Blind kiss : a novel /

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

From the national bestselling author of Before We Were Strangers , Swear on this Life , and Wish You Were Here comes a powerful story of two people who spend years denying their scientifically proven chemistry.

Penny spends her afternoons sitting outside a sandwich shop, surrounded by ghosts. Fourteen years ago, this shop was her childhood dance studio--and she was a dancer on the rise. Now she's a suburban housewife, dreading the moment her son departs for MIT, leaving her with an impeccably decorated McMansion and a failing marriage. She had her chance at wild, stars-in-her-eyes happiness, but that was a lifetime ago. After The Kiss. Before The Decision.

The Kiss was soulful. Magical. Earth-shattering. And it was all for a free gift card. Asked to participate in a psych study that posed the question, "Can you have sexual chemistry without knowing what the other person looks like?" Penny agreed to be blindfolded, make polite conversation with a total stranger, and kiss him. She never expected The Kiss to change her life forever and introduce her to Gavin: tattooed, gorgeous, and spontaneous enough to ask her out seconds after the blindfolds came off.

For a year, they danced between friendship and romance--until Penny made The Decision that forced them to settle for friendship. Now, fourteen years later, both of their lives are about to radically change--and it's his turn to decide what will become of their once-in-a-lifetime connection.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In Carlino's (Wish You Were Here) latest novel, thirtysomething Penny is distraught as her only child heads to college, and readers soon learn that her malaise is caused by far more than an empty nest. She is dissatisfied with her mundane PTO life and her faceless and nameless husband as well as not achieving her college ambition to be a dancer. The story is told through flashbacks and goes back and forth between the viewpoint of Penny and her college friend Gavin. She first met Gavin in a psychology experiment when they kissed blindfolded. It is obvious to the reader, but somehow not to Penny, that they are far more than friends and Penny's true passion is for Gavin. A lifelong series of misunderstandings and bad timing derailed their relationship, while an injury and unplanned pregnancy destroyed Penny's dance plans. Readers may be forgiven for wanting to shake Penny, who is so blind to whom she really loves and what will make her happy, but eventually she finds her way. VERDICT For readers who enjoy a romantic domestic story with an ultimately happy ending.-Jan Marry, Lanexa, VA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

Carlino (Wish You Were Here) impresses and astonishes with this complicated, beautiful contemporary that shifts between past and present with devastating effect. Penny Piper and Gavin Berninger meet at Colorado State University in Fort Collins in a most unusual way: participating in a psych class experiment that has them kissing blindfolded. Little does either realize that kiss will be life-changing. Dance is Penny's deepest passion, and she refuses to allow herself to fall in love with Gavin, even though she thinks the engineering student is drop-dead sexy. An accident ends Penny's dancing dreams and leads to both Penny and Gavin making a series of terrible life decisions, and it seems that the two of them will never find their way back to each other, but after almost two decades, they get a second chance. Carlino's sharp, incisive prose calls the traditional romance novel ending into question throughout. The expert characterizations and a constantly surprising plot are enthralling. Deep and complex, this heartbreaking and heartwarming tale will live in readers' memories long after the final page is turned. (Aug.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Booklist Review

When two college students share a blindfolded kiss as part of a psychology experiment, their lives are intertwined forever. Despite their searing chemistry, Penny is focused on her dance career and tells Gavin they must remain friends. She also knows that Gavin, a sexy, tattooed musician, has been in a string of bad relationships, and she doesn't want to join the list. But despite all this, the two grow close, sharing their deepest hopes with one another and becoming part of one another's families. Then Gavin isn't there for her in her darkest hour, inducing Penny to turn to another man. Their lives diverge, yet even as Penny starts a family, Gavin drops in and out of her life and continues to do so over the next 14 years. As Carlino (Before We Were Strangers, 2015) tells Penny and Gavin's story in vignettes that cover the present and past from both of their perspectives, she addresses the tried-and-true themes of coming-of-age and rekindled attraction.--Aleksandra Walker Copyright 2018 Booklist

Kirkus Book Review

A blind date is bad enough. But what about a blind kissas in blindfolded, with no idea whom you're kissing?When Penny was in college, she was pressured into participating in a psychology project to see if physical attraction could exist without seeing, or knowing, a person. Participants found the blind kiss rather repulsivebut not Penny and Gavin. Their kiss was hot and sensual, and they were both instantly attracted to each other. But Penny was on a mission to graduate and perfect her ballet, which she needed to devote all her time to. They would remain friends, she determined. And because he wanted her around, Gavin agreed to a hands-off friendship. Fourteen years later we find Penny married with a son. Gavin is still her best friend; neither has broken the hands-off vow, although, understandably, Penny's husband is jealous of their relationship. When Penny's marriage begins to flounder, she is nothing but virtuous with Gavin. Then circumstances change. A girl Penny introduced to Gavin is moving to France...and he's going with her. This might be a realistic stopping point, as readers may find the focus on a friendship that should be more a bit overlong. Fourteen years! Really, you two. Get real! Or move on! But as they say, "It ain't over till it's over."Carlino's (Wish You Were Here, 2017, etc.) tale of a couple who exchange passion for friendship is engaging, but she misses the chance to go more deeply into her characters' motivations, giving the reader little empathy for their decisions. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Renée Carlino is a screenwriter and the bestselling author of Sweet Thing, Nowhere But Here, After the Rain, Before We Were Strangers, Swear on This Life, and Wish You Were Here . She grew up in Southern California and lives in the San Diego area with her husband and two sons. To learn more, visit ReneeCarlino.com.