Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating

Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The first time Hazel met Josh, she propositioned him and then threw up on his shoes. The second time, he walked in on her having sex with his roommate. The third time, he was the TA in her anatomy class. It's not an auspicious beginning for a relationship, but despite Hazel's wildly quirky personality, lack of a verbal filter, and propensity for mishaps, she's innately lovable. So when they meet years later at a BBQ at Josh's sister's house, and Hazel decides he's going to be her new best friend (in addition to his sister, who is her current best friend), she's absolutely right.  When Josh breaks up with his girlfriend, she talks him into setting each other up on a series of double blind dates.  Unsurprisingly, these don't go as planned.

I loved that this book was set in Portland, Oregon! Truthfully, it could almost have been set in any large city, but I enjoyed the local references nonetheless.

I laughed out loud so many times while reading, especially in the first half of the book. Once, I even laughed until I cried. Such witty banter and ridiculous chaos follow Hazel wherever she goes! I'm sure I would have a much harder time dealing with her in real life, but as a character, she's hilarious.

I also really appreciated that Josh and Emily were Korean, and I loved how Christina Lauren wove Korean culture into the fabric of the characters' lives. Made me miss my honorary Korean family so much!

One small thing that irked me, though, was that although Hazel has an (hysterically inappropriate) mnemonic device for remembering all eight types of pronouns, the author hasn't yet fully learned the difference between "who" and "whom"...and neither has her copy editor. Still, my issue was with only one scene out of a whole book, so that's a pretty minor complaint.

For readers' advisors: character doorway is primary, story secondary. There is a LOT of swearing and sexual content--from sex jokes and references to a few fairly explicit sex scenes. Also quite a bit of drinking or references to alcohol. No violence, other than Josh getting clobbered in the head a couple of times.

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