The Oracle of Dating
By Allison van Diepen
Publication date: May 1, 2010
Rating:****
My review:
16-year-old Kayla has a secret that she is keeping from her parents, her friends, and her classmates: she is the Oracle of Dating, the love guru behind the popular dating advice blog and phone hotline. Even though she has only had two failed relationships herself, Kayla gives out practical dating advice for $5. Things are going smoothly until she starts to notice hot senior Jared Stewart and Kayla realizes she needs advice herself.
I found The Oracle of Dating to be a delightful and lighthearted look at relationships. Kayla is a funny and engaging character who is in some ways wise beyond her years. She offers usually sage advice to her older sister and her Oracle customers even though she has only been in two brief relationships herself. She does have a useful reference shelf of relationship self-help books of the Men are From Mars, Women are From Venus variety to augment her own wisdom. However she is in other ways just like any other regular teen facing dating woes, hanging out with friends, and dealing with school. Kayla and her friends party a little bit, sneaking into clubs with fake I.D.s, etc. so Kayla does act like a teen when not working as the Oracle of Dating.
From the beginning there are obvious sparks between Kayla and Jared and it is humorous to see Kayla try to keep from having any sort of attraction to him. Jared's character is also interesting and he perfectly complements Kayla. Kayla's friends unfortunately fall flat. They exist not as individuals but as interchangeable sidekicks for the most part. That is the one really disappointing thing about this novel. Hopefully in future books in the series we will get to know her friends better. Kayla's mother and stepfather are barely around but that is typical for YA novels. When they are around however they are likeable, especially Kayla's stepfather. Kayla's sister is important to Kayla and it is funny to see them interact. Kayla really cares for her sister and does her best to give her older sister good dating advice which I think is sweet.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable and entertaining novel. I even laughed out loud at times. This is the first Allison van Diepen novel I've read but I will definitely read the next book in this series. I think that teen girls who enjoy authors like Meg Cabot will really like The Oracle of Dating.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this title from the publisher for review purposes.
Need to put this book on my TBR list. Great review!.
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just gave you an award at my blog :)
http://booknerds-are-pretty-too.blogspot.com/2010/02/awards.html
This looks so cute! Thank you for following my blog :)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read any of Alison's books but I've been wanting to read Raven for a while, thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteI stopped by for The Saturday Network!
This one sounds good. A lot of my HS girls would really enjoy this. I'll have to add it to my next book order. (Visiting from the Saturday Network too.)
ReplyDeleteGreat review! I need to put this one on my TBR pile! It sounds like something I'd enjoy.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I gave your blog an award! :) Check it out here:
http://bookaddictchris.blogspot.com/2010/02/lovely-award.html
This sounds cute, like something my 15yr old cousin would enjoy reading. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by my blog early! I came to check yours out as well.
The Oracle of Dating sounds like a fun book. I like having a few of those on my TBR list, books that make you smile. Great review.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really cute book!
ReplyDeleteResponse to your comment: I agree! It IS pretty sad to hear about people who don't read. And around here, the people who usually don't are the ones who get into a lot of trouble all the time. But I agree, maybe they were put off by school. I admit I hated reading school work, but I have always loved reading books!
Sounds cute! I enjoy books like this, so I'll probably check it out! Oh, I'm from The Saturday Network but I already follow ;)
ReplyDelete