Love and Other Foreign Words

by Erin McCahan

Can anyone be truly herself--or truly in love--in a language that's not her own?

Sixteen-year-old Josie lives her life in translation. She speaks High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Break-ups, and even the language of Beautiful Girls. But none of these is her native tongue -- the only people who speak that are her best friend Stu and her sister Kate. So when Kate gets engaged to an epically insufferable guy, how can Josie see it as anything but the mistake of a lifetime? Kate is determined to bend Josie to her will for the wedding; Josie is determined to break Kate and her fiancé up. As battles are waged over secrets and semantics, Josie is forced to examine her feelings for the boyfriend who says he loves her, the sister she loves but doesn't always like, and the best friend who hasn't said a word -- at least not in a language Josie understands.

Genres: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, Young Adult Contemporary, Teen

336 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Praise for THE LAKE EFFECT:

-“Observant, sarcastic, compelling, and very funny . . . this thoroughly enjoyable read is a seductive invitation to relax and let life happen.” —Kirkus Reviews (STARRED review)

"[An] inviting, thoughtful novel." —The Chicago Tribune

"A dazzlingly hilarious trifecta of awkward growing pains, social gaffes, and the romance that will warm your heart forever . . . Erin McCahan is the reigning queen of summer YA reads." —PopSugar

Erin lives in Columbus, OH, with her husband of over 18 years, Tim, and their two cats, Simon and Josie.

When she is not writing or taking walks with her husband, she can be found in any number of local coffee shops having chai and long conversations with friends.

Reviews

[Aj the Ravenous Reader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun, entertaining read. I love Josie’s preciseness in every language she chooses to speak. She’s the kind of girl who wants to make sure that she and the other party involved in every communication should share similar language. The moment she doesn’t understand another person’s language is her ultimate tragedy so when her sister Kate announces her engagement to Geoff spelled with a P, Josie resolves to make her older sister see that he isn’t right for her even if it has to take Josie to understand love, the most foreign, most alien language to her.

It got me so curious how she’ll go about all of it. Where were you book, when I was taking up my Sociolinguistics class back in college? Love and other Foreign Words would have made such a fun material for said class.

Josie’s relationship with her family especially with her sister is too endearing. I’m not a genius like Josie but boy, did I relate with her so much. I love how she always translates everything. Just see the following examples:

"Take the phrase cool or that’s cool. Depending on how, when and where, it has meant:
1. That’s really interesting.
2. I approve or like that.
3. I’ve never heard or seen that before.
4. I guess I don’t mind.

Shut up translated situationally, it means:
1. Stop talking.
2. Thank you.
3. I am not.
4. You’re kidding.
5. You’re right, and I have no comeback. "

Overall, it was a fun, really hilarious, adorably romantic, entertaining and informative read. I love how the book explores language in its deepest meanings and widest functions.

[Aimee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually only picked up Love and Other Foreign Words on a whim during a bookstore sale. I had previously read a positive review of the novel (that definitely mentioned a lot of things I think I'd enjoy) and put it in the back of my mind. Luckily, this novel did not disappoint.

First off, I'd like to commend Erin McCahan's different spin on what you'd call a generic story. We've all heard of stories with teens falling in love--but what if one teen didn't understand the definition of love?

Josie was a spectacular and hilarious heroine. An intelligent girl (a genius, really), she over analyzes even the smallest things and really pushes herself to understand everyone and to make sure she knows the right way to respond. I loved Josie's voice and how I felt as if she was a real teen--awkward and constantly confused. The one thing that confused her most? Love.

The great thing is, as Josie learned along her journey of finding love's true definition, we learned as well. Love isn't only the romantic kind--we feel love for friends and family, too.

The family aspect of the novel was so truthful and honest. There were fights and make-up between the siblings, as well as those little acts of love, appreciation, and of course (believe me, if you have a sibling, you'd relate) ploys of revenge. Josie and her family were hilarious and I loved how they remind me of my own family. She was close with her parents, was on-and-off with her sisters and that's just how a lot of people are.

