So in my contemporary YA work in progress, I’m finally finally at the point where the people I want to kiss, do.

Yay!

I wrote a draft of that scene. And then reread it. And it was … meh.

I wanted the literary equivalent to fireworks, only less clichéd. I did not produce that. And though I know that great things are rarely achieved on the first try, I knew I needed help before having another go.

Whenever I get stuck on writing something, from kissing to opening lines to closing lines, I go back and consult the work of the experts that came before me.

Otherwise known as re-reading my favorite novels. It’s a rough part of the process, but so necessary.

So! Here I present some of the best kissing scenes I’ve come across. I’ve removed character names so as not to spoil anything for anyone–you must read all the stuff leading up to the kiss in order to really appreciate it!–but I’ve included links out to where each scene is from at the bottom.

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