10 Blind Dates
Ashley Elston
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
10 Blind Dates
Ashley Elston
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
Rave
Positive
Mixed
Pan
... should absolutely be on that gift list. In fact, buy an extra copy for yourself and read it as soon as comfortably possible. It is POSITIVELY DELIGHTFUL — all caps — from beginning to end.
The repeating first-date structure means things never get too intense between Sophie and her dates and keeps the focus on her relationship with her family. This piece-by-piece romance doesn’t need its Christmas theme to sell, but it makes it glitter all the more..
Elston cleverly reflects the family members’ personalities through their choices of dates for Sophie. Reflective moments balance the comedy as Sophie comes to realize how much her family means to her and is surprised by a possible romance. With its predictably happy outcome, the book closes with a comforting, if tidy, note..
This is a fun story of finding love, getting to know yourself, and getting to know your family. The pace is quick and light, though the characters are fairly shallow and occasionally feel interchangeable, especially with so many names involved. A Christmas tale, the plot is a fast-paced series of dinners, parties, and games, relayed in both narrative form and via texts, though the humor occasionally feels stiff and overwrought. The ending is satisfying, though largely unsurprising. Most characters default to white as members of Sophie’s Italian American extended family, although one of her cousins has a Filipina mother. One uncle is gay.