The Espressologist: Review

Title: The Espressologist

Author: Kristina Springer

Release Date: October 2009

Published By: Farrar Straus Giroux

Pages: 184

Goodreads Rating: 3.50 stars

Review: Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner believes you can tell anything about someone's personality from their coffee of choice, and scribbles it down into a notebook and calls it Espressology. She starts by match-making a few customers, including her best friend Em with a cute guy named Cam, and her boss turns it into a huge holiday promotion. Everything's going well, so she should be happy, right? Except she's not... and it just might have something to do with Cam.

Just as it sounds, THE ESPRESSOLOGIST is a cute and fun read about romance and coffee, two very good things that make an even better combination. Jane is a believable and well-rounded character, and I loved reading about all the different types of coffee. It was also rather neat to see what sorts of personalities corresponded to each drink, and how it all tied in for a nice, relaxing story.

If I had one complaint, it would be that the story was on the predictable side. Of course, that's to be expected for a book like this, but I did wish there was at least some variation or something unexpected going on. Still, the predictability did lend the book a rather satisfying air, and it made the perfect read to just lie back and go through. The romance was sweet if a bit lacking in complexity, and you're sure to spend much of the book rooting for Cam and Jane to get together.

THE ESPRESSOLOGIST is everything you'd expect from the synopsis: a bit predictable but fun, fluffy, and adorable. The romance isn't the most incredible one ever written, but the story is sufficiently gripping to keep you entertained for a good two hours or so, and can easily be finished in one sitting. I would recommend this to anyone out for nice, relaxing chick lit.