Then there's the romantic kind of love. This was the kind of love Josie had yet to experience and was searching for. She'd experienced crushes, the like-but-not-love and love-in-denial and it was great to watch Josie develop and grow throughout all of these. The actual love interest was so cute and just very shippable.

Josie also loved her friends--girl friends and a guy friend. There was a lot of support, advice, bonding moments and more with Josie and her friends, just like what we experience with ours. A lot of books actually fail in terms of good, strong friendships for me. McCahan did not.

So here's a tip: Don't just go into this one for the romance (although I would totally understand you if you did, because hello, adorableness!), go into it for how much you'll be able to see yourself in the novel. Plus the humor. I totally laughed out loud so many times while reading this one.

 A quickie overview:

Tired of reading generic, boring contemporary romance? McCahan serves it with a quirky heroine, a good dose of family love and friendship, mixed in with an adorable romance and of course, the language of love.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book. The whole novel follows Josie who is so insanely smart that it made me feel incredibility dumb. Josie can speak all these different languages such as high school, college, friends and so on but the one language she can't grasp is the language of love.

This book follows Josie navigating through the world of 'love' and trying to understand it. It all begins when her older sister announces that she is engaged to a insufferable man named Geoff. Now when he was first introduced I could not stand the guy. He was a huge know it all, cocky and what topped it off for me was when he told Kate's mother that 'There was a little to much basil in the sauce but that's ok, Americans make that mistake often.'

Um, what? I have to give it to Kate's parents for being mature, patient people because Lord knows if I was told that I would be none of those things! Josie is quite upset that Kate is marrying this horrible man and tries to break them up quite often.

Josie is forced to look the language of love and try to understand it. She even gets in a relationship with a sweet boy named Lucas but fails to fall in love.

I liked this book but I wouldn't say I loved it. I found it extremely hard to connect with Josie. That could be me, though. I am a huge romantic and I believe that when you find the right person that 'You just know'. Josie had a hard time grasping the concept of love and how it doesn't matter if someone is completely different for you that love is just that- love.

I did enjoy her relationships with her sisters, but it was another thing I couldn't understand. I only have one sibling, a younger brother so I don't understand the relationships with sisters. I enjoyed reading about Josie & Kate though. I also loved reading about Josie with her friends Stu & Sophie.

I will say I predicted the ending from almost the beginning. I loved the ending, I just wish we got to see it a little sooner if that makes any sense. Overall I did enjoy this book! It will make you look at love and analyze it much like Josie did.

Also props to Erin McCahan for using the band Styx in this book! That is my Dad's all time favorite band! It was fun seeing that in this book!

[Prabhjot Kaur (Away) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Josie is a very intelligent, smart and extra ordinary sixteen year old girl. The fact that she's smart and doesn't feel the need to go for a make-over like a lot of other YA girls makes me like her even more. She's comfortable in her own skin. I also like the fact that she's very close to her family. Despite all this, I felt I couldn't enjoy the book as much as I had wanted to. I had heard really good reviews for this but I felt annoyed most of the times reading Love and Other Foreign Words.

I was especially annoyed by how mean Josie's sister Kate was to her. How Kate wanted to get even at every single thing. I mean COME ON she's young, she's a teenager and teenagers are like that, a bit annoying. But instead of Kate trying to make Josie understand things by explaining, she just kept on saying, "you really have met your match." It was very annoying. Yes, I am aware that I have said the word annoying few times in this review and it is annoying and that's exactly how I felt reading about Kate.

A star each for Josie and Stu.

2 stars

[Regan · Rating 3 out of 5]

4.25

I really really enjoyed the main character and her voice! I personally found this book to be hilarious

[Jessy MelodyofBooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Meine Rezension: https://youtu.be/3c-f35sa7q0

[Yelania Nightwalker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuando vi que este libro estaba recomendado por Rainbow Rowell, pensé “desastre inminente”. A mí no me había gustado Eleanor & Park, así que, cómo podría confiar en un libro recomendado por su autora. Sin embargo, abrí el libro y lean bien: ME OBLIGUÉ A EMPEZARLO.

