2.5 stars.

I read both Roomies and Love and Other Words earlier this year and enjoyed them both (LAOW over Roomies). I've also heard people praising this book, so I was really excited to read it. Unfortunately, I didn't find this nearly as charming as I thought it was going to be. To be honest, I nearly DNF'd this book about 40% of the way through.

What I liked:

1. Josh and Hazel's friendship. At the end of the day, this is a book about friendship and accepting people for who they are, and I really liked Hazel and Josh's friendship.

2. A couple of the steamy scenes. They were pretty well written.

What I didn't like:
1. Hazel for about 95% of the book.
Hey everyone, have you guys met Hazel? She's so quirky, so eccentric! You never know what kind of wacky, zany, crazy, goofy, off-the-wall thing she's going to do! She's so quirky and eccentric that there isn't a page in the first 40% of this book that doesn't attempt to reinforce the assertion that she's what? If you guessed 'quirky and eccentric', you win!!

I love quirky characters. Love them. And when this characters was compared to Jessica Day in New Girl I was excited. Granted, I've only seen a few episodes of that show, but I love Zooey Deschanel and had in my mind what this girl was going to be like. I have my own comparison. Hazel is what you would get if Lorelai Gilmore (Who I LOVE) and a chihuahua had a baby, and then that baby downed an entire gallon of caffeine.

The way she acts is cringy. I legit got second-hand embarrassment as I was reading this book. Now, again, I feel like I have to throw it out there that I love quirky people, whether real or fictional. I, myself, can be goofy as hell. But even the quirkiest people I know understand that there is a time and a place for certain behaviors. Meeting your friend's parents for the first time calls for a different sort of behavior than hanging out with your friends at the bar. But not if you're Hazel Bradford!

Her blurting out that she and Josh had sex as soon as she walked into his sister's house for dinner was probably the ultimate WTF example.

And seriously, her quirkiness was shoved down our throats. Every time she would start talking she would tell some story of a time she did something wild. It got old. Like...I GET IT. She's a kook. Moving on.

The only reason I didn't DNF this book was because as the story went on they calmed down on her character quite a bit.

And let's be real. Someone who has literally no self-control should not be in charge of 25 third-graders. Why should I trust that she would understand what is and isn't appropriate to blurt out to a bunch of eight-year olds when she hasn't shown any common sense when it comes to any other social situation?

Then there's the whole drinking thing. She talks about how when she drinks a lot she ends up taking off her clothes. It's said repeatedly as if it's some funny little anecdote. There's a part later in the book where she sends Josh a look that tells him to make sure she doesn't start trying to take her clothes off in the bar. Seriously? How about a little bit of personal responsibility? If you know that excessive drinking makes you stupid...maybe you don't drink excessively? Just a thought.

Also, she stays in his apartment while he is out of town and completely trashes it. I just find that so disrespectful. But we're supposed to think it's cute because...reasons?

I get that this is fictional, and that Hazel is as well, but I just couldn't stand her through the first half of this book.

2. The epilogue. I didn't actually hate this, but it felt like it wasn't necessary. I'm not sure how many years ahead they jump, but going from the end of the last chapter to this epilogue felt a little jarring because of what was going on at the end of the last chapter. It felt like the authors raised the stakes for no reason because everything was solved in two pages.

I will continue to read Christina Lauren, and I understand that I am definitely in the minority where this book is concerned, but I think I had it so hyped in my mind that I was really let down when I actually read it.