This was a really cute, light, and funny YA read. It had great information on teen dating all wrapped up in a cute romance. I connected with the main character quickly, but it took me a little longer to connect to the secondary characters.
The main character, Kayla, runs a website called "The Oracle of Dating". She has a close relationship with her older sister, and often gives her advice. Her sister seems to have a bad habit of picking the wrong kind of men. After the advice starts working so well with her sister, and then her sister's friends, she decides to make it available to everyone with a website.
Even though Kayla has a rule of no dating until college, she can't help but feel attracted to the moody artist/musician, Jared. She soon finds out that although she gives love-advice, it wasn't so easy to apply that advice to her own life. When Kayla runs a speed-dating session for charity and Jared doesn't check anyone else off, she starts to believe that he is interested in her. But not long after, Jared starts dating the shallow, popular, Brooke. Between this let-down, and some advice that she gave her friend going horribly wrong, Kayla begins to doubt herself and her advice business....Will "The Oracle of Dating" ever come back?
It was modern, with references to current YA bestsellers, facebook, paypal, blogs, ect. It had teen speak, but wasn't extreme like some books seem to make it. Sex was a previlent topic, but it never actually happened in the story. It dealt with sex in a realistic way that was refreshing to see in a YA book.
I would definitely recommend this book to teens. Some adults may enjoy it as well, but it was definitley written for the target audience and I think they will all find it fun, and beneficial as well! 4 stars
The main character, Kayla, runs a website called "The Oracle of Dating". She has a close relationship with her older sister, and often gives her advice. Her sister seems to have a bad habit of picking the wrong kind of men. After the advice starts working so well with her sister, and then her sister's friends, she decides to make it available to everyone with a website.
Even though Kayla has a rule of no dating until college, she can't help but feel attracted to the moody artist/musician, Jared. She soon finds out that although she gives love-advice, it wasn't so easy to apply that advice to her own life. When Kayla runs a speed-dating session for charity and Jared doesn't check anyone else off, she starts to believe that he is interested in her. But not long after, Jared starts dating the shallow, popular, Brooke. Between this let-down, and some advice that she gave her friend going horribly wrong, Kayla begins to doubt herself and her advice business....Will "The Oracle of Dating" ever come back?
It was modern, with references to current YA bestsellers, facebook, paypal, blogs, ect. It had teen speak, but wasn't extreme like some books seem to make it. Sex was a previlent topic, but it never actually happened in the story. It dealt with sex in a realistic way that was refreshing to see in a YA book.
I would definitely recommend this book to teens. Some adults may enjoy it as well, but it was definitley written for the target audience and I think they will all find it fun, and beneficial as well! 4 stars
Reviewed by Kelsey Jones for TeensReadToo.com
THE ORACLE OF DATING was a fun and flirty start to what I'm sure will be a great new series. The main character, Kayla, was extremely likable and I loved being able to read about her different experiences. She always kept a level head and never let anyone get the best of her.
In addition to Kayla, she had a great group of friends who always supported her. They were a diverse group who went together perfectly. Each of them was unique and realistic, and Ms. van Diepen did a great job of getting into the head of a modern high school student.
One of my favorite aspects of the novel was reading about Kayla's website - The Oracle of Dating. She gave out great advice and the website was such a huge part of her life. I understood how she wanted to keep it a secret, but I was happy her sister was in on it. Tracey was another fantastic character. She and Kayla had a great relationship, even though at times Kayla seemed like she was the older one, always giving Tracey advice and being a shoulder to lean on when her relationships didn't work out.
The author has a great writing style and the book contained some serious sides, as well. Although Kayla spent a lot of her time giving out dating advice, she'd personally only had two failed relationships. Luckily, Jared enters the picture. I loved Jared. He was the perfect mix of sweet and bad boy that kept both Kayla and the reader guessing. It was great watching their relationship develop, and I was crossing my fingers that everything would work out for them.
Overall, THE ORACLE OF DATING was a great - and original - novel that left me eager to start the sequel, THE ORACLE REBOUNDS, and to see what happens to Kayla and her friends next. I highly recommend picking this one up!
THE ORACLE OF DATING was a fun and flirty start to what I'm sure will be a great new series. The main character, Kayla, was extremely likable and I loved being able to read about her different experiences. She always kept a level head and never let anyone get the best of her.
In addition to Kayla, she had a great group of friends who always supported her. They were a diverse group who went together perfectly. Each of them was unique and realistic, and Ms. van Diepen did a great job of getting into the head of a modern high school student.
One of my favorite aspects of the novel was reading about Kayla's website - The Oracle of Dating. She gave out great advice and the website was such a huge part of her life. I understood how she wanted to keep it a secret, but I was happy her sister was in on it. Tracey was another fantastic character. She and Kayla had a great relationship, even though at times Kayla seemed like she was the older one, always giving Tracey advice and being a shoulder to lean on when her relationships didn't work out.
The author has a great writing style and the book contained some serious sides, as well. Although Kayla spent a lot of her time giving out dating advice, she'd personally only had two failed relationships. Luckily, Jared enters the picture. I loved Jared. He was the perfect mix of sweet and bad boy that kept both Kayla and the reader guessing. It was great watching their relationship develop, and I was crossing my fingers that everything would work out for them.
Overall, THE ORACLE OF DATING was a great - and original - novel that left me eager to start the sequel, THE ORACLE REBOUNDS, and to see what happens to Kayla and her friends next. I highly recommend picking this one up!
Summary:
The Oracle is in. Kayla doesn't have a boyfriend, she tried that before and it just didn't seem to work out, so she decides to focus on other people's relationships. She sets up an anonymous dating web page in which she gives advice as the famous Oracle of Dating. Everything seems to be going great. She receives a small fee of $5 for some sound love advice. She feels that she is an expert since she has been giving her sister advice for at least five years. The only problem is that her best friend has consulted the Oracle. She gives the advice that she thinks her best friend needs, but things blow up in her face. Maybe Kayla shouldn't be giving advice, she had failed relationships, she can't get her current interest to pay attention to her, and she obviously gave her best friend terrible advice. What is a teen to do?
My thoughts:
This was so funny! I read this in a plane, and received several odd looks as I broke out into laughter. Kayla is lovable, and the way she weighs out what type of advice she should give is very thoughtful. This definitely brought me back to when I was struggling to figure out if I actually liked a guy or not. Jared is a cute, new rocker boy, who wouldn't be interested in him! Oracle was just like a cute teen romantic comedy. It's a fast read and well worth the odd looks.
5 stars!
The Oracle is in. Kayla doesn't have a boyfriend, she tried that before and it just didn't seem to work out, so she decides to focus on other people's relationships. She sets up an anonymous dating web page in which she gives advice as the famous Oracle of Dating. Everything seems to be going great. She receives a small fee of $5 for some sound love advice. She feels that she is an expert since she has been giving her sister advice for at least five years. The only problem is that her best friend has consulted the Oracle. She gives the advice that she thinks her best friend needs, but things blow up in her face. Maybe Kayla shouldn't be giving advice, she had failed relationships, she can't get her current interest to pay attention to her, and she obviously gave her best friend terrible advice. What is a teen to do?
My thoughts:
This was so funny! I read this in a plane, and received several odd looks as I broke out into laughter. Kayla is lovable, and the way she weighs out what type of advice she should give is very thoughtful. This definitely brought me back to when I was struggling to figure out if I actually liked a guy or not. Jared is a cute, new rocker boy, who wouldn't be interested in him! Oracle was just like a cute teen romantic comedy. It's a fast read and well worth the odd looks.
5 stars!
