Synopses & Reviews
I loved romances because when you opened the first page, you knew the story would end well. Your heart wouldn't be broken. I loved that security, that guaranteed love. In real life, you never knew the ending. I hated that.
In the two years since her father died, sixteen-year-old Eva has found comfort in reading romance novels—118 of them, to be exact—to dull the pain of her loss that's still so present. Her romantic fantasies become a reality when she meets Will, who understands her grief. Unfortunately, after Eva falls head over heels for him, he picks up and moves to California without any warning. Not wanting to lose the only person who has been able to pull her out of sadness—and, perhaps, her shot at real love—Eva and her best friend, Annie, concoct a plan to travel to the West Coast to see Will again. As they road-trip across America, Eva and Annie encounter cowboys, kudzu, and tiny towns without stoplights. Along the way, they confront the complex truth about love.
In this honest and emotional journey from acclaimed writer Margo Rabb, readers will experience the highs of infatuation and the lows of heartache as Eva contends with love in all of its forms.
Review
“Wonderful . . . Margo Rabb has created nothing less than a womens map of American mythologies, navigating from Emily Dickinson to Barbara Cartland, from the cowboys of the rodeos to the makeup studios of Hollywood, and from the bottom of the Atlantic to the spacious skies of the USA.” E. Lockhart, New York Times bestselling author of We Were Liars
Review
“A wonderful novel about friendship, love, travel, life, hope, poetry, intelligence and the inner lives of girls. Margo Rabb writes with compassion and clarity about lives that are worth telling, journeys that need to be taken, peace that needs to be reached. I loved it.” Elizabeth Gilbert, New York Times bestselling author of Eat, Pray Love
Review
“That Margo Rabb can write a story so gorgeous, funny, and joyous that is also unsentimental and honest is a testament to her skill and to her heart. I loved everything about Eva and the supporting cast in this beautiful novel.” Sara Zarr, author of The Lucy Variations
Review
“Rabb eloquently gets grief right in this compassionate, perceptive, and poignant story, deftly leavened with irreverent humor, of a girl in conflict with her mother. Wise, inspiring, and ultimately upliftingnot to be missed.” Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Review
“With a full cast of multidimensional characters, this novel explores the complex nature of relationships and the many faces of grief and love with equal parts humor and poignancy.” School Library Journal
Review
“A smart teens novel. [The] characters are authentic and complex. Rabb knows the perfect point to interject humor to diffuse a potentially devastating situationa leavening of sorts to the reality that death and love inexplicitly alter the landscape of a persons life.” Booklist (starred review)
Review
“In this indelible coming-of-age story, Rabb seamlessly weaves together multiple narratives. Sprinkled with the poetry Eva reads and writes, this story makes for a hilarious, thought-provoking, wrenching, and joyful quest.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
“Humor and depth . . . Often entertainingly snarky” The Horn Book
Review
“It is a marvel and I love every word of it: the carefully structured plot, the memorable characters, the wholly apposite style and tone. It is funny, sad, wistful, wise, and altogether memorable.” Michael Cart
Review
“A young-adult novel that deftly weaves humor and snippets of poetry into its road-trip story. A beautifully crafted coming-of-age story that illuminates the layers of relationships.” Austin Statesman
Review
“It made me laugh until I choked, and it made me cry-its a book that made my heart feel full.” Leila Roy, Kirkus Reviews Blog
Review
“Rabbs funny and big-hearted second novel is bursting with resonant themes of love, death, family, art and identity, fully embodied in a diverse cast of wonderfully fallible and entertaining characters.” New York Times Book Review
Review
“This feminist rom-com reminds us its never about the boy but the joyride.” O Magazine
Review
“Tender, expansive . . . Eva is a likable, sympathetic character whose horizons expand literally during a New York-to-L.A. bus trip with a friendand metaphorically.” Chicago Tribune
Review
“Kissing in America” is a road-trip story with humor and heart. Boston Globe
Synopsis
Acclaimed writer Margo Rabb's Kissing in America is "a wonderful novel about friendship, love, travel, life, hope, poetry, intelligence, and the inner lives of girls," raves internationally bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love).
In the two years since her father died, sixteen-year-old Eva has found comfort in reading romance novels--118 of them, to be exact--to dull the pain of her loss that's still so present. Her romantic fantasies become a reality when she meets Will, who can relate to Eva's grief. Unfortunately, after Eva falls head-over-heels for him, he picks up and moves to California with barely any warning. Not wanting to lose the only person who has been able to pull her out of sadness--and, perhaps, her first shot at real love--Eva and her best friend, Annie, concoct a plan to travel to the west coast. As they road trip across America, Eva and Annie confront the complex truth about love.
In this honest and emotional journey that National Book Award Finalist Sara Zarr calls "gorgeous, funny, and joyous," readers will experience the highs of infatuation and the lows of heartache as Eva contends with love in all of its forms.
Since publication, this novel received 4 starred reviews and has been named:
- A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Book of 2015
- A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens 2015
- A Miami Herald Best Book of the Year
- A Spirit of Texas selection
- A TAYSHAS High School Reading List Selection
- An Oprah Summer Reading List selection
- A Junior Library Guild selection
- An Amazon Best Book of the Month
- A Publisher's Lunch 2015 Buzz Book for Young Adults
Synopsis
I loved romances because when you opened the first page, you knew the story would end well. Your heart wouldn't be broken. I loved that security, that guaranteed love.
In real life, you never knew the ending. I hated that.
Sixteen-year-old Eva has never been in love. But when she meets Will, everything changes. With him, her grief over her father's death fades, and she can escape from her difficult relationship with her mother. Then, without any warning, Will picks up and moves to California. So Eva—with the help of her best friend, Annie—concocts a plan to travel across the country to see him again. As they leave New York City for the first time and road-trip across America, they encounter cowboys, kudzu, and tiny towns without stoplights. Along the way, Eva and Annie learn the truth about love and all its complexities.
About the Author
Margo Rabb is an acclaimed novelist whose debut, Cures for Heartbreak, was hailed by critics and young readers alike. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Rumpus, Zoetrope: All-Story, Seventeen, Best New American Voices, New Stories from the South, and One Story, and have been broadcast on NPR. She received the grand prize in the Zoetrope short story contest, first prize in the Atlantic fiction contest, and a PEN Syndicated Fiction Project Award. Margo grew up in Queens, New York, and has lived in Texas, Arizona, and the Midwest; she now lives in Philadelphia with her husband and two children.