind.

17 First Kisses was wonderfully paced, there was just enough drama, boys, friendship and family that it had my constant attention, seeing how it grew, shaped and changed Claire. The ending was nice, and while it leaves us with the start of a new chapter for Claire, I do like the way it tied up the main plots, but also gave room for lots of choices for the future for Claire because of the way some of her dreams and hopes worked themselves out. Maybe even a sequel... I definitely would not complain.

Bottom Line: Quick and enjoyable book ( )