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livanaelliott's review against another edition
4.0
I liked that she was so quirky and unapologetically herself throughout the whole book. This book was better than I thought it was going to be
wilder_tingz's review against another edition
3.0
3 / 5
quirky, fun, energetic, wild child hazel is unlucky in love; she’s a bit TOO MUCH. reserved, handsome, perfect josh is stagnant and bored. cue the will-they-won’t-they.
this took me about 4 hours to read, which shows that there’s not a whole lot of ~substance~ here, but as far as silly romance novels go? this is pretty good! it gets the job done. i was impressed with the character work - every single character felt real to me, which is so exceedingly rare for the genre. josh was maybe a little boring, but hazel was bright and fun (but also a little bit “i’m not like other girls”). i felt like they had great chemistry, i believed the way their friendship becomes more, and i felt like there was a pretty compelling spark driving the book forward.
however. the reason for the 3 star rating is thus: this book is just not that well-written, nor is it surprising. it’s all been done before, and i didn’t feel like this book added anything new or exciting to the genre. i felt like i’ve read this book a million times before. don’t get me wrong, it’s an enjoyable read - but something inside me wants MORE. i want to read something special. i want to be moved! this book was far from moving - it was good, but it wasn’t great. it was fun, but it wasn’t that memorable. i liked the characters, but i didn’t LOVE them. see what i mean?
i was a bit disappointed with the sex in this one - it just didn’t feel… motivated? i don’t know how to describe it, but there was something missing. maybe the build up in tension wasn’t right, maybe the chemistry between hazel and josh didn’t translate as well during the love scenes, but whatever it was, it totally broke the immersion for me. maybe i just didn’t feel super connected to their romance.
that said… i will definitely be picking up another CHRISTINA LAUREN vehicle. i read LOVE AND OTHER WORDS and really liked it - this one wasn’t as good, but i still enjoyed it more than most other books in this genre. CHRISTINA LAUREN is so good at writing lovable, flawed characters, and at the end of the day, characters drive stories. i definitely have notes, but this is a pretty safe bet to place if you’re looking for something sweet, easy, romantic, and fast.
i liked it! i’d recommend this to anyone who likes the genre (and by genre i mean fluffy, unliterary, trash novels about adults falling in love and having great sex!) 3 / 5 - a pretty high rating for one of these! of course, if you DON’T like these kinds of flitty, silly, easygoing romance novels… pleeeeeeaaaase spare yourself LOL.
quirky, fun, energetic, wild child hazel is unlucky in love; she’s a bit TOO MUCH. reserved, handsome, perfect josh is stagnant and bored. cue the will-they-won’t-they.
this took me about 4 hours to read, which shows that there’s not a whole lot of ~substance~ here, but as far as silly romance novels go? this is pretty good! it gets the job done. i was impressed with the character work - every single character felt real to me, which is so exceedingly rare for the genre. josh was maybe a little boring, but hazel was bright and fun (but also a little bit “i’m not like other girls”). i felt like they had great chemistry, i believed the way their friendship becomes more, and i felt like there was a pretty compelling spark driving the book forward.
however. the reason for the 3 star rating is thus: this book is just not that well-written, nor is it surprising. it’s all been done before, and i didn’t feel like this book added anything new or exciting to the genre. i felt like i’ve read this book a million times before. don’t get me wrong, it’s an enjoyable read - but something inside me wants MORE. i want to read something special. i want to be moved! this book was far from moving - it was good, but it wasn’t great. it was fun, but it wasn’t that memorable. i liked the characters, but i didn’t LOVE them. see what i mean?
i was a bit disappointed with the sex in this one - it just didn’t feel… motivated? i don’t know how to describe it, but there was something missing. maybe the build up in tension wasn’t right, maybe the chemistry between hazel and josh didn’t translate as well during the love scenes, but whatever it was, it totally broke the immersion for me. maybe i just didn’t feel super connected to their romance.
