Opinions on Kiss?

I've just been rereading it. I think when I read it around the time it first came out, I was probably a little too innocent for it and didn't really get the full benefit of it. I was around twelve but quite young for my age and was obsessed with Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses series, so it was bad timing that I was given another book with a childhood best friends pairing (by the way, the book series Noughts and Crosses is far better than the TV series, but I only recommend the first three highly).

But I actually appreciate the book more as I've gotten older. It's probably partly because it's more mature, partly because I'm in the LGBTQ+ community now, and partly because it feels sort of unusual. I remember almost crying on my first read, but it wasn't one I read a lot (JW mentions in My Secret Diary that she cried while writing it). Sylvie isn't a particularly unusual protagonist, even though I can relate to being the smallest girl in school and not taken seriously.

On another note, I actually found Miranda interesting. She's totally my type - not necessarily pretty, but confident and well-read, smart and daring. I'm not the kind of girl who ever bunked off school or anything like that, but I sort of admire her in a weird way. Either way, she was a good friend to Carl after finding out >!he was gay,!< even though she wanted him for herself. The scene when she and Sylvie come to meet him from school was great. I really wanted to know if something changed with school. Or maybe Carl eventually had to change schools?

As for the subplot with Sylvie's mum getting a boyfriend...I didn't really care for it. I think Sylvie's mother made everything worse by trying to let her daughter know she was still important. She didn't mean to, but it was like she was rubbing it in Sylvie's face.

I still don't know how I feel about >!the kiss!< at the end. I feel like the "childhood best friend" thing was recycled and gender-flipped in Love Frankie later on, but it's probably true that Sylvie and Carl will put each other before any future romantic partners, the way Sam and Frankie say that they will.

What I'm curious about is, what are your thoughts on Kiss? Let me know!