Review: CAMP KISS is where is all began.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
THE STORY:CAMP KISS is where is all began. Lauren has had a crush on her best camp friend, Seth for a couple years now, and she's hoping to move their relationship into the direction of boyfriend-girlfriend. On the first day of camp during a game of Truth or Dare, Lauren's friends dare her to kiss Seth. She's appalled at first, but then realizes this is her chance to test the waters and see if he may feel the same way about her.CAMP KISS the the prequel novella to Camp Boyfriend, and it completely sucked me into the story of Lauren, Seth, and their group of friends at Camp Juniper Point. Usually, I'm not a huge fan of novellas because the just feel too short. But J.K. Rock wrote CAMP KISS just long enough to give enough background information, gives us the experience of Lauren and Seth's camp kiss, and set the stage for Camp Boyfriend. Not many prequel novellas (and just novellas in between stories in general) do that. I was able to really get into the story and enjoy it a lot. I'm really looking forward to reading Camp Boyfriend and continue the story of these camp goers.THE CAST:Seth: He studies biology and knows a lot about plants, animals, and insects. He loves the outdoors, comic books, and Star Wars. His grandparents own Camp Juniper Point, so he knows his way around the campground. His father is a wrestling coach for Indiana University, and he wants Seth to follow in his footsteps. With Seth's outdoor activities he is in really good shape (hint: amazing body according to Lauren). He has trust issues after his mother left him at daycare on his fourth birthday and never looked back. He is a member of the Wander Inn cabin.Lauren: She studies the stars and planets, and plans on applying to the NASA Aerospace Scholars Program. She also likes comic books and Star Wars. She just got new braces before summer and she self-conscious about them. She's had a crush on Seth for a while and this summer she wants to move their relationship forward. She's a member of the Munchies Manor cabin.THE ROMANCE:Lauren first gets the push to kiss Seth when she's dared to by her cabin mates during a game of Truth or Dare. She see this a a chance to go for what she's wanted with Seth for a while now - a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. After they kiss for the first time, Seth wants to keep it on the down-low, which Lauren isn't very happy about, but she agrees. It isn't until the dance when Seth decides to finally go public with their new couple status, but the devious interventions of a rival cabin member causes distrust between them on a hiking trip. Seth is hurt and avoids Lauren. It isn't until camp is almost over than Seth decides to hear her out. They agree to take things slow and be together during camp. He'll be her camp boyfriend, she'll be his camp girlfriend, and then when the summer is over they will be single again.A lot of the moments between Lauren and Seth were kind of magical. Just the atmosphere and the whole thing with the camp rules of no PDA, made their relationship have this something extra to it. I also liked their geeky moments, because they are so alike.I didn't really like the whole camp boyfriend-girlfriend set up, because it just felt like they were asking to get hurt. Seth came up with that idea to keep them from getting hurt. But it just seemed to me that if they had feelings for each other, were together during camp, then were single again when they went home, that if one of them found someone in their hometowns the other would be hurt by that. So the whole set up just seemed like a disaster waiting to happen to me.