Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating
Ratings94
Average rating3.8
This book was just what I needed. I read it in one sitting, crying at the end because it was over. It was a breath of fresh air and an escape from my chaotic life. Loved the characters. Funny, smart, quirky, and sexy. Definitely would read again.
I wanted to take my time with this book.. and I ended up reading it in one sitting. The characters were LITERALLY AMAZING and I feel so much admiration for them. This whole book was just heartwarming and it'll forever have a place in my heart ❤️.
3.5 stars!
Really generic romance!
We have Hazel who is super crazy and free-spirit. And we have Josh who was educated to be quiet and collective. These two people collide in University and their interactions are...well not good! Hazel is always clumsy when she is with Josh!
After university, they meet again and develop an interesting friendship. They obviously don't want to date, because of their interactions in the past.
Obviously, they will not succeed!
It was interesting to see their interactions and relationship development. It's a beautiful slow burn, and frends-to-lovers romance!
I've only read one YA novel by this author duo but I loved it so much and was very excited to receive this eARC. If their adult romances are as fun as this book, I really have to go back and read all their other titles.
Hazel is the definition of quirky, has no filter on her mouth and we can never guess what she will do when she gets drunk. This obviously puts a damper on her dating life because all guys seem to like her eccentricities initially but eventually want her to tame down. Despite seeming wild, she is actually a wonderful person, a true friend with a heart of gold and very strong in her convictions that she doesn't need to change herself for any man.
Josh is the calm to her storm, very put together, stable with a cool head, a traditional family man in every way. But he is also devastated after finding about his cheating ex-girlfriend and is low on confidence about putting himself out there and loving again.
I loved how Hazel just decided to force herself on Josh as his new friend to get him out of his post breakup funk. They form a tentative friendship which quickly turns into easy companionship due to their proximity as “temporary roommates”. They also decide to set each other up because they can't date each other. Their double dates are hilarious, always ending in unexpected disasters but it's so obvious that their solid friendship is a strong foundation for something more. Their falling in love feels so inevitable because they are perfect for each other - she brings fun and light to his ordered life and he truly admires her, eccentricities and all.
The side characters are so wonderful and loving. Josh's sister Emily who also happens to be Hazel's best friend is a slightly pushy sibling but an excellent confidant to both, wanting best for them but never taking anyone's side. Her husband Dave is very funny and I loved the dinner parties and conversations at their house. Both Josh and Hazel's mothers are so adorable, just wanting their kids to settle down but also find someone truly worth their love. It was great to see such beautiful family dynamics.
The ending is actually quite predictable and I would have liked something a little different. But on the whole, this is a very entertaining rom-com with extrememly endearing characters who will make you laugh out loud many times. Definitely recommend to anyone who wants to read a feel good friends to lovers romance.
After absolutely loving Autoboyography and Love & Other Words, Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating became one of my most anticipated reads so I was super excited to win an ARC from a Goodreads giveaway.
This was such a sweet story. Josh and Hazel are new best friends, after briefly knowing each other in college and then reconnecting years later when it turns out that Josh is Hazel's best friend's brother. Josh and Hazel have each had bad experiences with dating/relationships. To break their bad luck streaks, they decide that they'll set each other up on a series of double blind dates. It's all fun at first until they slowly start to realize that maybe the reason why they enjoy enduring these awful dates is because they actually like spending the time with each other.
I want to scream from the rooftops–THIS IS HOW YOU WRITE A QUIRKY HEROINE. Hazel is weird but in a good way. She knows she has eccentricities and she embraces them. At no time did I feel like her weirdness was forced or that the authors threw in certain situations because they thought they'd be ~omg so funny.
Josh, aka Jimin, is super sweet. He's quiet and introspective. Everything Hazel isn't. But the way he appreciates her for who she is, is just heart eyes.
I'm only giving this book 4 stars because I did feel like it got a little slow in the middle, but overall it's a really great read!
After a few embarrassing meet ups in college Josh Im and Hazel Bradford reunite years later. Josh is sweet, thoughtful, and sensible while Hazel it quirky, funny, and straightforward. After Josh's last relationship ends horribly Hazel convinces Josh to go on double dates with her. The dates they pick for each other don't always work out but they have fun spending time together and the more time spent together the stronger the romantic tension.
This is the first novel I've read by the writing duo Christina Lauren and it was such an entertaining rom-com read. There were even parts that made me laugh out loud. Hazel may lack a filter and be a bit zany but she has a big heart and doesn't come across too over the top. I thought she was clearly believable and likeable. Josh is a sweet straight man which makes it easy to fall in love with him. I was never left believing these characters would never work. Their friendship/romance was a little the opposite attract trope but didn't feel thrown together or so contradicting to feel stretch thin. Instead the relationship between Josh and Hazel was a slow burn, a lovely way to build tension, and with the feeling of a well-suited pair. Christina Lauren also does a great job with making the characters' responsible adults talking about real world topics like sex, testing, and bleeding without any shame, or guilt.
My only negative with the book was with the ending. I won't give anything away but it felt rush. I would gladly pick up another novel by Christina Lauren in the future. They can paint clear scenes and deep characters without heavy fluff. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes contemporary romance and is looking for an energetic and cheerful read.
ARC provided in exchange for an honest review. Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren will be published by Gallery Books on Tuesday September 4th, 2018.
I'll give kudos to Christina Lauren's writing, which drew me in from page one. Their tone was modern, fun, light-hearted, with just the right amount of inside jokes for the social media generation, without seeming like they were trying too hard. The entertainment value of their writing is probably worth a whole 2 stars from my rating already.
