JOSH + HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Author: Christina Lauren
Release Date: September 4, 2018
From New York Times and #1 international bestselling author Christina Lauren comes a new romantic comedy about two friends who are definitely, for sure, in no way dating…maybe
Most men can’t handle Hazel. With the energy of a toddler and the mouth of a sailor, they’re often too timid to recognize her heart of gold. JOSH AND HAZEL’S GUIDE TO NOT DATING tells the story of two people who are definitely not dating, no matter how often they end up in bed together.
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?
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Sometimes your lack of filter kills me,” he says. “It’s not even like you lack a filter; you lack a funnel.”
Oh my gosh! I loved this book! If you’re looking for a fun, quirky, put-a-smile-on-your-face-and-keep-it-there rom-com, this book is it! I was immediately hooked from the first page and stayed glued to my kindle until the end. It was the most fun I’ve had reading in a while! Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating was a refreshingly different take on friends to lovers and I loved every adorably quirky page!
The party stops. Air stills.
“I mean, not because he wanted to see them.” My brain desperately tries to fix this. “They were forced on him.”
A wind chime rings mournfully in the distance.
Birds stop flying midair and fall to their deaths.
Josh and Hazel first met in college when she threw up on his shoes at a party and proceeded to have a few more fun run ins when he was her TA. A particular favorite of mine was the email she sent him while hopped up on pain killers after having her wisdom teeth removed. Suffice it to say Hazel is the sort of woman that makes a lasting impression. She’s adorably different with her borderline manic personality, and I loved how comfortable she is in her own skin. This is a woman that knows she’s different, and she makes no apologies for it. She is who she is, and she accepts that about herself. She knows that she can be a lot to take and she won’t settle for anyone that will make her feel like she should be embarrassed about herself. I absolutely LOVED that about her.
I watch her wash the dishes and manage to clean up the kitchen quite capably while I pick at my breakfast. She isn’t pouting, and it doesn’t seem like I’ve hurt her feelings—she honestly just seems to have heard something in my tone that I didn’t intend.
“What does that mean,” I ask, “ ‘being too Hazel-y’?”
Turning with a dish towel in her hand, she shrugs. “I tend to be too chatty, too silly, too exuberant, too random, too eager.” She spreads her hands. “Too Hazel-y.”
Hazel was simply adorable with her brood of equally quirky pets. There’s Winnie the poodle, Vodka the parrot, Janice Hoplin the rabbit, and the fish Daniel Craig. I mean, seriously! This is rom-com magic right here. But I digress. Hazel knows what her faults are, and she knows that she’s doomed to short lived relationships because of it. Men seem to think that her over the top personality is cute at first, but then they expect her to settle into being a ‘normal’ girlfriend. And when she doesn’t, things end.
Josh Im is Hazel’s best friend’s brother. And as fate would have it, they stumble back into each other’s life years after college. Hazel takes one look at Josh’s calm manner and unassuming personality, and immediately decides they’re going to be best friends. She makes no secret of the fact that she had a huge crush on him in college, but she knows that they’re simply not suited for each other. And when Josh’s current relationship comes to a crashing end, they make a bid on setting each other up on blind dates until each of them find ‘the one’. What ensues can only be described as one hysterically bad date after another. I was eagerly turning the pages just to read the next laugh out loud disaster of a date they’d inadvertently line up for each other next. And as the dates continue, Josh and Hazel’s unlikely friendship blossoms.
“So I stopped in the middle of the gymnasium and smiled at him—not my courtesy smile, but my real one—and he just walked by.”
“Maybe he didn’t see you.”
“He definitely saw me—and don’t get me wrong, I run into guys all the time who’ve seen my vagina and pretend not to know who I am. Things don’t work out and that’s fine. But I paid this guy.”
I adored Josh. Where Hazel was a refreshingly different heroine, Josh was definitely a refreshingly different hero. He’s a serial monogamist that doesn’t sleep around. He’s sweet, serious, and in any other book he could have been entirely forgettable. But Christina Lauren made him one of the most lovable and memorable characters here; with Hazel being the perfect kooky balance.
“Me?” I honestly have no idea how many guys I’ve been with, so I pull a lowball number out of the air. “Maybe twenty.”
His eyes go wide and he coughs as he swallows. “Twenty?”
“Actually probably more? Let’s say thirty.”
Josh shakes his head and laughs. “Wow, okay.”
This response is not an improvement.
“Don’t do that.” I point a finger at him. “Don’t act like I’ve crossed some magical threshold of appropriate numbers for a woman. If I was a dude and said that, you’d reply, ‘In high school, right?’ and then high-five me and call me brah.”
This was easily my favorite rom-com I’ve read all year. It was absolute perfection that kept a goofy smile on my face the entire time! I couldn’t get enough! I adored everything about this book and the characters. If you’re looking for your next read, look no further. Because this book is simply not to be missed!
Christina Lauren is the combined pen name of longtime writing partners Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings. They are New York Times, USA Today, and #1 international bestselling authors of the Beautiful and Wild Seasons series, Sublime, The House, Dating You/Hating You and the critically acclaimed Autoboyography. Roomies (released December 2017), has been optioned for film by Jenna Dewan’s company Everheart Productions, with Christina and Lauren set to write the screenplay.
SIREN IN WAITING
I’m not usually a reader that enjoys super shy mousy heroines. So when you have a book in which the heroine’s nickname is “Mouse”, you give it some serious thought. Unless that book is written by Lexi Blake. Then you just dive in without batting an eyelash and be glad you did.
