review: the espressologist by kristina springer

Jane is a 17 year old barista who's just been promoted to assistant manager. She doesn't actually want the responsibility, just the extra money since she's saving for college. Given that Jane rarely attends class, getting into her "dream college" might be a bigger problem than how to pay for it. Jane feels her high school classes are "boring" and the ones she takes at the local junior college are filled with "people who couldn't make it into real college and old people returning to school." I thought for sure that statement would come into play when Jane develops a friendship with a boy from her junior college English class. Unfortunately, it didn't.

While the premise of a teenager using coffee preferences to create love matches is great, the plot falls flat. Every character is predictable; there are no twists, surprises, or even any growth with the characters who are at an age when they should be experiencing a lot of things that will shape their futures.

A final complaint: People shouldn't try to write TV if they don't know the industry. Everything about the Gabby Girlz scene was just wrong (Jane appears on the show when her match-making starts attracting more customers). Jane would only be under a time crunch if the show was live to tape, which the author implied a few times since they would stop down and have the director count them in, but then other things were clearly going to be edited out. If any editing was going to occur, then they also could've edited out the time it took Jane to find an appropriate couple.
1/5
Review copy provided by Other Shelf Tours.