Por fortuna, desde las primeras líneas me sentí enganchada. La voz de Josie es de lo más fresca y peculiar. Ella es la hija menor, la que llegó de manera inesperada y es una chica genio, por lo mismo, tiene muchas características que la hacen especial. Tiene una especie de trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo y el carácter más divertido que se puedan imaginar. Siendo la menor y rodeada como ha estado de dos hermanas mayores, ha tenido que adecuarse a las pláticas de los adultos y tratar de entenderlos. A demás, tiene que intentar entender a sus amigos de la preparatoria, que tienen su propio lenguaje y a sus compañeros de la universidad (a donde asiste también), que por lógica, tienen otro lenguaje. Así que ella  se la vive interpretando a la gente y acomodándose de acuerdo a las circunstancias.

Cuando comienza a salir con un chico, que por cierto, se enamora de ella, las cosas se le complican. Josie no sabe si está enamorada de él, ni sabe siquiera si desea estarlo. Él me encantó, me gustó las razones que le da respecto a por qué le gusta tanto ella, sin embargo, sabemos que Josie no se quedará con él.

Ella tiene otros amigos y me encanta la amistad que se desarrolla entre ellos, en especial la que tiene con sus vecinos Sophie y Stu. Con él asiste a la universidad también, es otro chico genio aunque es mayor que ella. Es el típico chico que anda con una chica, la deja y luego va por la otra y Josie no tiene ningún reparo en hacérselo saber. La relación entre ella y estos dos hermanos es muy bonita, la amistad que mantiene con ellos me tenía encantada de la vida.

Su hermana mayor, Maggie, está casada con un chico al que Josie adora y el problema empieza cuando su otra hermana, Kate, a la que considera más bien como una amiga, decide casarse. Para ella el prometido de su hermana, Geoff, es insufrible y no es adecuado para Kate, aunque a todo el mundo le gusta y todo el mundo le dice lo que es obvio, que su hermana está enamorada. Pero Josie no lo entiende, porque no sabe traducir el amor. Nunca lo ha sentido.

Así se enzarzan en una pelea donde Kate está decidida a cambiarla y Josie intenta mantener su esencia, sin dejar por ello de molestar a su Kate. En este punto, yo sufrí y se me salieron un par de lágrimas porque sentí que su hermana se había pasado en un par de situaciones, y lo único que yo deseaba era ir corriendo a darle un abrazo a Josie. Al final, me sorprendió mucho la manera en que resolvieron su situación. En este punto hubo algo que me encantó porque como Josie es la narradora, siempre nos hace sentir que el prometido de Kate es horrible y lo peor del mundo, pero cuando ella se da cuenta de la realidad y comprende por qué le caía tan mal y empieza entonces a gustarle, es cuando nosotros abrimos los ojos y vemos la realidad junto con ella.

Otro de los temas del libro es ese primer amor que experimentamos y Josie lo vive, se ciega, se pone a ver cosas que en realidad no son  y el despertar, ufff es muy difícil y triste para ella. La verdad es que llegados a este punto, lo que Kate le hizo a Josie no me gustó, la odié y quise ir a darle un par de golpes, por más que esa hubiera sido la razón por la que Josie finalmente se da cuenta de las cosas... Me pareció cruel.

El final es genial, sobre todo porque es cuando alguien se le declara y Josie comprende entonces de quién podría realmente enamorarse.

Sólo me queda decir que Amor y otras palabras extrañas fue una novela ligera, divertida, fresca, tierna… una historia que no se vale de tantas pretensiones para enganchar y enamorar al lector. Ojalá que cuando la hagan película, conserven la esencia de la novela: el valor de la amistad y la importancia de ser uno mismo. 

Maravillosa, conmovedora, divertido, inteligente... Amo este libro como ningún otro, es impresionante.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

“I’ll try for Kate’s sake,” I say. “But if he uses the word adolescent again while I am one, I’m going to have to insist they break up. At least until I’m twenty-one.”

