Hilarious premise turned into a totally cute feel-good story. ( )

A delightful read! It wasn't deep or heavy, just light, cozy and yummy! And now I'm really craving coffee.

While I wouldn't say this is a MUST read, I will say it's a great supplement to get you reading if you're feeling bogged down by longer books.

Thanks for an adorable story, Kristina Springer! ( )

Seventeen year-old barista Jane Turner matches her customers based on their coffee preferences. Recommended for fans of romantic comedies or urban fairytales. A sweet, frothy, light-hearted romance. ( )

Really cute! ( )

I was completely engrossed in Kristina Springer’s debut novel The Espressologist! It was a super-quick, entertaining read – and I really adored it. Now, of course it isn’t flawless (thus the three stars), but it was certainly captivating!

This isn’t something I would normally read (I myself preferring sci-fis and dystopias to the majority of other genres), but when Gabby recommended it to me, just from reading the summary I knew I was hooked!

THE PLOT

This is one of the most creative plots I’ve read in a long time! The author perfectly crafts everything, and I truly enjoyed it! The originality and uniqueness held inside these mere 185 pages was astounding! Kristina truly has a wonderful imagination and flair for writing, and I enjoyed watching her gifts shine!
        Our story follows 17-year-old Jane Turner. Jane’s a completely normal teenager – she’s studying hard(ish) for college, works part-time at the local coffee shop (“Wired Joe’s”) and has her own dreams and aspirations. But she has a secret talent! She has figured out that people’s personalities correspond to the coffee they order! Then one day, she starts match-making people based on their coffee tastes (like Cam, her classmate, and Em, her loyal best friend). But then her boss Derek finds out about her special talent and everything turns upside down…
        There was not one minute during the story that I was not hooked; astounded by the brilliance of the plot. I’m truly impressed with how Kristina had the ability to come up with such a profoundly remarkable story!

However, I did feel that the ending came to fast for my taste. Actually, by the point the novel finished, I was just beginning to truly enjoy the novel’s brilliance! And when the words



appeared in the text 185 pages in, I couldn’t help but ask myself "it’s over ALREADY?" For me personally, it would have been interesting to see the chain of events carry out for a little while longer. The ending was wrapped up nicely – with a pink bow and all – but it just all so superficial in my mind - I didn't really believe it all. I didn't feel like I was in the story with Jane and her friends. I felt like someone reading am interesting history textbook.

THE WRITING
To me, the writing was slightly above average – not quite “eloquent,” but not terrible either. Actually, I quite like Kristina Springer’s writing style – it flows quite well; the transitions are so flawless it makes writing look effortless! The pacing was great also – it was fast, but not too fast; making it a very quick (I read it in about 45 minutes), but satisfying, read – one prefect for a beautiful summer day!
        One thing I noticed was how tightly edited the plot is. There are no unnecessary scenes or characters – there were hardly even unnecessary words added to the text! And I liked that simplicity. It contributed to the fact that the book was never boring - despite it not being an action-oriented story. It held my interest from page one and never let go.
        The book is written in simplistic, yet powerful sentences that actually sounded like they were actually taken from a modern-day teenager’s dialogue! I was actually quite impressed as a realistic and accurate portrayal of a teenager’s voice is quite hard to capture in literature!

THE CHARACTERS
Overall, the characters were pretty solid, but I still wanted more. I truly enjoyed the characters in The Espressologist - they were all unique, creative and overall just plain fun! Most of the characters in the story had at least some layer depth, but I feel like they could have just had a LITTLE more. They were…



…but I felt that Springer wasn’t giving us her all. I truly enjoyed Jane – she was so realistic and easy to relate to, but some of the secondary characters seemed a tad more development. It seemed to me that they were either “all good” or “all bad” – and this bothered me; it was just simply too unrealistic for my liking. (Is anyone perfect – in either a good or a bad way? No! That’s why this was just too unrealistic for me).
        Overall, however, despite the lack of complete development, I really did enjoy most of the characters – despite their flaws and phoniness (One thing I really enjoyed was Melissa’s “transformation!”)

And yet, despite all the book’s (mostly minor) flaws, I still really enjoyed it! It was a prefect break from all the dystopias I’ve been reading recently, and I am really glad I picked it up – and, even though it’s not on my “5-star” list, I’d still highly recommend it to anyone who wants a cute, fast-paced read to end their summer with.

A solid 3.5 coffee cups.
READING NEXT: Finishing up [b:A Game of Thrones|13496|A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)|George R.R. Martin|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1369520317s/13496.jpg|1466917] and beginning [b:A Heart-Shaped Box|153025|Heart-Shaped Box|Joe Hill|http://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1328043955s/153025.jpg|1412280].

Find review and more book-related fun at my new blog: www.zoereads.blog.com! ( )