What harm can come from a little kiss contest? A lot… apparently. Vivien Mays is in love with her best friend, but she’d rather die than tell him. Enter her sister, Lorelai, with a crazy plan to test the waters with a social media challenge sure to get Ezra Thomas’s attention—a kiss challenge. Vivien finally gives in to her sister’s insane idea and kisses her best friend, but in a moment of mistaken identity, she kisses his twin brother instead… her lifelong nemesis. Beck Thomas watches his dreams go up in smoke when an injury ends his hockey career. The grumpy pessimist wants to be left alone, but when his brother’s annoying best friend accidentally kisses him, it sparks an interest he didn’t know he had. Despite Vivien’s freak-out when she realizes the truth, Beck can’t help but wonder if there’s something more to the kiss, and he’s willing to work to find out. When the opportunity to spend more time together arises, Beck seizes the chance to prove to Vivien that they can not only get along but they might be perfect for each other. Vivien, on the other hand, is pretty sure she won’t survive two weeks pretending to like Beck.
***Kissing Beck Thomas is an enemies to lovers, sweet new adult romance with swoony kisses, everyday faith in action, and a side of comedy.”
M. J. Padgett is first and foremost a mom. Her free-spirited daughter has quite the vivid imagination, and her antics sometimes find their way into her mommy’s work. She is a lover of all things chocolate, a Grimm and Dickens addict, a self-proclaimed smarty-pants, and an introvert to the core.
Writing is her true passion (after raising her daughter, of course), and she writes as often as possible. One of her favorite things about writing is creating a world where people can escape reality for a little while, maybe even walk away feeling hopeful about the real world around them. When it comes to reading, she loves a book that can make her forget where she is no matter the genre. If she can get lost and feel like the characters are her real friends, she’s a happy reader.
If you’re looking for a clean, faith-filled, college hockey romance with…
🏒 best guy friend’s twin brother 🏒 accidentally kissing the wrong twin 🏒 childhood frenemies 🏒 kissing challenge 🏒 grumpy x sunshine 🏒 fake(ish) dating 🏒 strong family relationships—siblings & parents 🏒 unruly Great Danes 🏒 meddlesome siblings 🏒 an injured hockey player 🏒 real connection
… you need this story!
Padgett never fails to deliver! Beck & Vivien were imperfect perfection. 🤭 I just about died laughing. There’s the perfect mix of heart, swoon, and humour! And though I’ve never been a sports girlie, I’m loving this surge of clean sports rom-coms!
Ugh. This had so much potential! Then at about 35% it took a downhill turn. There was absolutely zero chemistry between Beck and Vivien before they were nuzzling each other in the library. Like—what? I was going to DNF but I was upset I spent precious time reading this, so I finished it. The ending was the worst, and made me want to vomit. I couldn’t stop cringing. Would not recommend to anyone tbh.
This was a really fun twist on the best friend’s brother trope. This time the best friend is male, his brother is his twin, and the female main character believes she is in love with her best friend, but accidentally kissing the wrong brother starts a train in motion that changes everything. “I can’t figure out how we got here so fast. How did we end up in this…this thing I can’t quite describe in just a couple of days?” I really enjoyed this sweet story. It was fun seeing the relationship grow and change and I liked that they really gave it a chance. There was some excellent kissing and great swoony moments. Vivien was so sure she was in love with Ezra, that it took some real mind bending to come to understanding her feelings for Beck. But she really did give it a chance. I’m not sure that the fake relationship aspect of the story was necessary. I get what the author was going for, but it didn’t really do much for the story, and not much was done with it. I think another way could have been found. The interactions with the siblings on both sides were another great aspect of the story. I am looking forward to the stories of the other brothers. Ten boys give’s plenty of fodder for future books. Some groundwork was laid for a few of the brothers in this book. This is a sweet and clean story with a lot of intense kissing. There is no harsh language. The story has light Christian faith elements.
This was a clean, faith-filled romance involving college hockey, mistaken identity, enemies to lovers, fake dating, strong family ties, wonderful characters, and great banter between Beck and Vivian. There were hilarious moments and swoony moments.
2.5 ⭐ Clean for younger readers and sorta cute, but really cheesy. A lot of over explaining thoughts and repetitive doubts and concerns. Spoiler- the timeline really broke this for me. Like what, a few days? Can't buy into that.
Kissing Beck Thomas by M.J. Padgett is a new adult romantic comedy. Female protagonist Vivian Mays tries to confess her long-hidden feelings for her best friend, only to wind up kissing his twin brother, Beck Thomas, instead. Anyone who knows me will know that I did not handle this with dignity. Yes, I knew it was going to happen, but that didn't stop me from physically closing my laptop and giving myself a solid thirty seconds to prepare myself for Vivian's realization. Once Vivian realizes her mistake (and understandably freaks out), things get good. Because it turns out that Beck actually likes her. And maybe, just maybe, she likes him too.
Okay, let's talk characters. Vivian was fine. I didn't really get attached to her, but I didn't dislike her either. She was sort of a conduit through whom I witnessed the story (if that makes any sense).
