Joint Review: Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen

Posted December 29, 2014 by Rowena in Reviews | 6 Comments

Joint Review: Blonde Date by Sarina BowenReviewer: Holly and Rowena
Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen
Series: The Ivy Years #2.5
Also in this series: The Year We Hid Away , The Year We Fell Down , The Understatement of the Year (The Ivy Years, #3), The Shameless Hour (The Ivy Years, #4), The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years, #5), The Fifteenth Minute (The Ivy Years, #5), The Year We Hid Away (The Ivy Years, #2), Extra Credit
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication Date: July 9th 2014
Format: eBook
Source: Purchased
Point-of-View: First
Genres: Fiction, New Adult
Pages: 98
Add It: Goodreads
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | The Ripped Bodice | Google Play Books
four-stars
Series Rating: four-stars

A blind date. A nervous sorority girl. A mean-spirited fraternity prank. What could go wrong?

As a sorority pledge, there are commandments that Katie Vickery must live by. One: thou shalt not show up for the party without a date. Two: the guy shall be an athlete, preferably an upperclassman.

Unfortunately, Katie just broke up with her jerkface football player boyfriend. Even worse, her last encounter with him resulted in utter humiliation. She’d rather hide under the bed than attend a party where he'll be.

Yet staying home would mean letting him win.

Enjoying herself tonight was out of the question. She could only hope to get through the evening without her blind date noticing that he was spending the evening with a crazy person.

Andrew Baschnagel is living proof that nice guys don’t finish first. He’s had his eye on Katie since the moment her long legs waltzed into his art history class. So when her roommate sets Andy up to be Katie’s date, he’d be crazy to say no. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have a lot of practice with either girls or parties. Yet.

“Blonde Date is nothing short of brilliant.”— KimberlyFayeReads.com

“I loved the preceding Ivy Series books but this novella has just become my favorite.”— Booknerdian world

Keywords: sports romance, new adult, college, basketball, novella, sororities, fraternities, humorous romance

Rowena: Holly and I challenged ourselves to do more joint reviews, one review a month this year and in true Holly and Rowena fashion, we fell behind. So this month, you get two reviews from us.

The first review we did was The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen and it was a book that both Holly and I LOVED. That’s saying something because Holly doesn’t love every single book she reads. So kudos to Sarina Bowen for that book.

This review will be about Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen. It’s the short story that features Scarlett’s roommate, Blonde Katie and Bridger’s friend Andy.

I really enjoyed this one. I thought Andy and Katie were great fun to read and get to know. My only gripe? Andy and the Celtics. Just, ugh.

What did you think?

Holly: I think you’re a dork for caring who his team was. Lol Although. ..I don’t think I could love a man who likes the Raiders,  so I guess I can’t talk.

Rowena: You can think that all you want but a Lakers fan will never willingly cheer for a Celtics fan. And I’m a ride or die Lakers fan. I’d have to be considering the seasons we’ve been having lately.

Holly: Can I just say, Andy was adorable. I loved how nerdy he was. When he realizes Katie is nervous, and he decides to help her figure out a way to make the party more bearable? LOVE!

Rowena:  I made an exception for Andy because he was just too freaking awesome. I chose to not blame him for his choice in basketball teams.

The game that Andy chose to play with Katie to get her through the party was too freaking cute for words. I loved that throughout the entire date, Andy was trying to make Katie at ease and I really liked that Katie let him. He really shined at that party and their cute little inside jokes was fun to read about.

What I really liked was how this whole story is going on during the same time as Bridger and Scarlett’s story so the little tid bits lined up and had me grinning like a fool. The music they heard coming from the other room, the laughing and dancing? Hahahahaha. I loved it.

Holly: I loved that, too. Normally I don’t like it when a romance story is set over such a short period of time, but the way this was told, it worked. I loved their entire date, from Katie’s confession and Andy’s reaction, to the game he devised and even the way he managed to make his point to Katie’s ex without making it a big deal.

The thoughts Katie has about slut shaming and her feelings about some of the choices she’s made really made me think, too. Bowen does that a lot. Make me think, I mean.

Rowena: She made me think a lot too. That’s good sometimes and it worked for this story. What I liked about Katie is how real she is. She thought and acted the same way I would done in her shoes and I liked that she was so real.

Holly: I agree, she was very real. So was Andy, for that matter. He wasn’t over the top, he was just a regular guy. He was cute.

What did you think of the last chapter being told from Dash’s (Katie’s ex) point of view?  Do you think he can be redeemed?

Rowena: More than anything, I was confused by the last chapter being told by Dash. Is he getting his own book? Do you know? I know that Bella (Mike Graham’s best friend and the team student manager in The Understatement of the Year) is going to get her own book but who is her hero? Do you think it’s Dash?

I think he’s redeemable. If Cora Carmack can redeem Silas Moore from her Rusk University series and Lisa Kleypas can redeem St. Vincent, I have every faith that Sarina Bowen can redeem Dash. Come to think of it, I want Dash’s story so fingers crossed for me.

Holly: I haven’t heard if Dash is getting a book. I think part of the reason the chapter was from his POV was to impart more info about Katie and Andy without upping the word count. But yes, it makes me think we’ll see more from him in the future. I’m not sure how I feel about that. What he did was pretty bad. It’ll take some serious work on Bowen’s part to redeem him.

Rowena: I thought Bowen told a great story in not lot of page time and the entire thing just worked for me so I give it 4 stars.

Holly: I’m going to give it a 4.25. Initially I would have given it a 4, but after doing a reread I’m upping it. I loved Andy and Katie even more the second time through.

Rowena’s Grade: 4.0
Holly’s Grade: 4.25

The Ivy Years

four-stars


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6 responses to “Joint Review: Blonde Date by Sarina Bowen

  1. This is such a sweet story! The whole thing hinges on how the characters are written and, yes, absolutely, they come across as one hundred percent real people.

    I enjoyed the synchronicity of this story with the one of the last chapters of Bridger’s and Scarlet’s story, but even more, I like that you don’t need to read one to enjoy the other. Those little bit enhance the enjoyment for those of us who are completists or die-hard fans of the series, but are not essential to enjoy either story.

    And finally, I think that having the final chapter from Dash’s point of view shows two things:a), that he is truly and fully aware that he did something really shitty; and b) to show Andy’s and Katie’s relationship has true potential, from an outsider’s perspective. Because the time frame of the story is so short, it helps cement the idea that these kids do have a chance at a long lasting relationship when it’s obvious, even from someone as clueless as Dash, that they are smitten with each other.

    Did that make sense?

  2. I loved this story!! This novella is what made me picked up the rest of the series after The Year We Fell Down and I’m so glad. Just looove it! I personally find Andy very swoon-worthy. He’s just such a nice guy! And I LOL-ed at his phone call with his sister 🙂 That was just so dorky and cute.

    I think AL nailed it for Dash’s POV. It’ll be interesting to see if Dash gets a story or not.

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