I got this as a review book from netGallery, and am really pleased I did!
Synopsis:
No one at Kayla’s school knows she’s the famous Oracle of Dating—the anonymous queen of dating advice, given through her own Web site. Kayla doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make her focus on everyone else’s love life. But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart—the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating–and she knows just where to find one…
This is great young adult chick-lit. The star of the story is Kayla – an ordinary 15 year old, but she has a secret. She is the Oracle of Dating. She runs a website and a helpline that gives out relationship advice. She herself however has sworn off men. But she is red-blooded teenager and Jared is hot…
This book is so enjoyable. I read in a matter of hours, I was just hooked. It is a simple storyline, but it is engaging and funny. It is a light, pleasant read that adults as well as teenagers will enjoy. There really was nothing to dislike or complain about. I guess the outcome is predictable but getting there was fun. van Diepen is a wonderful writer, she has created a funny storyline, which has some quite good relationship advice in, and some characters you can’t help but like.
Kayla is a very enjoyable read. She is cool, calm and collected, until she starts to notice Jared. She made me laugh with her blog posts – what a great way to get through to men! She was a believable character – a girl who loves her friends and family, has an ordinary reaction to school, has a part time job and does have to contend with hormones! I liked how van Diepen was happy to have Kayla getting advice and learning from relationship books – it made her site more believable. I really liked all the characters in this book. Kayla has a great group of friends – my favourite being Ryan and Jared was a nice guy – easy to see why Kayla fell for him.
I love the idea of the Oracle of Dating. I think the advice given was quite good actually. van Diepen deals with relationships and leaps of faith well. It isn’t the most original idea but it was great reading.
This book did remind me a little of Sarah Dessen’s The Truth About Forever, however I loved that book so that is not criticism. The lead men in both books were similar – quiet, artistic and a bit dangerous, but like I said, that is not a bad comparison. Overall, I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it to anyone who likes young adult books or romance novels.
4/5
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