Confused by her feelings, Tess stops by a church on the way home from the club, to pray and hopefully reach some peace of mind about her coming wedding. Hearing a suspicious noise in the supposedly deserted church, Tess investigates and finds her fiancé going at it with the preacher’s daughter. She quietly backs away, goes home to collect some of her things and her dog, then goes to her friend’s house to find help. Tess has to face some very hard truths about her life, and of paramount importance is avoiding her fiancé and her domineering stepmother so that they can’t force Tess to marry the next day. A plan is conceived and Tess ends up accompanying Will on his cross-country trek.

Like the little girl with the curl on her forehead, when this book is good it’s very, very good, but when it’s bad it’s horrid.

The characters of Tess and Will are definitely good. Since her parent’s divorce during her early teens, Tess has been reared by her emotionally distant father and her domineering, controlling stepmother. Because of her upbringing, Tess has had little say in the major decisions of her life and has spent a lot of energy trying to be the perfect daughter. Watching Tess grow and break the chains of her childhood is gratifying. She doesn’t have one epiphany and immediately become a different person, but goes through a painful process of gradual self-realization, mourning and stressful change. Will’s patience and care for Tess help immeasurably. He’s a sensitive, sweet-pea hero, but doesn’t come across as emasculated and weak. Will very clearly intends to help Tess work through her problems because he feels for her, but especially because he wants her to get better so he can claim her for himself.

One of the things about the book that wasn’t enjoyable was the concentration on the two dogs that traveled with Will and Tess. The reader spends a lot of time reading about the characters getting the dogs in and out of the vehicle, walking them, feeding them, and talking to and about them. An animal lover will understand the author’s intent in making the pooches such major characters, but the constant anthropomorphism of the dogs detracted from the rest of the story.

One character from whom the dogs couldn’t detract enough attention was the friend for whom Will is driving the van. She’s a popular LA psychic, who, when she talks to Will on the phone, makes dire predictions and communicates with Tess’ dog.

At the risk of spoiling a little, I have to mention that the solution to Tess’ most major problem is unbelievable and hackneyed, and Will’s secret identity would have been a secret for about 5 seconds in the real world. These two factors killed what little respect I had left for The Kiss. Tess’ emotional and physical journey is very touching, but just couldn’t stand up to the psychic, the dogs and the silly ending. Give this one a pass.

--Wendy Livingston