In Kiss Me Hard Before You Go, Evie Barnes is the daughter of a dairy farmer who’s always looking for another way to supplement his income. Gray Barnes takes full advantage of the hundreds of acres he owns, bringing in extra money with a rollerskating rink and by allowing a circus to take up residence at the edge of his property for five weeks each summer. Evie, however, doesn’t see the draw of the circus. The sounds, the smells, the hordes of people – all of it annoys her. Her father gives the carnies strict orders to stay away from his daughter – all the better, Evie thinks, since she barely tolerates them anyway. But when Finch Mills, the carnival’s handyman, worms his way into her heart, she begins to realize that there’s no basis for her deep-seated dislike of the carnival.
First things first, I had Summertime Sadness playing on repeat in my head the entire time I read this book.
Anyway, onto the real review.
I can’t say anything about this book without mentioning the persistent grammatical errors throughout – multiple errors in each chapter. I wondered if I’d accidentally been sent an uncorrected proof, but in the acknowledgements, McCrimmon thanks her editor. Honestly, if I were that editor, I would be ashamed to have my name associated with this book. Common mistakes in this book were the incorrect use of your/you’re, too/to, its/it’s, so on and so forth. Plurals were indicated with apostrophes. It was painful. I had to subtract a star for that alone.
The story itself is fine – it’s a sweet, innocent romance and a very quick read. There are quite a few subplots, many of which are never quite resolved. It’s neither terrible nor amazing, just somewhere in the middle. I wasn’t disappointed, but given the many glowing reviews, I was hoping I would like it a little more than I did.
Final rating: ★★★☆☆
The Bibliophagist 