The Espressologist by Kristina SpringerPublished: by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux - 10/27/09
Pages: 184
Series or Standalone? Standalone.
Summary (from GoodReads):
What’s your drink of choice? Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy. Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life. Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie.
Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee.
Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right? With overtones of Jane Austen’s Emma and brimming with humor and heart, this sweet, frothy debut will be savored by readers.
In the time before reading The Espressologist but having heard of it, I was seriously psyched for it- I mean the synopsis sounds sounds so cool! So going into this book I had really high expectations, and I think thats where I had my problem with this book. It was in no way a bad book, it was seriously cute, but altogether it wasn't my cup of tea, or coffee rather.
I have to give Springer props for the idea though because I am seriously in love with it! Hooking people up based on their coffee orders? That is so cool, especially for a coffee addict like myself.
The Espressologist was very fast paced as you were always wanting to know what happens next. It was never that you couldn't probably tell where the book was headed, but I still wanted to see how it would all play out. And it was a quite fun, cute ride getting there.
In regards to the characters, I felt that Jane might have been the only dynamic character. Not that is necessarily a bad thing, but it might have been nice to see a bit more sides to the other characters.
Also, the whole romance-drama thing- I totally called the ending as soon as the whole drama was being foreshadowed. Which again isn't exactly a bad thing, I just usually like a book that has me guessing a bit more. Though this is probably because I have become a sort of an expert on predicting later events after the 100s of books, movies, and TV I have watched/read.
All in all, a very cute, light but fun debut. While a bit predictable, it makes up in its coffee loving awesomeness. I would recommend this to girls looking for a fun, cute, COFFEE read (or just a fun, cute read in general!) Seeing as there really is zero sexual/inappropiate content I think this could be a YA-MG crossover.
When Hooked: Early On.
Hookability: (8/10)
Writing: (9/10)
Characters: (8/10)
Plot: (8.5/10) <-- I'm torn; concept is awesome but...
Originality: (9.5/10) <-- again, concept is awesome but execution...
Romance: (7/10) <-- About that...
Ending: (8/10)
Remembarable: (7/10)
Recommendability: (7/10)
Enjoyability: (7.5/10)
Overall: (7.97/10)
(If you're a "letter person" 79.5/100 = C+)
*I ♥ the coffee heart! It makes me want some coffee too! Cover= (8/10)
Want more Kristina Springer?
Her second book, My Fake Boyfriend is Better Than Yours, is due out from FSG on September 1st, 2010; and her third book, Pumpkin Princess will be out sometime in the Fall 2011.
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You can find Jackson Pearce on:
her website (http://www.kristinaspringer.com/)
her blog (http://kspringer.livejournal.com/)
her twitter (@TinaSpringer)
or on GoodReads (where she is a member)
You can find The Espessologist at:
GoodReads / Borders / Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Indie
1 comment:
I agree completely. The idea was amazing, but it wasn't executed right.
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