Book review: It Started with a Kiss by Miranda Dickinson

As the singer in a wedding band, Romily Parker has seen her fair share of happy endings, even though her own love life isn’t quite as simple.

On the last Saturday before Christmas, (shortly after disastrously declaring her love for best friend Charlie), Romily has a brief encounter with a handsome stranger whose heart-stopping kiss changes everything.

Determined to find him again, Romily embarks on a yearlong quest, helped (and sometimes hindered) by enthusiastic Uncle Dudley, cake-making Auntie Mags and flamboyant Wren. Will she find the man of her dreams? Or could true love be closer than she thinks?

It Started With a Kiss is the final book to be released this year from my ‘Top five most anticipated chick lit books of 2011‘ which I wrote in January so it’s been a long wait! I’ve loved both of Miranda’s previous books and I’m always a little nervous about reading a book I’ve really been looking forward to for a long time in case it doesn’t quite meet the expectations I’ve built up but in this case I needn’t have worried; It Started With a Kiss is chick lit perfection from the sparkly pink cover to the brilliantly romantic ending and I thoroughly enjoyed every page in between!

The story gets straight into the action as we meet Romily just seconds after she has told her best friend Charlie that she loves him. His reaction is less than desirable and in her embarrassment Romily makes a hasty escape which results in her finding herself in a very romantic but brief encounter with a mystery man who kisses her and leaves. I absolutely loved the premise for the book -  it’s like Cinderella in reverse as Romily decides to go on a year-long search for her handsome prince charming.

It Started With a Kiss has great pace, with lots of ‘action’ and different locations in it and the plot moved swiftly through the year. Romily’s underlying quest made it a real page turner for me – I didn’t want to put the book down until I’d found out if Romily found her man! In addition to the ‘mystery man’ storyline, there is also the ongoing saga of Romily and Charlie’s friendship/possible romance as the two try to work out their true feelings for each other during the course of the year. The two romantic strands combine to bring lots of tension to the plot and a very clever ending to the story that I didn’t see coming!

As with Miranda’s previous books, there is a lovely cast of supporting characters in It Started With A Kiss; Romily is part of a wedding band called The Pinstripes and the group are a close knit bunch. The friendships and details of the band’s events felt very authentic and band life and the experience of being a wedding singer is clearly something Miranda feels very comfortable writing about. My favourite characters by far though were Romily’s Uncle Dudley and Aunty Mags who dispense love and wisdom from their narrow-boat home and are instrumental in keeping Romily going in her quest but are also responsible for much of the book’s warm humour.

The weddings and events that the band attend make a fun and interesting backdrop for the story and as a blogger I was pleased to see that Romily creates her own blog to chart her year long quest. I thought her blog entries and the comments on them really made the story hang together nicely and for readers who have enjoyed Miranda’s previous novels there are little links to the earlier books woven into the story which I had fun trying to spot!

It Started With a Kiss starts and ends on Christmas Eve so it’s a brilliant book to read as the festive season approaches. I read the Kindle edition which comes packed with fab extras including deleted scenes and character profiles. I highly recommend adding It Started With a Kiss it to your Christmas wish list and I’m now eagerly anticipating Miranda Dickinson’s fourth novel!

5/5

You can find out more about Miranda and her books at: http://www.miranda-dickinson.com/

It Started with a Kiss is available in paperback and for Kindle (links go to Amazon.co.uk)