Sunday, January 6, 2019

Thoughts on Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating

 OMG! This book is All The Things. Except one, but I'll get to that later. Since I know I have a lot of YA readers on my blog the mom in me has to say, "Not for younger readers."
And now that we have that out of the way let's move one. Because I finished this book just before 4 am and am dying to talk about it.
It could have been about me and my husband. Straight-laced Asian boy wonder and a white bread American girl who is doesn't fit the mold. Any mold.
It's one of the things I love about this book. Books about interracial relationships are so rare that when I'm writing I usually can't find stock photos. We have to go with legs or shadows.
Both characters have a really strong voice and I admire Hazel's voice because she's so energetic that had to be hard to keep consistent for 300 pages.
And most important for any romance, JOSH IS HOT!!! REALLY HOT. And bonus points here, but it in some ways reminded me of meeting my husband in grad school all those years ago.
Like I said, all the things. Except one. Interracial, intercultural relationships are very hard and that was never shown. I get it. Not every book has to be about the challenges of intercultural relationships, but because they are so rare it would be nice to catch a glimpse of that, like girl, you're not alone. And I also thought Josh's parents weren't that consistent. In some ways, they're very traditional. "Korean kids don't disobey their parents." (Umm...I know lots of second generation Asian kids who don't believe that, like at all. Kinda wish they did actually.) **Spoiler Alert** And then when Crazy Hazie is pregnant at the end of the book Josh is thinking about how happy his parents are going to be. Just doesn't seem consistent, and it's one of the places where I felt like cultural differences should have played a role.
What are you reading?

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