DOWN TO YOU
After a rec from a trusted book buddy, I walked into this book with two very distinct disadvantages:
Stories with dead spouses always make me hesitant because the deceased is either villainized or the new love interest comes across as a consolation prize. This romance was nothing of the sort. Victoria “Tori” loved Rhenn and loved him immeasurably…until a tragic accident ripped him from her life. A shadow of the woman and beloved rockstar that she once was, Tori has been sort of floating through the years since the accident in a haze of pain and waking nightmares. The last thing she expects is to fall in love with the rising rockstar that she’s essentially put on babysitting duty with after one too many fights puts him at risk of real jail time. But traveling on tour together, these two opposites attract in a slow burn of all slow burns, and I fell hard!
Logan is the bad boy rocker that will steal your heart. This is not your stereotypical rockstar. Beneath the anger and uncaring attitude, is a wounded soul and a caring heart. He was such a multilayered character.
THE GOOD LUCK CHARM
This book is comfy yoga pants with a glass of wine, chilling by the pool sort of easy. It has all the warm and fuzzies wrapped in a sweet and steamy second chance romance. It’s a light, feel-good sort of read that had a smile on my face from beginning to end.
THE TRUTH ABOUT LIES
This book! OH GOD! THIS. BOOK. I knew from the very first chapter, that this will be unlike any other book that I’ve read from this author. And having had read her entire backlist, that’s saying something. The Truth About Lies is not a sweet story. It’s not a light and sunny romance. It’s spine-tingling good and oh so gritty. I had goosebumps from the first few pages, and that told me immediately that I was in for one emotional ride!
This is a story of two people who have gone through their own personal hell. People who hide their pain and personal demons behind a smokey veil of lies; lies that are absolutely necessary for their own survival.
AS DUST DANCES
She tried to deal with the fact that what was once her dream was now making her miserable, but then a terrible tragedy broke her completely. Now Skylar is homeless and busking on the streets of Scotland. Having left everything behind, including her identity, she’s trying to move on while hiding in plain site. No one knows who she is here, and she’s happy that way. The last thing she expects is for her music to catch the eye of a music executive, or for him to stir something in her she long thought dead.
Samantha Young is the New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of adult contemporary romances, including the On Dublin Street series and Hero, as well as the New Adult duology Into the Deep and Out of the Shallows. Every Little Thing, the second book in her new Hart’s Boardwalk series, will be published by Berkley in March 2017. Before turning to contemporary fiction, she wrote several young adult paranormal and fantasy series, including the amazon bestselling Tale of Lunarmorte trilogy. Samantha’s debut YA contemporary novel The Impossible Vastness of Us will be published by Harlequin TEEN in ebook& hardback June 2017
RICHER THAN SIN
Let’s talk about addicting reads for a hot second here. Because this book? This is a second chance romance meet Romeo and Juliet vibes. It’s sizzling hot. It’s deliciously angsty. It’s a page turner from beginning to a jaw dropping end. This author knows how to deliver a cliffhanger that leaves her readers rocking in a corner, craving their next March Fix until the next book is out. And this reader? I’m officially hooked!
Told in alternating parts of past and present, Richer Than Sin starts with a jaw dropping prologue that immediately sets the tone of this book. It’s a mystery wrapped in some angst, with Meghan’s signature sizzle sprinkled in. Lincoln Riscoff is the son of one of the most wealthiest and influential families. It’s also a family that has had a long standing feud with the Gables, and no matter how many years have passed, the hate and animosity these families have towards each other has only grown. When a beautiful girl catches his attention, it’s much too late by the time he realizes that she’s a Gable. Nor does he care.
A New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling author of over twenty novels, Meghan March has been known to wear camo face paint and tromp around in woods wearing mud-covered boots, all while sporting a perfect manicure. She’s also impulsive, easily entertained, and absolutely unapologetic about the fact that she loves to read and write smut. Her past lives include slinging auto parts, selling lingerie, making custom jewelry, and practicing corporate law. Writing books about dirty talking alpha males and the strong, sassy women who bring them to their knees is by far the most fabulous job she’s ever had.
ONE TO KEEP
After the delicious push and pull between Stefan and Jennifer in the last two books, I was absolutely dying to get my grabby little hands on their book. But I was also hoping for two things from this book; a grovel from Stefan, and for Jennifer to grow a little more. Jennifer has always been incredibly open in her desire for Stefan, that at times I almost felt like she made it too easy for him.
PRETTY VENOM
OH MY GOD! THIS BOOK.
The story takes a delicious turn from enemies to lovers and back again in this ulcer inducing romance, and this reader couldn’t get enough of it. Heartburn and bald spots and all.
And this is where the angst really starts. Callum’s brand of punishment and cruelty truly takes a turn from painful to downright eviscerating. The man puts Renee through hell. Every move, word, and look is calculated for maximum pain. That warning is no lie, because the things he does makes you want to peel your skin off and throw it at him. But at the same time, knowing what he’s going through in his head, you get where the anger is coming from. You hate him for what he does, but you understand why he’s doing it. It’s a special sort of hell, because as much as it hurts, it’s also absolutely riveting.
COOPER’S CHARM
This was such a wonderfully charming, feel-good romance and quintessential beach read, Cooper’s Charm is a definite winner. You get two romances for the price of one here; with both Rose sisters finding their individual roads to a HEA.