Meet Josie. The young adult genre's equivalent of Don Tillman. Gifted with an IQ that grants her genius status. She's quite brilliant when it comes to hard facts. Not so great when it comes to love. When her older sister is getting married to a man Josie declares to be all wrong for her, she insist they break up. And when her sister points out that Joise doesn't know anything about love, that she has no experience to speak from, Joise is determined to find out what it is. While at the same time making sure her sister calls off the wedding.

Josie's character goes from being endearing what with her obliviousness to some social codes to being downright intolerable. Yes, it was cute at first what with her being so obnoxious and rude, but it soon turned into what it was: irritating. A know it all that simply won't shut up. More or less what she is claiming her sister's future husband is.

Love and Other Foreign Words promised to be perfect for fans of John Green and Rainbow Rowell. Which I understand, it is about families and pretentious teenagers. To be fair, I haven't read an entire book by either author, but enough snippets and parts to get a grip on their general styles. Why it is compared to those, I don't quite understand. Rowell's portrayal of families are far more intruding with underlying tension whereas there is none of that in Love and Other Foreign Words what with Josie's family letting Josie do as she pleases. No tension. Nothing. Writing wise it could be compared to John Green, I guess, but that is still questionable. Pretentious teenagers, that's the only real similarity there is.

That said, it is obvious from the beginning how the story will end. The moment her friend Stu is introduced as a guy that is not related to her by blood, it is quite clear where things are going. Hell, even before that. The first page. The first sentence of his. Although, Josie's love life isn't the center of the story, but her relationship to her family is. And, again, as said, with the lack of tension the family angle isn't enough to carry this story.

[Noor The Shape-shifter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie is me. I am Josie. Where has this book been all my life?? ❤❤❤

[Katie Scarlett · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book irked me and annoyed me so much. There were moments that would draw me in but they didn't last.
Was is supposed to be a surprise the Stu and Josie would end up liking each other?? Because the moment it was clarified they weren't related (really, before that too, only the page or two that it seemed like they were) I totally saw that coming. I skipped to the ending to make sure I was right.
Josie comes off as this weird mix of young but super smart that isn't working for me. Like I can see why and what she's trying to go for, but it isn't coming off right for me. And the others seem like they're trying to speak "teenager" but it isn't working for me. And all that omhig*d mess. I don't get Josie's aversion to saying god, because every time you write it he is going to see it? But whatever. (There was also a fuck that she bleeped out as f-ck.) Speaking of "teen speak" the text speak in it, omg NO. It's like when parents try to be "hip" or whatever and try to use all the abbreviations but transition terribly between that and good grammar (side: the grammar! I noticed a few places there should have been commas and one definite place where there should have been semicolons instead of commas). Like it is okay to just text normal without all the text speak and way less annoying. Seriously I was cringing sometimes.
Oh and then there was how Stefan broke up with her and stopped talking to her because she didn't /love/ him. Like, he does know they are in high school and she is 15, right? how long does he expect this relationship to last? does he see them getting married or something??
And their whole family is weird. No reference at all that I noticed as to why her sisters are so much older. Like, about 10 years between her and Kate and who knows how much between Maggie. and she calls her mom Mother, like who does that? Also I sort of expected them to speak SOME different langue at home. So that was misleading.
And then the stuff going on with Ethan. He came off as so inappropriate, asking if she was going out with someone! teachers don't do that! And when he was walking her to class or whatever, the questions he was asking made it sound like he was trying to diagnose her. He should really learn how to make small talk. Because it turns out he was trying to "talk" to everyone in the class about "neutral" topics. If he ended liking Kate and Kate broke it off with Geoff, that would have solved a few problems, but no. Turns out he wasn't so bad anyway. I mean, we have a strong Josie bias influencing us on him, but still. He didn't send off a good vibe for me. Anyway, Ethan and Kate would have been cute. But Geoff did sort of end up redeeming himself in the end. He just said a lot of wrong things before that. A lot. Kate needs to grow up, she reads more 19 than 25/26 (I forgot which she is). How is she already engaged to the guy by the time she decides to introduce him to the family?
Also when Josie says she doesn't like something, can people just NOT do it. like isn't that a weird concept. Example, when she told Maggie to stop calling her Darling, but she went on ahead and kept doing it. Who cares if she's a "child" or whatever, treat her with some respect, especially if it's something easy like that. Someone says don't or stop, like just stop.
There's some word for a super smart annoying kid and I can't think of it, but that's how I feel about Josie and I didn't like her much. I didn't find it funny as others say it is.
I literally kept a going list of rants on my phone as I read this book.

