If I were to rate the first half of the book, I would have probably given it a 3 to a 3.5. 17 First Kisses is about a girl with a not so great friend. yea, it's that kind of book. It always amazes me how so many contemporary female protagonists always seem to have such sucky and crappy supposed best friends. That's how it is for Claire at least. Her best friend, Megan, always got what she wanted, from what to do, where to go, who is cool or not, and boys. But I don't blame Megan.. Megan is selfish and conceited.. sure, she's not harming anyone.. but Claire.. I am so frustrated at Claire. Why would she put up with this crap? I've been in situations where someone I thought was a friend turned out crappy.. what did I do? I dropped her and ran the opposite way. However, that wasn't my only problem. The introduction of a new guy sort of creates a bigger rift for both girls and they compete for his attention.. it is just so immature and demeaning to women out there.. I mean, if a guy can't obviously decide between you two.. is he really worth it? Then there is the introduction of this other love interest for Claire that literally popped up out of nowhere.. and Claire's feelings change so dramatically.. it all felt so unreal and just unpleasant for me. I don't mind the whole changing your heart direction.. but could we at least have gotten to know the guy a bit more? The characters all felt two dimensional and I barely knew anything about them beyond their names. I think less critical and younger people might enjoy this book but I can't. I read too many contemporary and I think that really raised the bar for what I expect from my contemporary novels. I'm disappointed that I didn't like this because I did like the plot.. just not the direction the author took with it.