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A Glasgow Kiss

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Meet Zara, a young, single girl struggling her way through life in the bustling city. She has almost completed her degree, living out a rented apartment owned by her Mother and vastly approaching thirty.
In a bid to settle down quickly and feel fulfilled, she turns desperately to online dating, and we watch her hilarious sexual escapades swirl out of control trying to bag the ideal man. Combined with the bold language of Glasgow’s streets, we journey inside Zara’s head revealing the truths, the drama and the heartache that goes along with dating in the twenty-first century. We watch her plunge head over heels in love with an older man, as we belly laugh at the antics she performs, using every trick and tip from her friends to make sure his love is reciprocated. But will it pay off? And will she finally find love in the Glasgow city?

292 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 1, 2021

496 people are currently reading
3206 people want to read

About the author

Sophie Gravia

11 books432 followers
I began writing the @sex.in.the.Glasgow.city blogs in 2019 from my Instagram handle. The views shot up quickly and I was encouraged to write a book from my followers. During lockdown having more time than I normally have I began writing ‘A Glasgow Kiss’.

A Glasgow Kiss is about a young woman approaching thirty feeling pressured to settle down. She is single and joins an online dating site to find Mr right- however, her life suddenly spirals out of control.

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5 stars
3,685 (38%)
4 stars
2,596 (26%)
3 stars
2,034 (21%)
2 stars
858 (8%)
1 star
444 (4%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 767 reviews
Profile Image for Chloe Gebbie.
29 reviews4 followers
February 5, 2021
I probably would have hated this book if it wasn’t set in glasgow (hence 3 stars instead of 2). Grammatical errors also really put me off - not sure if this is to blame on the publisher or author.

Side note: I hated the protagonist referring to her own vagina as “fishy”. This is what men say to degrade woman, why is the author using this?!
Profile Image for Charlotte.
209 reviews66 followers
June 30, 2021
Don't bother with this one. Poorly written and extremely fat phobic.
August 21, 2024
Excellent but might offend some people and I'm not talking about the grammar.

My daughter-in-law told me about this book, and I'm so glad she did because I thoroughly enjoyed it. It's obviously not to everyone's taste, and it did take me a bit to get into the story and her way of speaking but apart from that it was great. I wouldn't recommend to anyone that I didn't know because she has a way of describing certain situations quite explicitly and that would have to be explained before reading it. I loved it and wish her every success.
Profile Image for Kellie.
4 reviews
January 5, 2021
Great wee read!

Was buzzing to read this given I could identify with the location and I wanted to support local talent. I think it’s amazing that lockdown has inspired the author to write this novel, something positive from the awful situation we are in.
It was a good read, easy going & light hearted however, I eventually became really frustrated with the grammatical errors. I’m by no means someone who understands perfect grammar however, knowing, ‘where, were, wear’ & ‘they’re, there, their’ should surely be understood when writing a novel. Commas before conjunctives at every turn often had me pi**ed off. (I’ve no doubt made many errors here, ironic.)
I don’t want to criticise the author, perhaps the publisher had a responsibility here!? Not sure how it works but you know what they say, it’s the difference between knowing your sh*t & knowing you’re sh*t.
Profile Image for siobhan.
145 reviews4 followers
February 19, 2024
jfc, where do i start? i’m actually ashamed to admit that i read the whole thing 🙈 the reason i bought it is mainly because i’m from glasgow and have been feeling particularly homesick lately and thought “aww, a wee romance set at home will cure you right up” NOPE 🙃 now don’t get me wrong, i like a bit of smut as much as the next gal, but this was horrific. how many times was the smell brought up (!!!) i stopped counting at 8 to be honest,and if it’s as bad as the author repeatedly led us to believe zara needs to get herself to the gyno ASAP 👩🏻‍⚕️ also the phrase vaginal juices has no business being printed anywhere, ever. i don’t know if i’ve ever disliked a character in a book more than zara, i was actively rooting for her to end up alone because she’s so fucking insufferable ❤️‍🩹 the rampant fat phobia and body shaming was on another level, i could go on at length but i won’t but the fact that zara was repeatedly described as fat, chubby, having a muffin top, etc and was then revealed to be a size TWELVE 🤯 i would like to congratulate the author of this book on two things… the first being successfully setting feminism back a good fifty years and the second giving me confidence that if i ever wanted to write a book, i could certainly write something better than this steaming pile of shite 💩
7 reviews
January 24, 2023
Possibly the worst book I’ve ever read. I persevered because I’m from Glasgow and it’s set there but I honestly hated it. The main character is vapid and not believable - a mixture of boring tropes. She’s obsessed with men, her weight, talking about sex and very little else. The story is dull and predictable and even Glasgow as a setting is pointless because none of the geography makes sense (taxi from the Italian Centre to George Square?). It’s misogynistic, fat-phobic and classist. The main character repeatedly talks about neds and chavs and people who use the subway with disdain despite being a student herself and pointing out repeatedly how little money she has. Even the sex scenes are all pretty gross, with ridiculous, unnecessary things happening every time. All in all, would definitely avoid.
Profile Image for Daniela.
97 reviews11 followers
October 4, 2022
Finished my only book before my flight so decided to give this a go. Truly wish I hadn’t.
If this is an accurate depiction of Glasgow’s dating life then I truly feel sorry for everyone involved
Also how did this book even pass through editing? I can see the appeal of an erotic book but I think there are porn movies with more interesting plot and dialogue

