Guys, I am not a romance person. I gag at the thought of reading a love story and feel much more comfortable reading about serial killers and psycho ex girlfriends. I am not sure what that says about me.....but I digress. I have been reading a lot of heavy books lately and wanted a lighter one to mix things up, hence my decision to go with Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren. I have seen this cover circulating around and picked up a copy awhile back for this very purpose. To be a palate cleanser of sorts, breaking up my dark and heavy reads with something light, airy, and carefree. This book is exactly that. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating is pure unadulterated fun. It is adorable, laugh out loud funny, and the characters are endearing. I highly enjoyed it and easily finished it in two days.
Hazel is a free spirit, to say the least. She marches to the beat of her own drum and does not take life too seriously. Her and Josh met back in college. Josh is more buttoned up when compared to Hazel and he was her teacher's assistant for class. Hazel made quite the first impression on Josh. (I will leave it at that and let you experience the hilarious details for yourself.) Skip forward to years later, Hazel is a third grade teacher and runs into Josh at her best friend barbeque, of all places. There she discovers that Josh is her friends brother.
Que, 🎵It's a small world after all🎵.
Naturally, Hazel wants to befriend her best friend's brother, whom she has known since college, and their friendship blossoms. Josh and Hazel come up with a plan to set each other up on blind dates together, in hopes they can both find someone for each other. Hilariousness ensues as the two set each other up on disastrous dates, while growing closer together.
This book was pure fun. It was light hearted, funny, entertaining, and sweet. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating is the perfect summer read. Hazel is such a fun character and I love a good opposites attract story. She was an adorable character to read about and Christina Lauren does a great job with character development. What turns me away from romance novels is that some tend to be poorly written and have underdevelopment characters or holes in the plot. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating was not a typical cheesy romance novel and the characters were relatable and likable. I really liked their style of writing and look forward to reading more from Christina Lauren.
I rated Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren ★★★★ and recommend it if you like a cute romance book or are in the mood for something to lighten up your TBR list. If you are interested in picking up a copy, click on any of the title links to add it to your Amazon shopping cart. Until then, don't do anything Hazel wouldn't do! (Which isn't saying much 😉)
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