[Carmen de la Rosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie era una heroína espectacular e hilarante. Una niña inteligente (una genio, de verdad), analiza en exceso incluso las cosas más pequeñas y realmente se esfuerza por comprender a todos y asegurarse de que sabe la forma correcta de responder. Me encantó la voz de Josie y cómo se sentía como si fuera una verdadera adolescente, incómoda y constantemente confundida. ¿La única cosa que la confundió más? Amor.

Lo mejor es que, como Josie aprendió a lo largo de su viaje de encontrar la verdadera definición del amor, nosotros también aprendimos. El amor no es solo del tipo romántico: también sentimos amor por los amigos y la familia.

El aspecto familiar de la novela era tan veraz y honesto. Hubo peleas y reconciliaciones entre los hermanos, así como esos pequeños actos de amor, aprecio y, por supuesto (créeme, si tienes un hermano, sabrás de esto) tramas de venganza. Josie y su familia fueron divertidos y me encantó cómo me recuerdan a mi propia familia. Ella era cercana con sus padres, era intermitente con sus hermanas y así es como mucha gente es.

Luego está el tipo romántico de amor. Este era el tipo de amor que Josie aún no había experimentado y que estaba buscando. Ella había experimentado enamoramientos, el amor parecido a la negación y el amor en la negación y fue genial ver a Josie desarrollarse y crecer a lo largo de todo esto. El verdadero interés amoroso era muy lindo y muy fácil de seguir.

Josie también amaba a sus amigos: amigas y un amigo. Hubo mucho apoyo, consejos, momentos de unión y más con Josie y sus amigos, al igual que lo que experimentamos con los nuestros. Muchos libros realmente fallan en términos de buenas y fuertes amistades para mí. McCahan no lo hizo.

Así que aquí hay un consejo: no entres en este para el romance (aunque te entendería totalmente si lo hicieras, porque ¡hola, es adorable!). Además del humor. Me reí totalmente en voz alta tantas veces mientras leía esto.

[Karmen (readingoncloud9) · Rating 3 out of 5]

*2.5 stars*

[Suraya (thesuraya) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leon suggested me this book few months ago, saying that this is my type of book. "You will love it," he said. I read the blurb and i replied, "Maybe. Maybe not. I dont know." I wasnt interested at the time.

Today, 19th November 2015, I decided to give it a try and now all I can say is, "Leon knows me well."

Josie is a weird girl. She sometimes comes of as a genius & funny but other times shes just plainly irritating but tolerable-and-can-still-be-loved kind of irritating. Sometimes shes rude and too much. Its just who she is and she cant help it. Shes not perfect and I get that about her. I feel for her, though. Cant say that she and her feelings are relatable to me but I can definitely feel her. I feel her in every way possible. I understand her heartaches, her curiosity, her frustration, and I understand her when she's completely numb and clueless. i really really love that connection between me and Josie.

I love almost all characters in this book. I love Stu (can i have a Stu too, please?), Kate, Maggie, Ross and Sophie. I love the dynamic between Josie&Stu, Josie&Kate, Ross&Maggie&Josie, Josie&Sophie, Stu&Sophie.

And the ending is totally predictable!!! And i really really love it!!!! But I especially love how the author made it seems oblivious yet so obvious with the right amount of sweetness. Its very natural and not so suddenly thrown, if u get me.

