The Espressologist: A Book Review

Honestly, when I picked up this book my hopes were not overly high. One reviewer I have come to generally trust, Claire, gave this book a good 4 "star" rating in her review. Not long after reading Claire's review, I saw the book displayed in my local library and decided to snatch it up. After Claire's review, I knew the book was out of my normal style, but the review made it sound like something that would be worth picking up. I was not disappointed, but I was not overly impressed either.

This book is certainly a Young Adult, feminine book. I think it's a cute, fluffy read, but it certainly doesn't make you think or invoke much participation on the readers part. It's a neat story for an afternoon or weekend Summer read.

Jane Turner has been working at Weird Joe's coffee shop for several months now. As she served drinks and observed people, she began to see a pattern: She could tell what kind of person someone was by what drink they ordered. As she became more interested in this phenomenon, she started to keep notes on what kind of person drank each drink, and surprisingly, she was spot on every time. Finally more confident in her informal study, she began matchmaking friends and frequent customers based on their drink orders. Each time the couples were ecstatic. When word gets out, more and more people want to be matched by the "Espressologist." With all her matches, Jane was happy to see she'd help couples find happiness, but what about her happiness? What about her match?

I really enjoyed this book for the style. Matchmaking is not generally a genre I'd venture into, but I thought it sounded good for a quick summer read. I was certainly right. This is a great book for a quick summer read, but don't expect it to be well researched, perfectly written, or surprising. I'd say I have very few complaints about this book. I think Ms. Kristina Springer wrote an interesting new take on the YA romance scene. Wonderful debut novel.

But with all the good I have to say, one major thing brought the entire rating down. The Ending. I felt that the book ended suddenly, as if Springer simply tired of her story or her characters and wrote a quick easy ending without thinking it entirely through. I also felt that the ending was extremely unrealistic. Not so much in what ended, but in how Jane and other characters acted in the end. I understand this is fiction, but it's a realistic fiction about teenagers with teen drama that suddenly drops. I was very disappointed. Before I reached the final few chapters, I thought this book would be a 4 duck book, but the ending got me. There were also problems with the writing and phrasing, especially one character's use of British slang (incorrectly, might I add).

Over all, I thought it was a decent summer read and good for something light and frilly, or should I say frothy. If you're looking for something a bit romantic, very light, and very quick, you should think about checking this one out.