Kissing in America: A YA Road Trip Romance About First Love, Friendship, and Finding Hope After Loss

Acclaimed writer Margo Rabb’s Kissing in America is “a wonderful novel about friendship, love, travel, life, hope, poetry, intelligence, and the inner lives of girls,” raves internationally bestselling author Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love).

In the two years since her father died, sixteen-year-old Eva has found comfort in reading romance novels—118 of them, to be exact—to dull the pain of her loss that’s still so present. Her romantic fantasies become a reality when she meets Will, who can relate to Eva’s grief. Unfortunately, after Eva falls head-over-heels for him, he picks up and moves to California with barely any warning. Not wanting to lose the only person who has been able to pull her out of sadness—and, perhaps, her first shot at real love—Eva and her best friend, Annie, concoct a plan to travel to the west coast. As they road trip across America, Eva and Annie confront the complex truth about love. 

In this honest and emotional journey that National Book Award Finalist Sara Zarr calls “gorgeous, funny, and joyous,” readers will experience the highs of infatuation and the lows of heartache as Eva contends with love in all of its forms. 

Since publication, this novel received 4 starred reviews and has been named:

• A Chicago Public Library Best Teen Book of 2015
• A New York Public Library Best Book for Teens 2015
• A Miami Herald Best Book of the Year
• A Spirit of Texas selection
• A TAYSHAS High School Reading List Selection
• An Oprah Summer Reading List selection
• A Junior Library Guild selection
• An Amazon Best Book of the Month
• A Publisher’s Lunch 2015 Buzz Book for Young Adults