Friday, April 1, 2011

The Espressologist

The Espressologist
Author: Kristina Springer
Published by Farrar Straus Giroux
Pages: 184
My Rating: 3/5 stars

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.

My Review:
The two words I would use to describe The Espressologist: cute and fun! Yes, you're in for a very fluffy and heartwarming book.

 I read this book right after I finished The Forest of Hands and Teeth, which was definitely a great choice; I needed something to calm me down and return my emotions to noraml after such a traumatizing read.

 The Espressologist had the best idea EVER!  Match making from coffee drinks! I have been looking forward to reading this one for a while, and I can say that the main idea did not dissapoint! I loved the feel-good theme in this novel.....F.U.N.

 But the characters did not do it for me. I felt like all the characters fell quite flat, and there was no character development. I wish we could have seen some in Jane as a main character. The characters did have me quite bored.

 I also didn't see any development in the relationship between Jane and Cam. Sure, he seemed like a great guy...but I felt like there could have been more before they actually got together. It wouldn't have hurt if this book had had a few extra pages for more character development and more of an in-depth view of them.

 The Espressologist was a cute, fluffy, and quick read that had me warm from head to toe and leaving me with a serious need for coffee!

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