{"id":148974,"date":"2021-08-17T10:59:19","date_gmt":"2021-08-16T23:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/?p=148974"},"modified":"2021-08-24T12:51:18","modified_gmt":"2021-08-24T01:51:18","slug":"the-kissing-booth-3-book-vs-movie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/2021\/08\/17\/the-kissing-booth-3-book-vs-movie\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kissing Booth 3: Book vs movie!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"The<\/a>
Review by Isabella Noyes, CRM Assistant<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The time has come to kiss Elle, Noah and Lee goodbye.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last three years, we\u2019ve swooned and had our hearts broken watching good girl, Elle Evans (Joey King) torn between her best friend, Lee (Joel Courtney) and his bad boy brother, Noah Flynn (Jacob Elordi).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For one last time<\/em>, we get to find out how it all ends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Kissing Booth series<\/a><\/strong> was first published in 2011 by a 15-year-old Beth Reekles on Wattpad and it was one of the online platform\u2019s biggest ever success stories. Reekles describes writing the conclusion to her series as an \u2018interesting challenge\u2019 because she had to write a book based on a movie based on the movies based on her books. Mind-boggling, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kissing Booth 3: One Last Time<\/a><\/strong><\/em> (the third and final book in the series!) begins with Elle\u2019s upcoming college decision: does she go to Harvard with her boyfriend, Noah or does she stick to her promise and go to Berkeley with her best friend, Lee, like they\u2019ve always planned?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, after finding out that the beloved family beach house is going on the market, your favourite characters plan their most epic last summer ever – set with completing a bucket list Elle and Lee rediscover from when they were five. But torn between the two brothers, Elle struggles between choosing friendship or love, or herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read on to discover the major differences between the novel and the film …<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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WARNING: The following review is full of spoilers for both the book and the film. Read on at your own risk!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Marco, who?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Assuming you\u2019ve watched The Kissing Booth 2<\/em>, you\u2019re sure to remember hot AF Marco, who Elle teams up with for a dance contest (and kisses then has a huge falling out with Noah because \u2026 drama<\/em>). Well, in the third book, Marco is actually called Levi, who works at a 7-Eleven. Elle calls him frequently throughout the novel to talk about her problems while the poor guy listens from the friend-zone. Meanwhile, Marco is a hot lifeguard\/musician and doesn\u2019t appear for at least 20 minutes into the movie. The film also leaves out an awkward confrontation between Marco\u2019s mother and Elle when his family comes in for lunch at the caf\u00e9 where Elle works. Plus! In the book, after the volleyball fight between the two love rivals, Levi kisses Elle while in the movie, Elle pushes Marco away before he gets the chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Noah\u2019s hot British gal pal<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Levi and Marco are not the only character swap we experience. If you\u2019ve watched the second movie, you\u2019ll know that at Harvard, Noah befriends a beautiful British girl named Chloe. While beautiful and British are consistent in the novel, we are instead introduced to Amanda. You\u2019ll be pleased to hear that Chloe and Amanda have next to zero differences between their book and film counterparts. What I loved about the third part of this series is how close Elle and Chloe\/Amanda become after Elle\u2019s puts aside her insecurities. There was more to their friendship in the book that was left unseen in the film save a beautiful heart-to-heart at the beach house. Overall, it\u2019s a toast to girls supporting girls, which earns my seal of approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Bucket List<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I would argue that the movie bucket list is more hardcore and fun than the book\u2019s version. There is no helium karaoke or swimming with sharks in the book. And the film\u2019s montage of Elle and Lee completing the bucket list really makes the movie – as does the visual representation of \u2018turning Noah into an ice cream sundae\u2019. However, what is undeniably the best part is the real-life Mario Kart race. I was afraid the film would scrap this part but was both relieved and elated when they didn\u2019t. The novel\u2019s commentary is present, fast-paced and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Thankfully, the film does a great job of depicting the cart spin-outs and the balloon sabotage. The palpable tension between Noah and Marco is exactly how I pictured the post-race confrontation in my head while reading the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rachel and Lee<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

One of the most surprising differences between the book and the film was that Rachel breaks up with Lee towards the end! While it was hinted at throughout the movie, it was non-existent in the book. In fact, Reekles portrays Lee and Rachel\u2019s relationship as steady as a rock. I\u2019ll leave out the why for you to watch if you have not already but it left me rattled <\/em>after reading the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The ending …<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"The<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The ending is not that much different from the book. It still takes place about six years later, Elle does graduate from college and she\u2019s still best friends with Lee. I sighed with relief when I saw that Lee and Rachel got back together after college and were engaged. In both versions, there\u2019s an awkward conversation between Elle and Noah at the Spring Carnival and it very much ignites hope that the ex-lovers will rekindle their old flame. However, I do think it\u2019s left more ambiguous in the film compared to the novel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Final thoughts?<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I equally enjoyed reading and watching The Kissing Booth 3<\/em> and I highly recommend picking up a copy of the book before watching the film. Although, if you\u2019ve already watched it then you\u2019ll still enjoy the book and here\u2019s why. The thing about movies is that you never get as much detail as you do in the books. While you do hear Elle\u2019s inner monologue in the film, it\u2019s just a mere narration of what\u2019s to happen next. For instance, you don\u2019t feel her anxiety of choosing a college or the passion she feels for Noah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conclusion to this series was a breath of fresh air after the last three years watching Elle\u2019s world revolve around the two Flynn brothers. While love and friendship are equally important, putting yourself first is the ultimate takeaway for teenagers and The Kissing Booth 3<\/em> teaches us this in the most heartfelt, hilarious way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2014The Kissing Booth 3: One Last Time<\/em> is out now on Netflix<\/a>, and you can find the book (published by Penguin Books Australia) here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spoilers! Bella Noyes takes us through the main differences between the book and film.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":148979,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[13447,9721,7565,4484,13446,11510,6645],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/TheKissingBooth3-Social.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148974"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148974"}],"version-history":[{"count":47,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148974\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":149712,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148974\/revisions\/149712"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148979"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.booktopia.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}