Book Title: Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Adult, Humor, New Adult, Fiction
First Published: September 4, 2018
Foul-mouthed, quirky, sharp-as-a-whip Hazel never thought she would win the heart of her gorgeous college TA, Josh. And, in fact, she didn’t. But what a difference ten years can make. Well…ten years, and a lot of legwork.
The Story
This is a friends-to-lovers story and I have to say that this is the first one enjoyed reading/listening. Probably because the authors gave me time to get to know both characters and see how they would develop this romantic relationship.
But like any other romance story, we have the dreaded miscommunication issue. Around the last two hours of the audiobook, I was just waiting for them to start dating and show me what the actual conflict is. Because the whole, should we date or not thing was getting boring.
Then the authors threw the conflict on my face and I was shocked. And not in a good way. I was enjoying everything in this book but that twist and that ending. No.
This GIF is me after realizing what was happening:
Everything worked for them too perfectly in that ending. And I just gave up.
The Characters
The authors made the right move in introducing Hazel’s quirkiness at the beginning of the book. Fourth wall style. Usually, I am not a fan of characters like Hazel but since I already know what type of person she is, I’ve adjusted my expectations accordingly. To be honest, she is not as quirky as she claims to be. She is on the tamer side.
As for Josh aka Jimin, he is the usual contrast to Hazel’s quirkiness. Nothing new. I’m just glad that he was not an asshole to Hazel. He was too perfect in fact there are times that I wished he had some type of flaw to make him feel a bit real and not a caricature of the “perfect dude.”
Josh’s sister Em I didn’t like, especially at the beginning since she was almost encouraging her brother to cheat just because she didn’t like Josh’s girlfriend. She and Hazel both to be honest. Em and Hazel are the perfect example of the saying “Nobody hates women more than other women.” The pettiness was childish. Good thing that only lasted for a while.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I gave this book a 3 out of 5 stars. I deducted a point because I am not a fan of that ending.
If you are a fan of the friends-to-lovers and quirky girl-cool-guy trope. You will like this one. Easy to read/ listen to. The type of book you can just sit back, relax and enjoy.
I guess Christina Lauren is now my go-to romance author since I didn’t DNF any of their books.
Anyway, thank you so much for reading. Have a good week ahead. I’ll talk to you soon.
The Cat with a Book 
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