I know this book doesn’t come out until September, but once I received it in the mail I knew I had to read it. I wasn’t disappointed and for my second book written by Christina Lauren, it was great!
Here’s more about the book
Hazel Camille Bradford knows she’s a lot to take—and frankly, most men aren’t up to the challenge. If her army of pets and thrill for the absurd don’t send them running, her lack of filter means she’ll say exactly the wrong thing in a delicate moment. Their loss. She’s a good soul in search of honest fun.
Josh Im has known Hazel since college, where her zany playfulness proved completely incompatible with his mellow restraint. From the first night they met—when she gracelessly threw up on his shoes—to when she sent him an unintelligible email while in a post-surgical haze, Josh has always thought of Hazel more as a spectacle than a peer. But now, ten years later, after a cheating girlfriend has turned his life upside down, going out with Hazel is a breath of fresh air.
Not that Josh and Hazel date. At least, not each other. Because setting each other up on progressively terrible double blind dates means there’s nothing between them…right?
This was my second Christina Lauren book and while it wasn’t as good as Love and Other Words, it definitely got my attention and I loved Hazel and Josh.
Hazel really reminds me of Jessica Day from New Girl; a fun quirky girl who always manages to ruin things even when she’s trying her best not to. I feel like she represents a lot of women who quietly long to be a little outrageous and outgoing. I know I definitely resonated with her there.
Josh is actually Korean American, which I thought was a great addition to the character. It did help with visualizing the kind of person he is, made me feel included, and had some fun phrases and foods. To be honest, some of the food described in this book is stuff I’ve never heard of and I’m not sure is normally made. I think they were just used for effect in the story.
I’m starting to see a pattern with Christina Lauren’s work. First off, there’s always two protagonists and it’s always the two people who will eventually fall in love with each other. That’s fine because even though the mechanics of every story seems the same, it’s always more about the journey than the destination with these two.
Like I mentioned before, this is my second book from Christina Lauren and I didn’t think it was as good as Love and Other Words. That being said, this was still an adorable and cute story about two people who become friends and can’t admit to one another that they like each other.
I was having a tough time finding conflict though. There didn’t feel like there was meat to the story because of it. Commitment issues or even some instance to stay friends would have been enough, but the string of dates they went on didn’t seem to bug them as much. Even when their dates became more surprising, I still felt like there could have been a bigger conflict that was keeping Josh and Hazel apart.
Because there wasn’t anything, it felt more like Josh and Hazel kept Josh and Hazel apart. Perhaps that was the whole point of the story, so that you know that two people who are perfectly capable adults can get in the way of their own love lives.
But aside from my own little beef with the plot, I loved it. I loved resonating with Josh and feeling a little bit like Hazel. I loved this story and the ending definitely was your happily ever after.
- Paperback, 320 pages
- Gallery Books (September 4, 2018)
- Rating: 4/5 stars
- Find Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating on Amazon
I received a copy of this book from Gallery Books for free in exchange for an honest review. My opinions have not been influenced by the publisher or the author.
Simone and Her Books is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This in no way affects my opinion of the above book.
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