Review: Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen.

Posted May 24, 2010 by Rowena in Reviews | 5 Comments

For five bucks, the Oracle of Dating will tell you:

* How to flirt

* If that cute guy you’re crushing on likes you, too

* Whether your new romance will last through lunch period

* And much more

What she won’t tell you? Who she is.

No one at Kayla’s school knows she’s the famous Oracle of Dating— the anonymous queen of dating advice. She doesn’t even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make Kayla focus on everyone else’s love life.

But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart—the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating—and she knows just where to find one….

I admit it, I’m a cover snob. I sometimes judge a book by its cover and some of the time, I won’t even touch a book if I don’t like the cover (okay, a lot of the times I do this) but even though I thought this cover wasn’t all that, I wanted to read the book.

I’m glad that I did because I adored this book!

This book follows Kayla as she makes her way through life being the Oracle of Dating. She hasn’t had a lot of boyfriends but she’s smart and she likes to help others out in their time of dating need. She’s got a cool set of friends that are good to her and her family life is great as well. Things are looking good for her until she develops a crush on Jared Stewart. Once she develops her crush on Jared, her life spins out of control and she has to learn how to trust herself to fix things and to make things right.

I really enjoyed getting to know Kayla. I thought this was the most adorable read that I’ve read in a long time. This book reminded me of high school. The good parts of high school, the bad parts of high school and it just took me back to the halls of North High when I crushed on the one boy in school that I was never going to get but lusted after him all the same. It took me back to finding out that Kevin was dating Tracy and the heart break that I felt and overcame. Kayla’s story ended happier than mine did but I still connected with Kayla on a level that I haven’t connected with in a long time. I connected with her because I felt her pain, I knew what she was going through because I’ve been there.

Everyone who’s had a crush on someone that was unattainable will connect with Kayla. She doubted herself, she rejoiced in her friends happiness and she gained the confidence in herself to overcome her obstacles and I really adored that about her.

This book was too cute. I can’t say that enough. Kayla’s family and her friends were all great additions to an already great story. Jared was a fantastic hero and I cheered both him and Kayla on from the very beginning. The way they came together made me for a wonderful emotional roller coaster, a ride that would keep me coming back for more. It was like riding your favorite roller coaster for the first time. After it was over and done, you wanted to go on again. After I finished this, I flipped back and re-read my favorite parts of the book. It was that cute. I enjoyed the heck out of it and am giving it an A because obviously, I LOVED IT!

Final Grade: A

I received this book for review from NetGalley.
Buy the book: B&N|Borders|Amazon
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com


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5 responses to “Review: Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen.

  1. This does sound cute. I have to admit I saw this on NetGalley and dismissed it as to kiddie because of it’s cover. That’s what we get for judging huh?! 🙂

  2. Thanks for reviewing, Rowena! We’ve had similar comments on the cover, and will be interested to see what you think of the sequel, The Oracle Rebounds, in November.
    –Natashya Wilson (HQ Teen sr. ed.)

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