[I received a free electronic review copy of this book from Netgalley and Disney/Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. This book will release next week on May 4th.]
Summary
Olivia and her cousins are a week away from graduating when she finds out she is short half a credit of PE. She did an outside course – golf – but didn’t finish all the hours needed. She’s supposed to be salutatorian, but now she might not even graduate.
Olivia has one shot to fix things, but it’s going to be complicated. She has to spend the week working on a golf tournament for the coach to make up her hours. But she’s supposed to be going to a bunch of graduation parties all week – and she doesn’t want anyone to find out about this hiccup in her situation. Her parents are away for the week due to work, but Olivia’s mom is obsessively tracking her phone while they are gone.
So Sophie, Charlie, and Wes agree to swap phones with Olivia and hit the parties so her parents don’t find out about her screw up. But their always-present, over-involved, tightly-knit family will be hard to dodge.
Review
I absolutely adored the first book about the Messina family, 10 Blind Dates, when I read it in 2019. In fact, it was number three in my list of favorite reads of the year – 3 out of 400 is a big deal! I was thrilled at the news that there would be a sequel!
This was far more stressful than the first book. In 10 Blind Dates, Sophie’s family is “helping” her over a break up in a bizarre way. Olivia’s situation has far more serious stakes, which changes the tone of the book. There are still funny moments, but this is not the laugh-riot that Dates is for me.
The characters are my favorite part of this series. The core four are back, and it’s delightful to spend time with them again. There’s less time spent with the larger family group in this one. But Uncle Michael was solidified as my favorite extended family member thanks to this book. (Don’t get me started on Olivia’s mom and her tracking app, though. Yikes!) I would love to see Charlie get a book to round out the series. I will jump at any chance to spend more time with these characters in the future.
Newcomers should be able to follow this story without difficulty even if they haven’t read 10 Blind Dates. But trust me – you will absolutely want to pick that one up asap! (Some language, LGBTQ+)
Rating: ♥♥♥♥*
*♥♥♥♥ = Great! Might re-read.