Beck, on the other hand, I really liked. It was interesting to see his character develop over the story, and I really enjoyed the conflict caused by being knocked down by his injury at the beginning and then being the second-choice brother later on. It was a really interesting personal conflict for the character.
Now, I may not have connected with Vivian, but I still really liked her relationship with Beck. It was a fun little charade of fake (but real) dating and sneaking about because Vivian isn't sure where her feelings truly lie, and she's afraid of ruining her friendship with Beck's twin brother (Vivian's best friend), Ezra. I won't spoil how things go, but I will say that things go fairly smoothly. It's something I've come to expect (and appreciate) in M.J. Padgett's books. Things are never easy. There are always obstacles that characters have to work through, but at the same time, there aren't usually "world-ending" situations. As much as I love emotionally destructive literature, there is a kind of comfort in knowing that things won't crash and burn in these books. It's especially nice in rom-coms, when all you really want is for the two characters to wind up together.
Kissing Beck Thomas is a fun NA romantic comedy with engaging (but totally clean) romance. It has fun tension, sneaking about, real/fake dating, and a happy ending that nicely sets up book two.
If we’re going strictly by the definition of New Adult consisting of characters that are in post-secondary situations and are in their 20s, then yeah sure, I guess this is considered to be a New Adult read.
But when it comes to everything else in the novel, it really does read like a glorified YA story. There’s no deeper levels to the writing, if you took the characters out of college - and let me be very clear, the whole college aspect of the setting is glossed over completely and barely registers as a blip in the story to be frank - and re-situated them into high school, the story would read exactly the same, and that’s not even considering that the relationship dynamics as a whole are very immature by nature.
And I need it to be understood that the problem does not lie with how YA this story feels. My issue lies with this being touted as an NA read, and it very explicitly not meeting my expectations when it comes to said claim. I’ve read plenty of YA novels that achieve a heck of a lot more in terms of emotional depth and drama than this one does.
I wish I could I say I was disappointed with this one, but I’m more fed up with it to be honest.
Kissing Beck Thomas is one of the sweetest and most honest books I've ever read. Vivien Mays has been best friends with Ezra Thomas for as long as she can remember. There's a social media challenge that tells her to kiss her best friend and her sister, Lorelai, challenges her to do it. She decides it's time to show Ezra exactly how she feels, and she plants one on his mouth but something isn't right. It wasn't Ezra she kissed, it was his identical twin brother, Beck, and it was the moment that life changed for both of them. They have been "enemies" from childhood, but maybe the hostility hid their true feelings. But Vivien now has a problem. How can she tell her best friend that she kissed Beck, thinking that it was Ezra. In typical young-love fashion, the hemming and hawing and "let's do it now," provided just a touch of angst. At the core of this story is the message that there's nothing like the bond of family and friendship. The certainty with which Vivien and Beck knew they were destined for each other brought about the sweetest HEA.
Talk about a mash of tropes. I don’t know if I would really classify this as a hockey romance despite what the cover makes you believe. Hockey is only prevalent in the first chapter or so. But everything else? It decided to take all the cliche tropes and toss them into a blender: it literally is brothers best friend, enemies to lovers, grumpy/sunshine, mistaken identity, forced proximity, fake dating, a dash of best friends to lovers, etc. It definitely is not slow burn however. It goes from 0-60 and has a good reason for why, which didn’t bother me because it didn’t feel rushed - except for the ending which was a little excessive. I think they decided to get married wayyy too fast. Even if they’ve known each other forever, a romantic relationship is a completely different brand of relationship. They should be learning how that dynamic affects them rather than jumping into an engagement…. But that is my only complaint.
I wanted to love this…the idea is fantastic, I just wish the author would have added some more depth. I do enjoy the flow of the authors writing and there were some really great moments, it just needed to go a little deeper.
Also this is definitely a clean rom com and not a Christian one, I say this in love…mentioning God a couple times and church once does not make a book Christian. It’s kind of a pet peeve of mine. Also there was a lot of lying and that’s fine in Christian fiction as long as there is a lesson learned and repentance. Here everything just worked out and they moved on without acknowledging the wrong if lying and repenting. That would have made it more Christian.
Possible spoiler?
Two little pet peeves and it’s definitely a me thing the MMC is a college hockey player and was injured…if this happened he would have still been encouraged to go to practice and games. Also if scouts were going to look at him it would have been before his senior year. 😬
The Book is great for teenagers… but mostly a no for someone who expects MORE.
I would have placed the whole action in highscholl. Would have been more credible 🙂 If you have a kid willing to read smth romantic, this is it.
Story had a lot of potential I would say, but since I thought it’s college drama I expected a bit more of party’ing, more rash decisions, more drama. Nope, main female lead has never even kissed till age 22 and she expects that her first kiss will be her last, and she’ll marry the guy 😊 And I won’t spoil the end, but let’s say everything is sealed before his 6wks cast is even down 😂 So yeah, I won’t be continue with the series.
This book was so adorable! I loved how Vivien and Beck had to overcome their mutual dislike for each other… especially with how much they both felt in their earliest kisses.
