Going into this book, I went in not knowing much other than this involved two best friends and something along the lines of dating. Any book by Christina Lauren always manages to catch my attention and from a few people recommending this book, I wanted to read it.

Right away with the prologue, I knew Hazel wasn’t going to be the typical female lead I was normally use to or even expecting for that matter. Hazel was a fun, wild, and very quirky character. Most people I’ve heard didn’t like this story specifically due to Hazel’s quirky personality, and i’ll admit in the very beginning I was starting to formulate the same feeling, but then something stuck out to me as significant. The part when Hazel said, “The world seems full of men who are initially infatuated by our eccentricities, but who ultimately expect them to be temporary. These men eventually grow bewildered that we don’t settle down into calm, potential-wifey girlfriends.” Hazel was aware that she was weird, quirky, and eccentric but she also knew that she wouldn’t change the way she was for anyone because that would mean lying about who she was, she wholeheartedly embraced who she was. I’m glad that was brought up early on in the story because it made me change my perception on Hazel into a more positive one.

As Hazel and Josh help each other to find dates and get out into the dating scene, it started to become clear that Josh was starting to see Hazel in a romantic light such as, the date after Dax and Michelle, Josh was more preoccupied with Hazel, that even his date Michelle could see that Josh should have been on a date with Hazel instead. I really liked how Josh saw Hazel as an amazing person with her quirky, weird personality and everything, he never diminished or belittled her, he accepted her just as she was. 

The friendship between Hazel and Josh was sweet. Both were there for each other and they complimented each other from Hazel’s outgoing personality to Josh’s more chill, relaxed demeanor. Slowly as the story developed showing their friendship moving towards becoming romantic it was clear that Josh and Hazel weren’t just feeling passionate about each other, but also stronger feelings along the lines of love. The chemistry Josh and Hazel had was great and I loved the mix of silly, happy times to the passion they had with each other. 

Towards the end, I kind of had a feeling what was going to happen because 1) someone online spoiled a big part of the story for me and 2) from that spoiler I saw, my theory was in fact right alongside the clues about Hazel (I’m not spoiling but if you’ve read this book, you’ll understand what I’m saying). With that in mind, there was some sense of the miscommunication trope in that both Hazel and Josh were in love with each other, but for some reason believed the other person didn’t share the same feelings, Hazel thinking maybe Josh wouldn’t want her, or Josh thinking that Hazel didn’t even have feelings for him at all. Thankfully, Josh and Hazel were able to clear the air and make their feelings and intentions towards each other clear. Even with Hazel’s own predicament, I was glad to see Josh be so supportive to Hazel and in true Josh Im fashion, he was always so kind and loving to her. 

The epilogue was so sweet and endearing and aww just made me so happy to see Josh and Hazel living their best lives together. Truly a feel good happy story and Josh and Hazel shared a beautiful connection of friendship and love that I can gladly say I will be reading this again later on. Another great story by Christina Lauren.