10 Blind Dates checks all the boxes! It's endearingly sweet and full of a loud, in-your-business family that is obnoxiously lovable.
When Sophie attempts to surprise her boyfriend, she's in for a surprise herself. She overhears him calling her boring and happily anticipating their holidays apart. A confrontation and a break-up leaves her a mess on her grandmother's doorstep. Sophie's grandmother schemes with the rest of the family to set her up on 10 blind dates to brighten Sophie's spirits. Sophie's attitude and reactions are too cute!
A friend recommended this read and I'm so glad she did! Everyone needs a light and bright feel good holiday book.

Cute, easy read.

This was super cute! Predictable, but sweet. It was a perfect holiday read.

DNF. I knew immediately this wasn’t for me, started skimming by chapter 2 and got through the first ‘date’. The story is rushed and underdeveloped.

3.5 ⭐ a fun young adult Christmas romance.

DELIGHTFUL

Super cute

*3.5/5 stas*

10 Blind Dates was such a light and very easy to get into YA contemporary book!

The premise was pretty fun- It's basically about Sophie who has broken up with her boyfriend (or he with her?) and now spends the winter break at her Nonna's house, which is always filled with her big Italian family (and Sophie's childhood best friend group including her two cousins and the boy next door). To help her get over the breakup, Sophie's grandma comes up with a grand plan: 10 blind dates, which will each be set up by one family member.


What I liked:

* sophie's big family was the best!! Her grandma was my favourite character of the book tbh.

* alongside with that, the protagonist's friendship was also really great to follow

* really those were the true love stories here!

* I mean the romance was pretty cute, but it was not the meain focus, at least for me, of this book (I think this one was more about the family and friendship)

* fast read, it was great to follow the mini plots of each date and Sophie reconnecting with her family

* lighthearted read that is enjoyable, fun and undemanding when you need this type of book


What I didn't care for:

* I was more invested in about the first half of the book, in the later part my interest waned a bit (although I still enjoyed the book)

* I enjoyed following the dates for the most part, but a lot of them were kind of cut short from early on and then just quickly recapped and I wished we could've followed some of the dates a bit more with the actual storyline, would've made some of them towards the end more fun

* that said about 4 of the dates were memorable to me - the first four - not quite as much the later ones.

* the romance was kind of cute by the end, but for me, rather unmemorable. At the same time, this book doesn't seem to focus on it that much and it's YA contemporary so it wasn't a negative, just something I didn't care for 100%

*

Spoiler

How did the betting end up? Did they just drop it, or did someone win? Was it the last date with Wes? Also, the guy from date 1 was actually great, what happened with him? They planned to have a second date after Sophie's 10 and then that was never really resolved.

It was a great book all in all, so take the three stars with a grain of salt - it was a good book for me, but might captivate others even more (b/c it has all the great ingredients a fun YA contemporary should have). A heartwarming Christmas read about family, friendship and some cute (and not-so-cute) dates.


My thoughts on each date:

Date #1 (Olivia's pick) - heartwarming and fun, also great guy
Date #2 (aunt Patrice's pick) - will have you laughing on the floor
Date #3 (Charlie's pick) - more of a friend-group date
Date #4 (Sara's date) - interesting premise (though, this was one of the cases where the date was rather cut short and recapped), classy and fun
Date #5 (Evil Joe's pick) - tbh didn't know such a thing could exist either (oh god nope)
Date #6 (aunt Camille’s pick) - cute, but mostly because of the puppies
Date #7 (Aunt Maggie Mae’s Pick) - not a date really
Date #8 - (Uncle Michael’s/Uncle Sal’s Pick) - a fun dress up, loved the concept, didn't care for the date-er (is that even a word?), just like he didn't actually care for his date either
Date #9 (Papa’s Pick) - a non date with family party
Date #10 (Nonna’s Pick) - tbh I enjoyed Sophie's grandma trying to pick her a guy through the whole book in the most embarassing situations possible the most, but this was cute I guess (although again, I wish it wasn't cut short so early on).

Also, I know this got picked up by Netflix (by the producer who got To All the Boys adaptation - which was (the first movie), tbh, in some ways better then the book) back in the middle of 2019, which, if this book became a movie, I think the plot would translate very well in that format. Though I don't know if still will.