I liked that this was one of the very few romance novels out there with an Asian-American male protagonist. I liked that there was just the right amount of Korean culture incorporated in it without going too over-the-top but also without completely ignoring it. All these factors combined made the book more than a sum of its parts. It was fun and I think that's what kept me going, speeding through the book in what is, to me, record time.
But things have to be said about the two protagonists. While they certainly weren't as annoying and cliche as romantic protagonists could be, but I kinda found myself wishing that they were... more. Despite all their quirks, it still kinda felt like the protagonists were generally one-dimensional. Hazel is a quirky girl and Josh is a nice dude who likes crazy. That pretty much sums up the entire characterization arc.
Another thing I wasn't so hot about was the way they were thrown into each other's paths again. The whole “we are going to be male/female best friends!” thing fell super flat for me, because they were clearly attracted to each other from the start (no matter how many times they tell each other they're not) and I didn't feel like they were close in a platonic way. Every time they drew closer to each other, it felt like there was always sexual tension there that you, as the reader, just knows will get explored at some point. Perhaps it's a personal preference, but if we're doing the best-friends-to-lovers thing, I'd like to see a very, very clear friendzone happening before attraction sets in, rather than it having been there from the start.
Last but not least, the ending...
If it hadn't been for that ending, I may actually round this book up to 4 stars. The ending felt rushed as hell! Josh and Hazel hadn't even gotten to the point of verbalizing their feelings for each other (although a lot of HINTS were made) before wham bam, suddenly Hazel's pregnant from the very first time they had sex. Talk about bullseye, eh? Sure, this situation could happen and has happened before. But what comes next makes things even worse. We are somehow shuttled forward in time where we meet Josh and Hazel having a date night, before going back to his empty house to have sex on the wooden floor all over again (really?). Finally, we get to find out that Josh and Hazel are not only happily married, but have 2 kids and are expecting a third. A very conventional, almost cheesy, tableau of happy married family life plays out. End scene.REALLY?!Are we really expected to believe that Josh and Hazel had a happy marriage life having gotten pregnant just 2 months after they started sleeping together, and before they actually started dating proper???? It's not to say that this is an impossibility, but to not even acknowledge that this is a thing, that there would've been hard times and arguments and struggles to overcome to get to where they are at the end, and to make it seem like it's effortless and easy to get from infatuated sex to happy married couple. I can't imagine if the readers who actually worked their butts off for their relationship when they get surprised by an unexpected pregnancy way, way too early on.
The first half of the book was cute at times but second part, especially that ending was totally off-putting (ewwww)Why are people in 2019 still having unprotected sex and getting "surprise" pregnancies? Ewww again. And you're telling me they were all so happy? They didn't even get to the "I love you's" before the pregnancy came up. Pfff...
This book was very cute. I loved the dynamic of the fun loving, slightly bonkers Hazel and the stoic, traditional Josh. Lots of laugh out loud moments and very sweet.
“Read” would be a very loose term for what I did with this book. I actually read the first 6 chapters, drastically skimmed the middle, and halfway read the last 4 chapters and the epilogue. The plot itself was entertaining enough, and the synopsis made it sound like it would be funnier than I thought it was.
Hazel's character was way over the top quirky. I do not mind at all having the main girl character be a little odd because that's fun to me, but it felt as though the authors tried too hard to make Hazel a weird character and it came out being more cringe. She was funny in a sense, but there was way too much second-hand embarrassment. She was also a little trashy, which is evident from even the very beginning of the book. One of my first thoughts was “oh we are in for a wild ride” (but not in a good way).
I did like that she was always herself and didn't totally change some of her quirks to be liked by others.
It was also steamier than I was wanting, and there were more suggestive remarks by characters than I like. I enjoy rom coms being fun, cute, and romantic but not overtly spicy.
The end took a serious turn and ended pretty abruptly before going into the epilogue. I generally love epilogues – there are some books I loved that had epilogues I may have loved even more than the book itself. It felt odd that it was basically a random halt, during this major plot event thrown in at the very end, before jumping ahead 7 (ish) years.
Overall, I can see it being very entertaining for people who are not bothered by the things I mentioned. It just wasn't for me.
4.5 ⭐️ i lovvvvvved this, it got my out of my reading slump!!!! now on to buying every other christina lauren book
the only reason i suppose this book is my favorite is because i fell head over in love with josh im, even though he seems mediocre but so fucking hot. thats it.
So Christina Lauren are now an auto-buy author duo for me! I think they can do no wrong now. I've read some of their earlier series and feel like they've found their strength now.
I loved everything about this book - loved Josh and Hazel, loved the animals, loved the setup of the relationship, loved the epilogue. Just loved the whole thing!
I love this book.
Other than it being so flippin' cute, I just really saw myself in Hazel. Tbh, I was gonna bump it down to 4.5 stars because of the surprise pregnancy trope but I loved Josh & Hazel too much to do that.
Anyway, love love love!!! Probably my fav read of 2021 so far!
Edit: bought a physical copy because i NEED to see it on my shelf.
Es un 4,75 por que este libro LO TIENE TODO Y DEBERÍA DE HABER SIDO MÁS LARGO
Además de todos los tropes que podrían haber puesto nunca me habría imaginado que iba a ser ese, y estaba LIVING
I loved everything about this book - except the last few chapters.
(I think Josh and Hazel would have arrived at that epilogue just fine without that last bit of drama, but that's just me.)
Fantastic characters and great family dynamics (I'm a sucker for those...), lovely writing, equally hilarious, heart-wrenching, and sexy.
The first book I've read by this duo, but definitely not the last.
4.5 / 5
2024 re-read because I gave this 5 stars and had no memory of it. Didn't love it the second time around. Hazel kind of drove me crazy.
2018: This was a very fast read and I loved it. I want to be Hazel. Left me with a good book hangover after. =D