Review: Kisses Don't Lie

Kisses Don't Lie by Alexa Darin
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

1.7 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

If a man makes you feel like you might want to throw up, it means you're in love. 

Growing up with a mother who capital L loved Elvis Presley and thinks he's still alive, Bailey can't help but have an affinity for his tribute stars. So much so, that when an Elvis tribute star kisses her during one of his performances, Bailey takes her bestfriend Liza to Las Vegas during a huge Elvis impersonator competition in a desperate search for the one who made her believe they're soulmates with just one kiss. Bailey does find a dream Elvis but Carter's also head of hotel casino security and after an embarrassing meet-cute, Bailey may get love me tendered or shot when a missing diamond enters the picture. 

He was Vegas and Elvis and danger, and she was Coupeville and Labrador retrievers and marionberry pie. 

Kisses Don't Lie was a little throwback to the '90s mad cap chik-lit, but didn't hit those Jennifer Crusie notes for me. Bailey has off-kilter relatives, an Elvis crazed mother and hypochondriac aunt, with twin brother mechanics that like to bring up that she dated and slept with one of them back in highschool, to bring in some eccentric smalltown flavor. Elvis is a very big additive, the tribute performances happen more than once and it's brought up over and over how wild and crazy the women go for them. I can't count myself as one of those hordes, so maybe this is a your mileage will vary because the numerous times it was written that a sweaty scarf was thrown into the audience and fought over, I only wanted to scream “It's not even Elvis!” instead of octagon style someone for the scarf and/or faint, like the women in the story. 

It'd be an adventure, that much was sure. 

We do get both povs from Bailey and Carter and while Bailey thinks Carter is the sexiest man this side of Graceland and Carter finds Bailey innocently adorable, I can't say I ever felt real emotional depth from these two; they're hot for each other but really lacking emotional depth between them. This was a fade-to-black but numerous kisses happening that sometimes read as awkward scenes because I didn't feel the heat between them. The suspense plot also lacked depth for me. It involved Carter trying to get back at a enemy he's hated since childhood but made no sense as to why he'd steal a diamond (to stop funding of a casino??) only to meekly turn around and just want to give it back. Where was the plan?? The second half just had these two feeling broken plot going back and forth from Bailey's hometown in Washington to Las Vegas. I think you need to also read this as if it was published before smart phones, because there were times (GPS, calling/text messaging) that technology would have solved some problems. I also had some problems with some TSTL moves by Bailey, I know this is supposed to be more along lines of goofy fun but Bailey having the diamond when she knew Carter needed it to potentially save his and someone else life, and instead of calling/texting or going to Las Vegas, she goes shopping with her friends? Girl. 

She may have already been smitten with Carter before she and Carter arrived in Coupeville, but this is where she realized he was the man she was meant to be with. 

There was some plot and threads that didn't quite add up, the Elvis stuff was a bit much for me, the romance lacked connecting emotional depth between the two, and the tone and vibe didn't reach that sweetspot of '90s Crusie chik-lit. The story ended with a happily for now and Bailey and Carter's story does continue. If you're a big Elvis fan, I can see this being more enjoyable or if you just miss a little bit of those hijinks, goofy, '90s chik-lit, you would maybe want to give this a try.

View all my reviews