The Espressologist by Kristina Springer
BookDepository / Amazon / Amazon UK
LibraryThing / Goodreads

Rating: 4 stars
Pages: 192

Summary: What’s your drink of choice?Is it a small pumpkin spice latte? Then you’re lots of fun and a bit sassy.Or a medium americano? You prefer simplicity in life.Or perhaps it’s a small decaf soy sugar-free hazelnut caffe latte? Some might call you a yuppie.Seventeen-year-old barista Jane Turner has this theory that you can tell a lot about a person by their regular coffee drink. She scribbles it all down in a notebook and calls it Espressology. So it’s not a totally crazy idea when Jane starts hooking up some of her friends based on their coffee orders. Like her best friend, Em, a medium hot chocolate, and Cam, a toffee nut latte. But when her boss, Derek, gets wind of Jane’s Espressology, he makes it an in-store holiday promotion, promising customers their perfect matches for the price of their favorite coffee. Things are going better than Derek could ever have hoped, so why is Jane so freaked out? Does it have anything to do with Em dating Cam? She’s the one who set them up! She should be happy for them, right?

With overtones of Jane Austen’s Emma and brimming with humor and heart, this sweet, frothy debut will be savored by readers.

Thoughts: I adored The Espressologist! It is a modern-day fairytale: enchanting, funny and caffinated!

Everything I love about coffee shops is in this book! The drinks, the environment, and the perky staff. Although I have to say, reading it in Starbucks made it even more enjoyable. Short and sweet, I finished it in a single day.

Jane was a breath of fresh air as a narrator - and I felt the style was very much like my own. I swear this is just a book I forgot to write! The only thing I wish had been more developed was the love interest Cam - who I never really, er, got. Had I liked him even a little bit more, this could easily have been a 5 star book. It was honestly that enjoyable!

The hardback edition - which is currently the only one out - has an adorable coffee stain circle etched into it.  And how much more adorable could that cover possibly get?  ♥

Bottom line? A wonderful, escapist read for coffee-lovers of all ages. Especially if you need a little reality to cleanse your palate between all the fantasy YA in the market!

It's Monday! What are you reading this week? is a weekly event to celebrate what we are reading.

Books I am currently reading:

• Heart at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey - Only a few chapters in, but am enjoying the verse so far!

Books finished this week:

• Fallen by Lauren Kate - Pretty enjoyable, but I felt as though the end was a bit rushed.  I'm just glad I didn't end up hating it like some reviewers!

Reviews posted this week

• Dark Lover by J.R. Ward - Loved this series and finally got around to writing a review!

• The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler
• Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr
• Fallen by Lauren Kate
• Moon Called by Patricia Briggs

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren ( inspired by Alea of Pop Culture Junkie) and explores the content of your mailbox.  Or bookbox as they should now be called!

All YA books this week!

• The 13 Curses by Michelle Harrison
• Heart at Stake by Alyxandra Harvey - bought at Forbidden Planet
• A Company of Swans by Eva Ibbotson
• Knife by R.J. Anderson
• Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore - bought at Foyles
• Beautiful Dead Book 1: Jonas by Eden Maguire

I was very picky about the covers I got for these books.  I wanted to avoid the whole race debacle surrounding Magic Under Glass -  so bought the UK cover.  I thought the US version of Knife (which is called Faery Rebels in the US) looked like it was designed for a three-year-old - so, again, bought the UK cover.  And I was annoyed that the UK publisher completely changed the cover and title of Hearts at Stake (called My Love Lies Bleeding in the UK) - so I bought the US cover!  *sighs*

But what was amazing was I was able to pick-and-choose from these covers in London bookstores!  One luxury I think US readers don't quite have... !

On My Wishlist is a weekly meme hosted by Book Chick City. It allows us to share the books we haven't bought yet but are waiting to be bought and devoured.  (This post was inspired by the fab In My Mailbox by Kristi at The Story Siren).

Some Girls Bite (Chicagoland Vampires) by Chloe Neill
- This book has been on my wishlist for quite some time, but after reading Neill's Debut into YA Firespell, it has made its way up to the top of the list!

First in a brand new series about a Chicago graduate student’s introduction into a society of vampires.

Sure, the life of a graduate student wasn’t exactly glamorous, but it was Merit’s. She was doing fine until a rogue vampire attacked her. But he only got a sip before he was scared away by another bloodsucker—and this one decided the best way to save her life was to make her the walking undead.

Turns out her savior was the master vampire of Cadogan House. Now she’s traded sweating over her thesis for learning to fit in at a Hyde Park mansion full of vamps loyal to Ethan “Lord o’ the Manor” Sullivan. Of course, as a tall, green-eyed, four-hundred- year-old vampire, he has centuries’ worth of charm, but unfortunately he expects her gratitude— and servitude. But an inconvenient sunlight allergy and Ethan’s attitude are the least of her concerns. Someone’s still out to get her. Her initiation into Chicago’s nightlife may be the first skirmish in a war—and there will be blood.

Pastworld by Ian Beck
This has been on my wishlist for a while - and I really do want to get my hands on it!  There are so few YA books set in London and it just seems rather wrong that I haven't read it yet!

What if all of London were really an amusement park—a whole city returned to Victorian times to entertain visitors from the twenty-first century? That's the wildly original premise of Ian Beck's Pastworld, a high-stakes mystery set in a simulated past.

Eve is a lifelong resident of Pastworld who doesn’t know she’s living in a theme park until a mysterious threat forces her to leave home. Caleb is a visiting tourist who finds the lawlessness of the past thrilling—until he suddenly becomes a fugitive from an antiquated justice system. And in the midst of it all, in the thick London fog a dark and deadly figure prowls, claiming victim after victim. He’s the Fantom, a creature both of the past and of the present, in whose dark purpose Caleb and Eve will find their destinies combined.

Page-turning, complex, and haunting, Pastworld masterfully exposes the human experience of the past, of violence, of technology, and of entertainment.

Just One of the Guys by Kristan Higgins
This contemporary romance book was just re-released in early January and looks utterly adorable. And not just because of the dog on the cover! ... although that always helps!

Being one of the guys isn't all it's cracked up to be…

So when journalist Chastity O'Neill returns to her hometown, she decides it's time to start working on some of those feminine wiles. Two tiny problems: #1—she's five feet eleven inches of rock-solid girl power, and #2—she's cursed with four alpha male older brothers.

While doing a story on local heroes, she meets a hunky doctor and things start to look up. Now there's only one problem: Trevor Meade, her first love and the one man she's never quite gotten over—although he seems to have gotten over her just fine.

Yet the more time she spends with Dr. Perfect, the better Trevor looks. But even with the in-your-face competition, the irresistible Trevor just can't seem to see Chastity as anything more than just one of the guys.…

Well, that's just a short selection from my ever growing wishlist.  Go over to Book Chick City and share what is on yours!

The covers for the seventh (!) House of Night book were released this week, and I just had to share.  Considering how much I disliked both the UK and US covers of Tempted, this makes for a nice change!

I am kinda surprised that they set the release date so soon for this book, even though the Casts only finished it on Monday!  Seems a bit presumptuous... but I guess this series is popular enough for them to want to get them on overdrive.

On a personal note, I am kinda surprised that I actually have stuck through with this series - considering how I don't actually like the writing all that much.  But, well, I just want to find out how everything bloody well ends!