EDIT: It uses depression (or what she thinks is depression) as a way to lose weight and then CONGRATULATES herself for it. In fact, EVERYONE says “good job on that break up and being so depressed you don’t take care of yourself for a week, not even to eat, because you look GREAT skinny!” - ???
Profile Image for Claire Ferris.
87 reviews
October 7, 2021
Easy read, I was finished before I knew it!
Still not quite sure how much I ‘enjoyed’ it however…

Have to agree with some other reviewers that the grammar and final editing is awful. At one point she pulls ‘out’ of Mark when I’m sure she meant ‘off’! That single word gave the whole scene a new angle and fetish if you know what I mean 🤣
I liked that it was set in Glasgow and mentioned bars, restaurants and cafes that I’ve been too. I used to love a morning after breakdown of the night before in Coia’s and I loved seeing them get such a lengthy mention.
I also (call me a prude if you want) am not a fan of the language used, why does she swear so much?? I’m a nurse in Glasgow just like Zara, and I can attest that we are a colourful bunch but felt like this book went too far and I definitely shook my head like my Mother would a good few times!
Profile Image for Holly Ferguson .
4 reviews1 follower
March 2, 2021
The sheer volume of grammatical, spelling and formatting issues put me off this book from the start. It’s very evidently self published and would have benefitted from an editor.

The story was okay, but I did get a bit fed up of some of the stuff repeating throughout (why does she continually refer to her vagina as fishy?) and why is she obsessed with the “girth of the end of the penis”!

I read it in a day and being from Glasgow was excited to read about someone dating and living in the area. I don’t feel that being set in Glasgow added much to the story, there could have been so much more made of it.

I wouldn’t recommend it and I’m not sure why it seems to have taken off as it has. Were it better written and edited I’d have enjoyed it more but grammar issues, strange capitalisation (“walking through the Streets”), spelling mistakes (b-line instead of bee line) and justification issues (words spread across the page) really put me off.
Profile Image for Rebecca Louise.
199 reviews3 followers
January 11, 2023
If you’re looking for a book that has correct grammar, is well proof read and full of words you have to look up in the dictionary then this book is not for you. However, if you are looking for an easy, quick read (yes I read it in a day) which tells the hilarious tales that comes with dating, excessive use of swearing and complete “no way” cringe and LMAO moments then pick up this book. Couldn’t put this book down as I just had to know what bad luck/dating scene was coming next. Absolutely hilarious and loved how it’s written by local talent and a fellow nurse.
Profile Image for Kirsty Hislop.
36 reviews3 followers
February 23, 2021
2.5/5 stars
Quite overhyped in my opinion, it was an easy and mostly lightheaded read but was poorly written with the spelling and grammar mistakes.
17 reviews1 follower
June 28, 2023
Trees didn't deserve to die for this piece of absolute poop
Profile Image for Amy Gets Reading 📚.
102 reviews14 followers
September 21, 2023
⭐️⭐️

Unfortunately this wasn’t a great book for me. Don’t get me wrong it’s a short, fast and easy book to read but there was also a lot wrong with it.

Let’s start with the FMC Zara, I’m sorry to say everything about her annoyed me. She was so needy for love, she had no respect for herself and as much as I can handle that sometimes she was just missing some feisty spunk. She needed to have more of a voice and actually stand up for her self!

Then we have the MMC Tom, he’s an older love interest and a complete dick. I love a red flag here and there but he was too much and it was annoying me!