that said… i will definitely be picking up another CHRISTINA LAUREN vehicle. i read LOVE AND OTHER WORDS and really liked it - this one wasn’t as good, but i still enjoyed it more than most other books in this genre. CHRISTINA LAUREN is so good at writing lovable, flawed characters, and at the end of the day, characters drive stories. i definitely have notes, but this is a pretty safe bet to place if you’re looking for something sweet, easy, romantic, and fast.
i liked it! i’d recommend this to anyone who likes the genre (and by genre i mean fluffy, unliterary, trash novels about adults falling in love and having great sex!) 3 / 5 - a pretty high rating for one of these! of course, if you DON’T like these kinds of flitty, silly, easygoing romance novels… pleeeeeeaaaase spare yourself LOL.
bookishlifeofjess's review
lighthearted
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
karinapplesauce's review against another edition
3.0
This was probably going to be a solid 4-star book, extra cute, absolutely believable chemistry between the characters and then, as other reviewers have pointed out, it goes absolutely off the rails at the end.
Some others have pointed out that Hazel stands for that "manic pixie" stereotype, which I guess she does, but it didn't bother me because although she is confident in herself, she also has that anxiety about herself as well. And terrible communication skills.
Some others have pointed out that Hazel stands for that "manic pixie" stereotype, which I guess she does, but it didn't bother me because although she is confident in herself, she also has that anxiety about herself as well. And terrible communication skills.
borrowedlibrary_dreareads's review against another edition
4.0
4 ⭐️. CL for another win. This was exactly what I needed between some pretty mediocre books. It was an adorably quirky, funny, and lovable friends to lovers quick bingeable story. The first chapter had me cackling so loudly and it didn’t stop. The fmc is aggressively quirky, outlandish, no filtered and at times hot mess - some may not like that but I LOVED Hazel. I felt a lot of relatability to my own weirdness, she was just so fun! Josh was little bland but I loved this story and how it progressed until that ending. It was far too rushed, I was shocked in the direction it took for how non-serious the book took itself from the start but you still get a beautifully sweet epilogue.
This was a quick audio listen with dual POV, Hazel’s chapters were great… Josh’s not so much (at times). I severely disliked the male narrators voice and for the first time ever while reading a CL book (I’ve read most of their books, knowing it is two authors), it felt like two people wrote the Hazel vs Josh chapters, when Josh talked about Hazel and what she was saying, it didn’t 100% vibe with the way Hazel narrated herself, it really felt like two different people. I didn’t think that the whole time but enough for me to take a pause and notice a few times. Anyways, highly recommend if you need a light refreshing book to pull you from a slump, it worked for me - I listened in 1 day, it was a short 7 hours made shorter by listening at 1.7x.
This was a quick audio listen with dual POV, Hazel’s chapters were great… Josh’s not so much (at times). I severely disliked the male narrators voice and for the first time ever while reading a CL book (I’ve read most of their books, knowing it is two authors), it felt like two people wrote the Hazel vs Josh chapters, when Josh talked about Hazel and what she was saying, it didn’t 100% vibe with the way Hazel narrated herself, it really felt like two different people. I didn’t think that the whole time but enough for me to take a pause and notice a few times. Anyways, highly recommend if you need a light refreshing book to pull you from a slump, it worked for me - I listened in 1 day, it was a short 7 hours made shorter by listening at 1.7x.
deszra's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
the first 2/3 of this was soooo much fun, just the kind of lighthearted romp i needed. i’m not surprised i liked josh’s character but im surprised at how endearing i found hazel as well. however this is not a 5 star for me bc nothing dampens my enjoyment of a romance than a surprise pregnancy 💀 i fully admit it’s a me problem and my own predisposal against having kids and FOR protected sex idc how drunk characters are…also the second time they had sex still feels a lil weird to me considering they were both asleep… i would’ve preferred a different third act conflict but i did at least like how it got resolved which is why it still gets a 4 star rating.
storiesandstacks's review against another edition
4.0
My first read for February was Josh and Hazels Guide to Not Dating.This was such a fun, quirky and light read. It was lovely to get outside my usual reading parameters for this entertaining read.