The Serious Kiss [Hardcover]

Mary Hogan (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 28, 2004

I was forced to face the upsetting fact of my fourteen-year-old life:

I'm on my own. It's up to me to create the life I want. I must be mistress of my destiny or I'll never even skim the surface of normal.

And that's when the whole fiasco began.

One summer day, Libby and her best friend, Nadine, come up with a plan. Before their freshman year is over, they will each experience a serious kiss. Libby already has her ideal boy picked out. Everything is set.

But Libby's beer-guzzling father and fast food–addict mother have another plan: The family is moving. To the middle of nowhere. Away from all of Libby's friends and all hope of a normal life, much less a boyfriend.

As her life and her family are falling apart, Libby starts to wonder, Is happiness really about being normal? Or is being happy maybe just...being yourself? As she begins to figure out who she is, Libby discovers the most amazing thing of all -- being herself could also be the key to a perfect, incredible, wonderful, serious kiss.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Gr. 7-10. A San Fernando Valley girl and high-school freshman, Libby Madrigal is, like most teens, mortified by her family. Older brother Rif smokes on the sly, little brother Dirk drools, her mom is loud, fat, and relentlessly cheerful, their ancient Chihuahua yips constantly and poops in front of boys Libby likes, and her dad is an abusive alcoholic whose disease is tearing their family apart. This is a somewhat disconcerting but ultimately effective look at alcoholism within a family. The initial lighthearted tone alternates with screaming parental fights and tense family meals, but the narrative eventually settles into the darker reality of Libby's despair and anger as her father's many failures force the family to move, to get counseling, and to begin the road back to some sort of functionality. The cover photo of a cringing Chihuahua with a huge lipstick kiss emphasizes the light side; readers anticipating comedy may be in for a shock. Debbie Carton
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"...The serious kiss comes in a wonderful final chapter containing a rare gift: a supremely satisfying last sentence." -- KIRKUS, December 15, 2004

"This novel celebrates individuality. Because her emotions are honest and her issues are real, it's highly appealing for tween readers." -- WORKING MOTHER MAGAZINE, December/January 2005

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperTeen (December 28, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060722061
• ISBN-13: 978-0060722067
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,003,968 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, March 22, 2005

A Kid's Review

This review is from: The Serious Kiss (Library Binding)

The Serious Kiss is a great book. I love all of the crazy characters in this book. It's about a girl named Libby that has a crazy family and her best friend and she had made a deal that they each would have a serious kiss before the end of the school year. But everything goes wrong when her family moves to the desert and she finds out that she has a grandmother that she thought was dead and they end up moving into a trailer park. Her grandmother had the trailer put right next to hers, which makes everything even worse. Her dad and her grandmother hadn't spoken to each other in 20 years and she doesn't fit in at her new school. Also, her family is different from other families. So if you love the Confessions of Georgia Nicolson series by Louise Rennison I am positive you will like this book also.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brava!, January 2, 2005

By 

Joanna Patton - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Serious Kiss (Library Binding)

This is the best book I've read in a long time. Libby, the heroine,
is likeable, smart, funny, vulnerable. The issues she deals with
from start to finish ring absolutely true. I don't think there's been
a better character than Libby since Harry Potter. I hope that the author,
Mary Hogan, is writing like crazy -- can't wait to read more of her books!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME!!, January 29, 2005

By 

Mom won't let me use my real name online! - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Serious Kiss (Library Binding)

I bought this book because I LUV the cover! It looks just like my dog, PeeWee. But, when I read it, I quickly saw that it's much more than a book about a dog. The story was so great, I read every night after I was supposed to be a sleep. It's totally REAL. Like real life. Awesome! Why aren't there more books like this?? I can't wait to read Mary Hagen's next book!!