Book Review | 10 Blind Dates #20booksofsummer22

Book nine of my summer reading challenge and a bit of a random pick on a shopping expedition.

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10 Blind Dates
Ashley Elston

Would you let your family play matchmaker to help you get over a broken heart? 

Sophie wants one thing for Christmas – time with her boyfriend Griffin. So when her parents plan a trip to visit her sister over the holiday, Sophie begs to be left behind with her grandparents and her boisterous extended family. But she and Griffin break up and she’s devastated. 

Sophie’s grandmother, hating to see her so upset, devises a (not so) brilliant plan – to distract her from heartbreak. Over the next ten days, different family members will set Sophie up on ten different blind dates, which doesn’t sound awkward at all . . . 

When Griffin turns up unexpectedly, it makes Sophie more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she’s started to have feelings for someone else. Someone who is definitely not available.

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I picked this book because I wanted something fun and I thought it would fit the bill, I didn’t quite compute that it is set around Christmas time which maybe isn’t a usual choice for a summer read but it didn’t bother me so much reading about the snow and cold when I was in the sweltering heat. Thankfully it also did turn out to be a fun and entertaining book so it was just perfect for what I wanted.

The whole concept of this book was great, Sophie’s family picking out dates for her to distract her from heartbreak and so that she can have a little fun in the process, just such a lovely idea and made even better because it adds to the big family charm of this book. I always really enjoy reading about big families especially when they are all in each other’s business and nothing can be kept secret for long, which is exactly what it is like with Sophie’s family.

The dates were so much fun, I felt myself getting excited to find out what Sophie would be doing next and how nice or mean the different family members were with their choice. I also liked that they all got so involved, they started taking bets and getting competitive about how long Sophie would last on each of the dates. The dates were also a good way for Sophie to reconnect with her extended family, especially her cousins who she had previously been really close to.

I loved the relationship between Sophie and her sister Margot, that they really stand by each other even when they are so far apart, and that Margot gets in on the betting action and gets to live vicariously through Sophie as she is on bed rest. There was also a little bit of romantic tension throughout the book from someone who is not a date contender and I enjoyed seeing that build slowly.

The only thing that I found a little lacklustre in this book was Sophie’s relationship with Griffin, there isn’t much time spent on it in the beginning except for it to be an inciting incident but even Sophie’s emotions after the break-up felt like they were more tell than show and so did not feel as credible. Don’t get me wrong as soon as Sophie starts getting set up on dates for me he was all but forgotten, but certain things might have been more convincing if I was more sold on the relationship in the first place.

Apart from that 10 Blind Dates is a highly enjoyable story of family and friendship and finding love, and even with its Christmas setting it was still a fantastic summer read.