Review: The Espressologist by Kristina Springer

Title: The Espressologist
Author: Kristina Springer
Publisher: Farrar, Strous, & Giroux
Pub. Date: 2009
Genre: YA
Main Themes: Love, Matchmaking, Friendship
Pages: 184
Plot (from book jacket):
"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 must 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 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 drink 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?"

The Espressologist was light and fun read that left me with a taste for a latte... and love.

When I first read the premise of The Espressologist, I was intrigued. Not only was it a creative and fun idea for a novel, it sounded like their was cute love story interwoven. Kristina Springer did a great job developing the idea Espressology. Now every time I go to a cafe I'm going to be wondering how well my drink of choice matches up to my boyfriend's! :)

Unfortunately, I wasn't a fan of Jane. I'm not sure if it just her personality, or if it was the development of the story that really turned me off. She was just a bit too annoying for my tastes. She acted like a wimp when it came to the girls who teased her in high school, but then the next minute she was a confident know-it-all. She just didn't make a lot of sense to me.

Jane and Cam's love story was cute, but a bit lacking. Jane's ignorance didn't make me feel for her, it just made me frustrated. Their romance didn't really work for me because I was never really given a reason as to why Cam would even like Jane. She was a bit preoccupied my herself for my tastes... I thought Cam deserved better.

I also felt like the reader was given too much extra information that wasn't needed. Like information about Jane's parents and her school habits. I'd rather have seen Jane's relationship with Cam more fully developed in the extra pages that would have been freed up with that extra information deleted.

Ratings (out of 10):
Plot: 8
Characters: 7
Writing: 9
Romance: 6
Originality: 9
Total: 39/50 (C+)

The Espressologist really was a fun read and I'll definitely check out Springer's next novel, but it isn't a book I'd buy or read again. It was good for an afternoon read, but didn't really grab me like some other chick lit has.

Reviewed for Other Shelf Tours