And i love love love how the author connects the title of the book with the content of it. Love and Other Foreign Words. This book discusses all the 'foreign' words there is in the most creative way. Most importantly, this book discusses the topic love itself brilliantly because 'love' means A LOT of things and this book delivers it really well.

Im reading this in the ebook form and I might just buy the physical book soon, or at least when I have the money to do so. In the meantime, im gonna private message all of my friends to read this book. AND YOU SHOULD TOO.

[starryeyedjen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh, that was ridiculously cute! I completely empathize with Josie...I often feel the rest of the world is speaking a language I'm not privy to. ;0)

[Liviania · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie Sheridan is very analytical, a bit distant from her own life. She dissects people's words, the way the same phrase can mean two totally different things depending on tone, speaker, audience, and other context. She's pretty good at responding to people the way they expect, since she's so good at breaking down communication. But she's missing a deeper, natural feel for interaction.

Josie's need to understand love comes to a head when her sister introduces her fiance to the family. Geoff is pretentious and awkward and Josie just knows she can't let Kate marry him. I liked that we were clearly getting a biased view of Geoff (and Kate), although Geoff did make a genuinely bad first impression. At the same time, Josie's biases muddled some of Kate's character progression. Geoff stays about the same, but Kate becomes needlessly cruel. It's a fairly abrupt character change and I didn't really buy the resolution. It wasn't earned.

I did think Josie's relationships with boys worked well. Josie has many sort of love interests, but there is no love triangle. Author Erin McCahan does a good job of capturing such things as that guy you really like but just don't love and that embarrassing crush on someone older who is basically who you want to be when you grow up. She also describes Josie's relationships with other girls pretty well. It brought back memories of all those high school friends who were basically friends because you were in the same extracurricular activity.

I suspect that precocious teen girls will devour LOVE AND OTHER FOREIGN WORDS. I think Josie's story is very relateable, struggling to find your place when you almost but don't quite fit in. The family shenanigans will entertain anyone who has been at odds with their siblings. As a bonus, the romantic plotlines never take over the story despite "love" being the first word in the title. McCahan get high marks for realism in her latest contemporary novel.

[Cheryl · Rating 1 out of 5]

I jumped on the band wagon as I wanted to see what this book was all about. I kept seeing it all over the internet. I picked up this book and started reading it. The first four chapters were a blur. Then suddenly I had put the book down and did not come back to it for a while. In fact, by the time that I did come back to the book it was about 4 more books afterwards. I decided to pick it up and try it again. I only got to chapter 6 and put the book down for good. I realized that I did not care for anyone in this book and Josie annoyed me. I thought she was condescending to everyone and this bad attitude grew old quickly. She needed to grow up and quit acting like a know it all. On to the next book thanks.

[Joy (joyous reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are books where you want to critique it to within an inch of its life, then there books that you want to just appreciate it for how it made it you feel. Love and Other Foreign Words is one of those books that made me feel good; made me grin like a fool. Josie is such a quirky, insightful, unintentionally funny character. She reminds me of Don Tillman (The Rosie Project); highly inquisitive, intellectual being who manages to be funny without fully intending to be so.

This book also achieved being romantic even if the romance was subtle. Figure that out! It's sweet and awkward, which to me is the perfect combination in a teen contemporary romance. It wasn't obvious, and if you were disciplined enough not to take a peek at the ending (unlike me), the romance may even surprise you. I should also mention that parents of all parties are very much present and accounted for, which is almost unheard of, if you ask me.

The family dynamics is surreal, almost. They're a close-knit bunch. Though the Bridezilla sister will probably annoy you, as well, Bridezilla's fiancé. But in the end, you'll probably forgive them anyway.

[Avis Rara]

Скучнейшая история. Страниц 50 мусолила и мусолила, так и не втянулась. В итоге, заглянула в концовку. Думаю, диагноз очевиден. Книга на любителя.

[Miranda Kenneally · Rating 4 out of 5]

So hilarious. Love the voice.