I just didn’t like them together or separately. I got very anger close to the end where after Tom decided Zara wasn’t good enough he went back to her and she didn’t even really put up a fight, she just feel back into his arms and I just lost it.

This book could have been so much better, for me I wanted more character development. Instead of the book being a romance it’s about self love (something you don’t really get until the end because she has no development until then) and that could be been better written and portrayed through the whole book, she could have started to stick up for herself more, you could have seen her change things but I just didn’t get that feel from her unfortunately.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
2 reviews
December 31, 2020
Best book I’ve ever read. Laughed the entire time!
Profile Image for Sarah Amy.
31 reviews2 followers
July 26, 2024
Going with a 4 star ⭐️ rating on this one.

I recently met Sophie at a signing event for her latest book release. I’d had A Glasgow Kiss on my shelves for… a while (for me, that’s nothing new, most of my books have been on my shelves for a while).

As soon as I saw this in my local bookshop I bought it and I was really excited about it being written by a Scottish author. I’m glad I found out about the signing event recently as it prompted me to finally read the book. I found some parts were laugh out loud funny, even if I did think descriptions of Zara’s escapades to be quite cringy at times! Zara is such a loveable character and you feel quite sorry for her with the way she’s treated by men! But it’s also really good that she values herself overall in the end, a very empowering decision to choose you!

Enjoyed this book, cringed at some parts and properly laughed at others so all in I feel it does deserve a 4 ⭐️ rating and it’s definitely worth a read, especially if you need cheering up!
Profile Image for Christine Spoors.
Author 1 book434 followers
August 25, 2021
I feel bad giving this such a low rating, I did find this book a really easy read and I enjoyed reading a romance set in Glasgow and featuring places I know.

Unfortunately I just didn’t like the main character. The bar is literally on the ground for what she’ll accept from men in her life and she just ignored every red flag she ever saw. I felt like the main character was quite immature, if I’m 29 years old and that bothered about a “hairy fanny” that I need to mention it before every date… who caressssss. She had such a negative attitude and the message that being skinny because you’ve been so sad over a guy that you don’t eat was never addressed and almost written like it was a positive thing to happen. I also felt like she was quite stuck up, making negative comments about things like using the subway and taking busses like… have you been in Glasgow before? It’s literally fine.
Profile Image for Louise.
68 reviews12 followers
May 24, 2025
dit was zonder twijfel een van de slechtste boeken die ik in mn leven heb gelezen. 303 bladzijdes in Zara's hoofd zitten liet me denken dat ik een psychologische thriller aan het lezen was, in plaats van een romance.

de kassamedewerker loog niet toen hij zei dat we in waren voor een treat
#people make glasgow
Profile Image for Emma Stephen.
5 reviews2 followers
December 5, 2023
I actually can’t bring myself to read any longer. Note to self- don’t buy a book because it has Glasgow in the title.
Profile Image for Stephen.
2,177 reviews464 followers
June 13, 2021
This was filthy and funny story of a single Woman Zara but felt got a bit boring towards the end though. the plot itself could of been shorter
Profile Image for Claudia.
602 reviews29 followers
June 7, 2021
This was a kindle deal and since I'm in a bit of a romance mood at the moment, I thought I'd pick this up. I rather wish I hadn't though...

Rarely have I read a book about a more frustrating heroine than this one. Imagine every negative stereotype women have, cumulated into one character. She is insecure about everything concerning her body. The amount of comments about her body from herself and everyone around her were so annoying. She is a size 12 ffs!

And the way she behaves with the men in her life... wtf? That is just not healthy. All her interactions with men are crazy. She goes into stalker mode the minute she meets a guy. She can't realise that some of them treat her like shit and she basically has Stockholm Syndrome with every dude no matter how badly he behaves. She always wants to come back for more... why?

And I understand that it is refreshing to see a woman struggle with everyday problems like her period or farting when your crush is lying next to you, but this was so over the top. Are you really telling me that a grown woman in her thirties doesn't know what to do with a pad and gets suprised by her period every fucking time? Really?

I guess, in the end she makes the right choice, but this took her 99% of the book to figure out. And she didn't even know that she had to figure this out until literally the last second.

