My Favorite Review of ’25 to Love!’

As of today, I have 12 reviews of 25 to Love!. My romantic comedy about a woman who goes on a dating show as the token person of color has gotten some varied feedback. The one below is my favorite, from a reviewer named T. Wheaton. I don’t know if T. is male or female, but he or she has mastered the art of the helpful review. *Salutes*

Without further ado, T. Wheaton:

“I loved this. I’ve read other books that use reality shows as their settings. Of all the books I’ve read with this setting, this is probably the one that feels like it gets closest to the truth.The manipulation, using a small thing and changing the narrative to make it worse than it is, sound-biting to create a narrative etc. Felt very smart.

This is told from the heroine Lola’s POV. I loved her voice. She was funny and smart and had a good sense of the ridiculous as she knows she is just the token black girl on the show, so she kinda plays around with her pre-ordained fate. The writing was really quite witty. Just the sort of light, breezy tone a book like this needed.

One of my quibbles is with the hero Neil. He felt opaque to me. Understandable in some ways as this is told from Lola’s POV, but still I wanted to see a little more of what made him tick.

The supporting characters were great. Very intrigued by Neil’s brother Aidan and the camera guy, Wedge. I also love how the author conceptualized Aram, Lol’s cousin. In another book he would have been the gay best friend. In this book he is straight but with a gayfabulous sense of style.

Finally the author did not fall into any of my pet peeve traps with skin, hair, eye coloring etc. descriptions. I give her clever points for this sentence:

“She had a Valrhona complexion…”

I have begun to heartily dislike “food coloring’ descriptors (you know, chocolate, caramel, mocha, honey-skinned etc.) This is how you use chocolate to describe coloring without actually using the word ‘chocolate.’ Snaps!

Great book, heartily recommend.”

You’ll find 25 to Love! here http://www.amazon.com/25-Love-Joye-Johnson/dp/1490951288/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top