A Forty Year Kiss, Nickolas Butler
A Forty Year Kiss, Nickolas Butler
4 Rating(s)
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

A Forty Year Kiss
A Novel

Author: Nickolas Butler

Narrator: Richard Poe

Unabridged: 8 hr 46 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/04/2025


Synopsis

"A story that captures the hope, grace, and joy of new love—but also the mistakes, scar tissue, and regret of past love. It's a wonder to behold, a novel capable of such breadth. This is the kind of book that makes me a better human."—Nathan Hill, New York Times bestselling author of The Nix and Wellness From the critically acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs comes an exquisitely written, small-town story about one couple's hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce. Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn't quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he's not sure what he'll find. He is sure of one thing—he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It's forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets. A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It's a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.

About Nickolas Butler

NICKOLAS BUTLER was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and raised in Eau Claire, Wisconsin.  His writings have appeared in: Narrative Magazine, Ploughshares, The Kenyon Review Online, The Progressive, The Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere.  A graduate of the University of Wisconsin and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, he currently lives in Wisconsin with his wife and their two children. Shotgun Lovesongs is his first novel.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Barbara on February 25, 2025

Author Nickolas Butler got his inspiration for “A Forty-Year Kiss” at a bar in Wisconsin. He was eavesdropping while bellied up to the bar. An old man (his father’s age) who sat next to him told a woman that he still dreams of her and loves her and asks to kiss her. When they kissed, it was one of t......more

Goodreads review by Fairuz ᥫ᭡. on February 17, 2025

Huge thanks to RBmedia and NetGalley for the ALC! 🎧💌 DNF @29% – I REALLY tried, okay? I tried to like it, but nope, couldn't do it!😬📚 So, I gave A Forty Year Kiss a shot – I really did, I wanted to like it! But from the moment I started listening to the audiobook, it just felt SO uncomfortable. T......more

Goodreads review by Susan's Reviews on January 31, 2025

Just what I needed! A Forty Year Kiss was a sweet read with massive doses of regret, making amends, nostalgia, and a second chance for love with the one who got away.... Charlie loves to drink, and he does so usually to excess. He is the life of the party, but he is also his and his loved ones own wo......more

Goodreads review by bookandachai on October 28, 2024

One of the best romances I've read in a long time. See Charlie and Vivian married young, too young and broke up after four years. Their lives took very different turns and yet they find themselves back in the same small town in Wisconsin forty years later. Can Vivian forgive Charlie for leaving? Can......more

Goodreads review by Beth on November 14, 2024

4.5 ⭐️ I’m normally not much of a fan of romance novels, but A FORTY YEAR KISS by Nickolas Butler was a real hit for me! Why? I really enjoyed these older protagonists. Vivian and Charlie were married for 4 years back in their 20s. Charlie was a big drinker, and Vivian was sick of it. Forty years and......more