So incredibly frustrating! I rarely give 1 star, but this one deserves it. It was shit and I hated every second of it.
Profile Image for Zoe Pewtner.
141 reviews2 followers
June 17, 2022
Needs to be better edited, lots of there,their, they’re type simple errors,which do my head in.
Character is nearly 30 and playing school girl games.
Comes across super immature and a bit unintelligent. Saying she’s going to move to Europe when she lives in Europe etc, constantly skint, running around after men constantly and always using the word fishy to describe her vagina smell is so degrading to herself and women overall.
Didn’t find it relatable or an overall great read.
Profile Image for Catriona.
76 reviews4 followers
November 11, 2023
For a book that is, objectively speaking, very poorly written, I was actually genuinely invested in the main character. Grammatical errors and rogue punctuation, some pretty vile adjectives in unfortunate places and a lovely, drizzly cuddle from my home town. Definitely read this as book 69 of the year because I am a 14 year old boy…
Profile Image for Neve.
16 reviews
August 21, 2024
i really didn’t like this i’m sorry
1. it was gross (eg ‘pulling my hard matted dressing gown out my arse. I caught a whiff of fish and screwed up my face’???)
2. i didn’t even ship the main characters!! no cutesy romance
3. she kept saying how fat and disgusting she was before mentioning she’s a size 12!! then when she lost loads of weight because of DEPRESSION she and everyone around her kept saying how good she looked
4. it was not well written

i’d maybe give it a 2.5 because it’s set in Glasgow
Profile Image for Lesley.
318 reviews6 followers
March 28, 2021
Firstly, I should point out that I am not of the generation that I think this book is aimed at. I bought it because I was born in Glasgow and trained to be a nurse there too, so having read the synopsis - I thought it might be right up my street - I like the RomCom/ChickLit genre from time to time.

This book however, was neither romantic nor funny. Zoe is as far from a ‘role model’ as any female can be. She’s unclean, messy, promiscuous, crude and frankly disgusting. She allows herself to be used by any man who shows her any affection and pines after them when they use her and walk away, showing no respect whatsoever but then why would they - she has no self-respect. Her personal hygiene is non-existent and I felt sick at some of the descriptions! She’s supposed to be a nurse for god’s sake - we learn about hygiene and cleanliness in some detail in our first three months of training! Untidiness - fair enough - unhygienic - hopefully never!

I’m no prude and I’m all for equality when it comes to women choosing to have sex with whoever and however frequently they want to but only when they are the ones doing the choosing. Zoe comes over as totally unable to say no to any man, whether she wants to or not. She’s a doormat and gets hurt when she gets treated like one. Sure, in the last two or three pages she sees the supposed ‘light’ but the rest of the book is denigrating to all women but specifically to student nurses. Why the author needed the crude, vivid descriptions of Zoe’s menstrual cycle is just beyond me. And to have written this book when nurses the country (and world) over have been pushed to their limits by Covid 19 and deserve respect and admiration - not to be portrayed as slutty, unhygienic, and lacking a moral compass.

As for it being funny - I didn’t laugh once, nor did I even smile much during it. Thankfully I got it on Kindle Unlimited - I’d have been really scathing if I’d paid for it. As for the grammar as mentioned by others - I’m not even going to go there. I’d have loved to give it no stars but sadly that isn’t possible.
Profile Image for ChloeK.
119 reviews33 followers
February 11, 2021
I recommend this book if you like:
• Humour
• Romance
• Drama

“It's funny how I searched my entire life for someone to complete me, and in the end, the only person I needed was myself.”

Genuinely funny and so relatable to today’s society.

Zara is a student nurse living in Glasgow. I love how we get to follow her around the city and if you have been to Glasgow you will know many of these places.

Zara is a drama magnet and gets into some sticky situations. Rather her than me!

Her romances are hilarious and make you want to read on!
Profile Image for Laura Anderson.
65 reviews
February 8, 2021
Brilliant

Omg this book was so good i have never laughed so hard in my life 😂 Zara is so funny and every situation she gets herself into is class. Loved the Scottish humour and was great reading about streets ive walked up. Patter was brilliant being a Scot maself 😂 Highly recommend will not disappoint... deserves more than 5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 💜
2 reviews
March 22, 2021
Terrible grammar

The story is a basic, easy to read tale that will pass the time, but I cannot forgive the poor grammar - use of apostrophes for plurals, incorrect use of your/you're and there/their/they're. I'm not entirely sure how a book can get published with so many errors. But still, it is entertaining enough to persevere.
Profile Image for Aoife Breen.
5 reviews
January 7, 2023
I must say I really did not rate this book. It felt fat-phobic and the whole time I was reading it I thought “feminism be damned” is the theme apparently. I think this was marketed as a “for girls” kind of book but it just wasn’t that at all. There were also numerous grammatical errors throughout the book.

1 star for the fact it was set in Glasgow.
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