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25 to Love!
TV's hottest dating show is '25 to Love!'. To nab a guy from her past, Lola signs on as the token girl of color. All is fair in love and ratings, and a week on TV might get Lola closer to her one that got away.
356 pages, ebook
First published October 30, 2013
1 person is currently reading
48 people want to read
About the author
Joye Johnson
5 books12 followersJoye Johnson writes young and new adult historical fiction, romcoms, and sci-fi for women.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
December 7, 2014
4.5 stars
I read this months ago and was surprised to see I never reviewed this, well need to fix that quickly.
I loved this. I've read other books that use reality shows as their settings. Of all the books I've read with this setting, this is probably the one that feels like it gets closest to the truth. The manipulation, using a small thing and changing the narrative to make it worse than it is, sound-biting to create a narrative etc. Felt very smart.
This is told from the heroine Lola's POV. I loved her voice. She was funny and smart and had a good sense of the ridiculous as she knows she is just the token black girl on the show, so she kinda plays around with her pre-ordained fate. The writing was really quite witty. Just the sort of light, breezy tone a book like this needed.
One of my quibbles is with the hero Neil. He felt opaque to me. Understandable in some ways as this is told from Lola's POV, but still I wanted to see a little more of what made him tick.
The supporting characters were great. Very intrigued by Neil's brother Aidan and the camera guy, Wedge. I also love how the author conceptualized Aram, Lol's cousin. In another book he would have been the gay best friend. In this book he is straight but with a gayfabulous sense of style.
Finally the author did not fall into any of my pet peeve traps with skin, hair, eye coloring etc. descriptions. I give her clever points for this sentence:
"She had a Valrhona complexion..."
I have begun to heartily dislike "food coloring' descriptors (you know, chocolate, caramel, mocha, honey-skinned etc.) This is how you use chocolate to describe coloring without actually using the word 'chocolate.' Snaps!
Great book, heartily recommend.
I read this months ago and was surprised to see I never reviewed this, well need to fix that quickly.
I loved this. I've read other books that use reality shows as their settings. Of all the books I've read with this setting, this is probably the one that feels like it gets closest to the truth. The manipulation, using a small thing and changing the narrative to make it worse than it is, sound-biting to create a narrative etc. Felt very smart.
This is told from the heroine Lola's POV. I loved her voice. She was funny and smart and had a good sense of the ridiculous as she knows she is just the token black girl on the show, so she kinda plays around with her pre-ordained fate. The writing was really quite witty. Just the sort of light, breezy tone a book like this needed.
One of my quibbles is with the hero Neil. He felt opaque to me. Understandable in some ways as this is told from Lola's POV, but still I wanted to see a little more of what made him tick.
The supporting characters were great. Very intrigued by Neil's brother Aidan and the camera guy, Wedge. I also love how the author conceptualized Aram, Lol's cousin. In another book he would have been the gay best friend. In this book he is straight but with a gayfabulous sense of style.
Finally the author did not fall into any of my pet peeve traps with skin, hair, eye coloring etc. descriptions. I give her clever points for this sentence:
"She had a Valrhona complexion..."
I have begun to heartily dislike "food coloring' descriptors (you know, chocolate, caramel, mocha, honey-skinned etc.) This is how you use chocolate to describe coloring without actually using the word 'chocolate.' Snaps!
Great book, heartily recommend.
August 21, 2014
4.5
Loved most everything. This book was totally fantastic! I'm too tired from being unable to put it down -- and my Kindle is too dead -- to elaborate more. Loved!
Funny, riveting, moving, true to life, entertaining, good story-telling, well-written, clever, unrelenting tension/momentum, and fun :-D
-0.5: Wish the end was a little more personal and not externalised, the family stuff...
Loved most everything. This book was totally fantastic! I'm too tired from being unable to put it down -- and my Kindle is too dead -- to elaborate more. Loved!
Funny, riveting, moving, true to life, entertaining, good story-telling, well-written, clever, unrelenting tension/momentum, and fun :-D
-0.5: Wish the end was a little more personal and not externalised, the family stuff...
March 11, 2015
25 to Love is a story about a young woman named Lola, who has an accounting degree, gets lost in old movies, and loves Sci-fi. She lives a normal average life with friends who have to help her in the fashion department. Simple life is what she is used to until she decides to go on a reality dating TV show called 25 to Love! This is the last place you would expect to find Lola. The odd thing is that she is not there to actually compete. Lola is hung up on a past relationship and hoping to get his attention and maybe win him back by going on this show, however, once she gets there, she begins a new journey, and things don’t seem to be going as she plans. She has to endure drama, cat fights, and backstabbing from some of the other contestants as she stays true to herself. She has no idea that she will actually start to have feelings for Neil, the guy Lola and 24 other women are competing for. Being the only African American contestant competing for Neil, who is an Irishman, makes Lola feel that she doesn’t have a chance. Will Lola finally find true love? Will Lola be the last woman standing as week after week, Neil eliminates contestants?