Favorite parts: -Beck’s and Viv’s interaction at the ER -their conversation in the library -their first date -Viv’s moms advice
Favorite Quotes: If Ezra plans to send his best friend to our house to babysit me every afternoon, I’ll either push her away entirely with my grouchy attitude, or I’ll kiss her until she can’t breathe. Neither will work, so I have to find something to distract me from my woes.
I don’t see myself as a prize to be won, but the way he looks at me has me wishing I was one of those stuffed animals inside the claw game because no one has ever looked at me like that before.
What happens when for the first time you confuse your best friend and crush with his twin brother and your nemesis? This delightful tale! I really enjoyed the world building and I am excited to see where the 10 Thomas Brothers all end up! The character arcs for Beck and Vivian are great and I love the nod to how fake dating and relationship drama is very high school but they lean into it still! I received an ARC from the author but my review is honest and my own opinion.
This is a sweet new adult romance. It has all the simplistic romance of a YA novel, but older characters who are actually able to consider dating for keeps. (One thing that I despise about YA). I recommend reading this series in order. Tropes in this novel include: best friend’s brother, enemies to lovers, a new favorite of mine where the best friend/brother sets them up on a date, hockey romance. The only thing about this book I didn’t like so well is that they became friends, then were dating, and then engaged all in the span of about 2-3 weeks.
This is the first book in the Life With The Thomas Brothers series. I believe that currently there are 4 books with 2 more coming in 2025 but there are 10 brothers total so I would expect that the author will have a story for all the brothers at some point.
I really enjoyed this story. The dialogue made me laugh several times, especially at the beginning of the book when Viv mistakes Beck for Ezra in the big setup for the storyline.
So this is weird, but I find myself thinking his name should have been Thomas Beck, not Beck Thomas. Idk. His name doesn’t flow very well to me.
This book is just the sweetest, frenemies to lovers,twin swap, & mistaken identity done right!
I loved the chemistry between Viv and Beck and just every interaction they had was full of depth and emotion. The communication, openness, and vulnerability with each character was so well done and refreshing to see.
I cannot wait for the rest of the 10 Thomas brothers books!
*I received an early copy. All opinions are my own.
There were a few times the word "screamed" was used that really should have been "yelled" instead, because your girl over here just kept imagining them screaming like a goat and it really distracted from the story. Also, reading this book has taught me that snickered is not a word I love. Chuckled, laughed, even giggled would be better.
Haha, I get those are weird notes to leave in a review, but honestly they really distracted me.
Vivian and Ezra and Beck and Lorelei and all the Mays and Thomas families are a perfect formula for romance, adventures, and misadventures. I loved this book! I loved all the characters, the alternating chapters' points of view, the love between them all, the dialogs, and the romance. The ending was so great, and I'm looking forward to reading about the next Thomas brother!
Oh my goodness, this was such a fun enemies to lovers NA romance! If you love mistaken identity, swoony kisses, and an adorable guy-girl friendship, you’ll love this book. The author did an amazing job with the love triangle. I stayed up way too late reading about Vivien, Beck, and Ezra, and I couldn’t put the book down the next day either. Such a cute ending! Highly recommended.
This is my first book by this author and will not be my last :-))
I greatly enjoyed the characters and their banter! I was rooting for them from the beginning. The first kiss made me cringe with embarrassment (in a good way) when I was reading along, which rarely happens for me. I have a hard time imagining scenes sometimes but not this one. 😆
The end was rather rushed for me, I wish it would've been a little more detailed and a bit slower paced.
I cannot express how much I loved this story. I am always a sucker for a best friends brother, he falls first, HEA. I read a lot of romance, and there was just something about this one that felt good and made me happy. Beck and Vivien were a happy surprise, and I cannot wait to read the rest of the series when they come out.
This was one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. I loved the faith elements included in this book. I LOVED Beck and Vivien, and I thought their story was so cute and sweet. I felt a close connection to the characters in this book. And beck thomas is bf goals 😍 This will definitely become one of the books I reread each year. I loved this book and can’t wait to read more by this author.
6.5/10 this was a cute read, i just felt it could have been slightly shorter. i didn’t always love the wording of things and overuse of random words to describe people or pets, but i did enjoy the romance aspects. i enjoyed that this christian author was able to write an appealing romance book while incorporating aspects of faith!
This book was not at all what I expected, but it was so much better than I ever imagined. It was a beautiful story filled with surprisingly relatable characters. It was truly refreshing to read about two characters who are human and fallible, but ultimately want to please God with their lives. I highly recommend reading Beck and Vivien‘s story.
Kissing Beck Thomas" by M. J. Padgett is a sweet and fun romance with just the right amount of depth and seriousness added to give it complexity. The focal characters in this book have known each other most of their lives, so there isn't a meet cute, but there is a "meet kiss" that starts this ball rolling. This is a fun combination best friend's brother and enemies to more story, as well as grumpy-sunshine. And Padgett combines them all so well! This is book 1 in what promises to be a enjoyable series based around a large sibling group -- the Thomas Brothers. I am looking forward to reading all!
Dang this was a good book. Just all the dreamy sighs and sweetness of a frenemies turned to something much, much more. M. J. Padgett just writes really good unfolding love stories. 🥰 And I am so looking forward to the rest of the Thomas brothers!