[Sol · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me encantó! Lo ame enserio <3
5/5
Reseña completa en stclouds.blogspot.com

[Jeilen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Agradable,bastante entretenido y súper juvenil.Como lectura de descompresión de mi libro anterior (La Cena,de Herman Koch) no estuvo mal.

[Yvonne (It's All About Books) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Finished reading: November 25th 2015

“In someone else's language, you become a visitor, a guest - sometimes a very welcome guest received with shrieks and hugs - but still always a guest. Because as soon as you stop speaking the native language of the group, you stop being one of the group. And then you're just alone, no matter who you're with.”

I'm not sure if it's because I misread the blurb, because I actually studied sociolinguistics back in Uni or because it's simply that bad, but I was more than disappointed by Love And Other Foreign Words. I was especting a story a story about two people not understanding each other because they speak a different language, not what should be called social dialect or sociolect. I thought I would be able to connect to this story since my hubby is Argentinian and Spanish is not my native language, but I was in for an unpleasant surprise. Not only did the many erroneous sociolinguistics references bother me, I was really annoyed by the characters in general. Josie, Kate, Geoff... I'm not sure which of the three wins the prize for most irritating character, because they were all equally frustrating. I even almost came to the point to DNF this novel by Erin McCahan, which doesn't happen often... And I only made it to the end because I let myself skim through the last hundred pages or so. Sure, the prose is easy to read and the pace is fast, but the humor felt forced and the characters are simply unbearable. You can probably already guess I wouldn't recommend reading Love And Other Foreign Words...



Josie and her best friend Stu are gifted and not even Stu seems to fully understand her when she speaks 'Josie'. She lives her life in translation, switching between High School, College, Friends, Boyfriends, Family and other social groups. Josie feels most comfortable with Stu and her sister Kate, but everything seems to change when Kate gets engaged to a guy that according to Josie is all wrong for Kate. She and Geoff are off to a rough start and Josie is determined to stop the wedding. Kate on the other hand is determined to prove Geoff is the one and wants Josie to change her look to to fit in with the other bridesmaids. Their discussions turn into battles and both want to win... Will Josie be able to find out what the real meaning of love is as well as sort out her own feelings?



The work of Erin McCahan has been compared to John Green and Rainbow Rowell, but honestly I don't see other similarities than all three authors writing (mostly) YA contemporary novels. The prose and character development Love And Other Foreign Words is nowhere close to the same level as the novels of the authors mentioned above. The main characters were simply unbearable and I came really close to just DNFing it. Josie has a horrid character and the way Kate and Geoff treated her was just despicable. I don't like handing out low ratings, but I just couldn't get myself to give this novel a higher rating. If you ask me, stay away from this one; there are so many great YA contemporary novels out there in the first place...

P.S. Find more of my reviews here.

[Ivana]

Cutecutecute

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

Josie can 'speak' quite a few different languages, for example boyfriends or high school. She knows how to react in all those different situations, what to do and what to say. But only her older sister Kate and her best friend Stu from next door really know how to speak 'Josie'. Then one day Kate presents her new, horrible fiancé and a boy tells Josie he loves her. Josie understands neither of those things - they're not in a language she speaks.
How will Josie cope and how can she escape her confusion?

Oh, this was a very nice read. I really liked Josie and her being a bit 'weird'. I liked her best friend Stu as well, even the mostly annoying Kate. The style of writing was also adorable. Really witty and clever and lovely. ♥

I loved how Josie described all those different 'languages' she speaks - friends, high school, college, boyfriends - and how you're not truly yourself when you speak them. And if you think about it it's so true. The author had a really great idea there!

All in all, I really liked it a lot and I can totally recommend it! It had the right amount of love, weirdness, friendship and arguing. ♥

[Lorena (Pink Hummingbird) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Josie es una chica un tanto peculiar, su alto coeficiente intelectual la lleva a analizar todo en exceso y racionalizar sus propios sentimientos. Además es una persona sumamente quisquillosa, así que si las cosas no salen como ella quiere hará todo lo posible para que se chafé el plan.

