Release Day Review: Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
Christina Lauren
Release: September 4, 2018
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ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley

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?

Review:

Would you believe this is my first Christina Lauren book? It seems like everyone I know loves them but I’ve been kind of afraid to fall down a backlist rabbit hole. I actually picked up Josh and Hazel because the blurb reminded me of Selfie, just without the age gap. (And that was before I knew that Josh was Korean-American.)

That’s not the worst summary ever. The heroine is a hot mess and the hero is more reserved, just like in the show. And in both cases, the characters are just so charming! I loved the way Josh and his sister, Hazel's best friend, understood and accepted Hazel. And their blind dates are comedy gold.

There's just this one (totally spoilery) thing that happens and no one says, "But I thought you said..." or "Wait, how did that happen?" and that's driving me nuts. (But I think it's just me because no one else has mentioned it yet.)

Still I really enjoyed Josh and Hazel. It was the perfect comfort read to break me out of a reading slump. I'll definitely be reading more from Christina Lauren.

Recommended for fans of: Friends to Lovers stories

    1/2

4.5  stars