A Kiss in Time [Library Binding]

Product Details

• Library Binding: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060874201
• ISBN-13: 978-0060874209
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)

More About the Author

Alex Flinn was born in Syosset, New York. She learned to read at three and wanted to be a writer at five. She received her first rejection letter (from Highlights magazine) at eight. At twelve, her family moved to Miami, Florida, where she had a really hard time making friends, due to congenital shyness and a really bad haircut. So she read a lot and tried to write a novel but never finished because she had no idea what to write about.

Flinn attended a performing arts high school program, similar to that portrayed in her book, Diva, then majored in vocal performance in college. Panicked upon realizing that there weren't a whole lot of jobs for opera singers, Flinn went to law school.

Law school was, it turns out a really good place to learn to write for teenagers. Writing for teens and writing for judges are very similar because both judges and teens have a lot of demands on their time and minimal time for reading. Also, Flinn interned at the Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office, trying many domestic violence cases, which were later the inspiration for her first novel, Breathing Underwater.

Breathing Underwater was published in 2001. It received many honors, including being chosen a Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association. It was followed by Breaking Point, Nothing to Lose, Fade to Black, Diva, and Beastly. Beastly is soon to be released as a motion picture. Her newest book is A Kiss in Time, a modern Sleeping Beauty.

Flinn still lives in Miami with her husband, two daughters, a dog, cat, and African Spur-Thighed Tortoise. She enjoys performing arts, biking, and travel.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Power Nap, June 7, 2009

By 

Joyce Sweeney "Picture Book Lover" (Coral Springs, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Kiss in Time (Hardcover)

Alex Flinn has really hit her stride with fairy tale retellings! I loved Beastly and I love A Kiss in Time! This sleeping beauty is an amazing character, who goes believable from spoiled brat to true heroine as she wakes up in the 21st Century and copies with everything from air travel to Jello shots in a matter of weeks. What I like best is that this one features a really great love story, where the love is not about a magical kiss but a true friendship. Like Beastly, this one features a really cool witch who has real depth and lots of tricks up her sleeve.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Hip Fairy Tale, September 28, 2009

By 

Whatcha Reading Now? (Florida, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Kiss in Time (Hardcover)

Talia is a spoiled princess who has seriously overslept...oh, by about 316 years.

Jack is a jeans and t-shirt guy from Miami who just wants a break from another lame European museum tour.

When Jack kisses Talia in this re-telling of Sleeping Beauty what readers get is a series of hilarious situations coupled with a sweet, it-can't-possibly-work romance.

This is my favorite book by Alex Flinn and I hope she's hard at work on her next 21st century fairy tale!
--Reviewed by Michelle Delisle

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't Hit the Mark For Me, November 12, 2009

By 

Alexandra Cenni "Poisoned Rationality" (hamilton, nj USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Kiss in Time (Hardcover)

Like Flinn's other young adult novel I read (Beastly) this is a fairy tale re-done and modernized. In this case its 'Sleeping Beauty' and I definitely feel less of a Disney vibe from this (for some reason Beastly put me in mind of the Disney Beauty and the Beast, not the fairy tale itself). I do admit however that Sleeping Beauty was never a popular fairy tale for me growing up--it didn't seem like the Princess did anything at all, but she got herself a Prince. It seemed terribly unfair to me.

The book itself is broken up into 3 Parts--Part 1: Talia (before the curse), Part 2: Jack (before he broke the curse) and then Part 3 Talia and Jack (after the curse is broken), with Part 1 and 2 being told in first person from Talia or Jack's POV and the third part alternating back and forth between them.

At first Talia annoyed me--she really did seem like the obnoxious brat her companion, Lady Brooke, accused her of being. For instance for her 16th birthday she wanted the PERFECT gown to celebrate so her father orders in 25 different dressmakers to create 20 different dresses all in her particular size. She is very rude to most of them out loud and even worse mentally. I was kind of happy when she got cut down to size by the witch Malvoila.

Then I met Jack and any annoyances I had towards Talia went out the window. Jack is every worse teenage stereotype all rolled up into one (for much of the book at least). He's in Europe, on a vacation across the continent and all he does is complain about how its not all topless beaches and sleazy euro-trash celebrities in cafes. He's visiting all sorts of museums and while he's sort of interested, he's too busy trying to get to the topless beaches to really care.

The two of them together is humorous--its kind of a test of wills to see who can outdo the other in sheer brattiness. Talia at least has a decent reason--she's a Princess after all and let's face it traditionally raised royal children in fairy tales are not sweet, generous and used to trials. Jack seems to mostly want to embrace his inner angst muffin status and be left alone to sulk about his misfortunes and ruined summer.

In the end I wasn't as interested in this book as I was in Beastly and its style (I really did like the chat room sessions for all of the unfortunate transformed kids), plus with both leads vying to annoy me the most I didn't want them together. The world would implode came to mind a few times.