Book Review:
10 Blind Dates
by Ashley Elston
Publishing Date: 01 Oct 2019
Read courtesy of Netgalley.com
Though not as sophisticated, I believe this book fits in with what the Sarah Dessen - Jay Asher - John Green - Deb Caletti readers might enjoy.
The main character, Sophie, has a very large family, necessary for the plot to take place. However, I got confused trying to keep them straight. The author, Ashley Elston, had to create a lot of personalities to give her secondary characters motivation, and I often had to re-read parts I'd previous read to get their relationships clear.
I made some comments to myself of things that distracted me from the story, really minor things, but I felt if these were able to distract me, then I wasn't too invested in the story. Things like "Who makes peanut butter cannolis?" and "Muffalettas aren't Italian," and "Seriously, another librarian stereotype?"
To be fair, there were times when I found myself engaged enough to try to guess who the dates might be, to chuckle where the reader was supposed to chuckle at a corny line or two, and to think, "Good pick! Good surprise and fits with the picker's personality," when one of Sophie's relatives picked someone Sophie already knew.
I'm still contemplating whether there was a need for a secondary story line as extensive as the one for Sophie's sister, Margot. I got that family was important and that the author needed a plot device to get Sophie to visit her relatives, but that story line didn't add to the family-importance theme in a significant way, and it often distracted from the primary story line.
Half-way through the story it was obvious with whom Sophie was supposed to end up. The author did do a nice job, though, of drawing the reader into routing for him even while Sophie was going on dates with others.
This story allowed the author to be creative, and it was (briefly) fun to see all of the different dates Sophie's relative planned for her. But like Sophie said, "I never thought I'd get tired of going on dates, but I'm officially there." Once each date was revealed, I also got tired of being on the dates with her. And I wondered how great her family could be if they were using these young men for their own entertainment.