La novela comienza cuando el mundo de Josie es sacudido por el inesperado compromiso de su hermanísima del alma, Kate, y no es eso en realidad lo que preocupa a Josie, lo que le resulta sumamente molesto en realidad es su prometido. ¿Quizá sea por lo parecidos que son ambos? Josie está decidida a chafar la boda antes de que se celebre y cuando a Josie se le mete algo entre ceja y ceja... no hay manera de hacer que cambie de idea.

- See more at: http://pink-hummingbird.blogspot.co.u...

[Nadia Uhlenhaker · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story, but pretentious, whiny characters. My favorite character was either Stu or Sophie. And I totally called the bit about Stu in the end. The writing was fine, the plot was cute, but the characters really pulled the story down for me.

[Wan Rathna · Rating 5 out of 5]

great just great!!

[Melanie Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ohhhhhhhhh, this is exactly what I needed this week. Charmed the pants right off me. Funny, smart, it has heart. Five stars based on my pure enjoyment.

[Noelia Alonso · Rating 2 out of 5]

Your average YA. A quick and predictable read. Forgettable. Josie and Kate were a bit unbearable sometimes.

[Deyse · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review originally posted here.

The only thing that made "Love and Other Foreign Words" not be a total "OH MY GOD, I LOVE IT SO MUCH" read for me was the pacing at the start and the time frame that this story includes, both were connected. I don't remember exactly how much time it passes during this book but I do remember that is more than a year, this unusual on contemporary novel and for me, even when talking about fantasy/dystopian books they usually only include a week or month of someones life and events. And this made some of the events of the beginning of the story unnecessary, like some of it could have been cut out to make the pace quicker or made room for others parts of the story (like the actual ship). But still, with my problems with the pace, this was a great book that I devoured on one day and a half.

My favorite part of the story has to be Josie relationship with her family, but specialty with her sister Kate. Josie and Kate have been best friends since always and Kate is one of the few people on earth with whom Josie doesn't need to translate herself and vice versa, so it's obviously that Josie will not react okay when someone - Kate's fiancé - tries to change this dynamic. I think that everyone that loved "To All the Boys I've Loved Before" by Jenny Han will also love the sister relationship in this one, is at times messy and complicated but it's also the one thing that you can count on everyday of your life, on the bad and on the good, and it was a great source of growing for Josie since she hates changes so much.

One other big factor on this book is love on the romantic sense. Josie doesn't understand why Kate changed so much because of one person, one person that for Josie isn't even good enough for Kate, so of course the only possible way of Josie dealing with that is by researching and trying to find an answer of what is love. On this quest of sorts Josie will grow a lot and get to know herself and her feelings even more than she expected, this part of the story really touched me because Josie, as a genius and thinking differently from everyone around her, didn't really expected to find what love is but I do think that she ended up understanding a lot more about human emotions and how much different faces love can have (just like her translation for other words on different groups) but that it will also never stop being something new and different.

Now about Josie's romance I was kind of disappointed, not disappointed but more like I wanted more scenes on the SHIP - because there was a super sweet ship. So yeah, anyway Josie falls in love a couple of times during the book and I get why she needed to have these experiences so she could be ready for THE SHIP and to start to understand her feelings and everything, also it was fun in a kind of masochist way to see all that was right in front of Josie and she never seeing it (and having the confirmation that I wasn't the only one on this ship).

Other things that I enjoyed about this were Josie herself, she was an amazing narrator, hilarious (because she thought and perspective the world around her on such different ways, kind of on the way that Sheldon, from The Big Bang Theory was but more functional) and touching (I cried on a lot of passages), she is definitely one of the most memorable characters that I read so far on my lifetime. Also really loved the way that Josie, despite being a genius, isn't bullied, have friends (both on her college as well as on high school), isn't described as ugly on any part or anything close to it and is part of a sportive active after school.

In case you didn't noticed yet I really liked this book, it was an super fun read but also touching, so I recommended it to you if you like humorous books or contemporary reads or memorable characters or novels that are very character driven or all of the above or basically just read this book, I'm pretty sure you will enjoy it.