I have to say that this was an EXCELLENT read. I actually LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! I was a little skeptical at first because it started off kind of slow. I am so glad that I continued and finished to the end. Ms. Johnson has done an excellent job with character development. Lola is extremely witty, and very likeable. I found myself rooting for her throughout the book. I also loved her friends. Even after completing the book, I find myself still thinking about some of the characters and laughing to myself for something that was done or said. Everyone was relatable. Ms. Johnson is an exceptionally skilled story teller. I love the way Ms. Johnson draws you in. I kept anticipating the next round to see if Lola would make it through another elimination ceremony. I can’t say enough good things about this author. I always know that a book is excellent whenever it can evoke emotions. Without spoiling it for others, I will definitely say that I experienced emotions as I read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I recommend others read it as well. I look forward to reading more from this author. Bravo Ms. Johnson!!!!
Jaleana Edwards
AAMBC Book Reviews
I have to say that this was an EXCELLENT read. I actually LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it!!! I was a little skeptical at first because it started off kind of slow. I am so glad that I continued and finished to the end. Ms. Johnson has done an excellent job with character development. Lola is extremely witty, and very likeable. I found myself rooting for her throughout the book. I also loved her friends. Even after completing the book, I find myself still thinking about some of the characters and laughing to myself for something that was done or said. Everyone was relatable. Ms. Johnson is an exceptionally skilled story teller. I love the way Ms. Johnson draws you in. I kept anticipating the next round to see if Lola would make it through another elimination ceremony. I can’t say enough good things about this author. I always know that a book is excellent whenever it can evoke emotions. Without spoiling it for others, I will definitely say that I experienced emotions as I read this book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I recommend others read it as well. I look forward to reading more from this author. Bravo Ms. Johnson!!!!
Jaleana Edwards
AAMBC Book Reviews
May 20, 2015
I'll have to give a real review after I've slept — I enjoyed reading this so much, I didn't sleep — but for now I'll just say that this would have been a 5-star rating if there hadn't been (a very few) punctuation snafus.
NOW THAT I'M AWAKE....
This was a seriously fun read.
The characters were all so familiar: I've BEEN Lola, though I've never gone to her extremes, and my friends are a lot like her friends, so I believed in them all. More importantly, the characters are all rather instantly likeable (or hate-able) without any excess exposition to weigh the story down. The glimpse into reality-TV-land was at turns hilarious and infuriating, but it was never dull.
The summary says it all – or all that can be said without spoiling major plot points – but I'm not sure it does the book justice.
And although the preview shows that Johnson has a very engaging story-telling style (that stopped me putting the book down long after I should have gone to sleep), things only got better as the story progressed. She's really got a knack for drawing me in.
This terrific debut is a keeper.
NOW THAT I'M AWAKE....
This was a seriously fun read.
The characters were all so familiar: I've BEEN Lola, though I've never gone to her extremes, and my friends are a lot like her friends, so I believed in them all. More importantly, the characters are all rather instantly likeable (or hate-able) without any excess exposition to weigh the story down. The glimpse into reality-TV-land was at turns hilarious and infuriating, but it was never dull.
The summary says it all – or all that can be said without spoiling major plot points – but I'm not sure it does the book justice.
And although the preview shows that Johnson has a very engaging story-telling style (that stopped me putting the book down long after I should have gone to sleep), things only got better as the story progressed. She's really got a knack for drawing me in.
This terrific debut is a keeper.
March 1, 2015
When I started this book I almost stopped, the beginning did not entice me.
I'm so glad that I did not stop. I started reading at 8.15pm and could not put it down, it's now 4.08 in the morning.
This story held my attention till the end, to be honest I've never really read a book that held so much dialogue between people but I guess there's always a first time.
This is a story about Lola, she goes on a reality tv dating show called "25 to love"
Now unlike some of the other contestants, Lola (the only african american contestant) actually goes on the reality tv programme, to show a past guy she liked, another side of her. She planned on getting eliminated early but things don't go as well as planned, as the guy "Neil", the one the contestants are all fighting over - sees something in her he likes.
As the dates with Neil progress, so does the cat fighting backstage. Lola becomes confused over her feelings for Neil, she didn't really think she would have feelings for Neil, after all she only came on the show to get another's attention.
It's a fun book with a bit of romance (no sex). Lola is funny and witty, you will also meet her friend Vivian and cousin Aram and a bunch of other colourful people along the way.
She's in for a surprise when she meets his family.
I'm so glad that I did not stop. I started reading at 8.15pm and could not put it down, it's now 4.08 in the morning.
This story held my attention till the end, to be honest I've never really read a book that held so much dialogue between people but I guess there's always a first time.
This is a story about Lola, she goes on a reality tv dating show called "25 to love"
Now unlike some of the other contestants, Lola (the only african american contestant) actually goes on the reality tv programme, to show a past guy she liked, another side of her. She planned on getting eliminated early but things don't go as well as planned, as the guy "Neil", the one the contestants are all fighting over - sees something in her he likes.
As the dates with Neil progress, so does the cat fighting backstage. Lola becomes confused over her feelings for Neil, she didn't really think she would have feelings for Neil, after all she only came on the show to get another's attention.
It's a fun book with a bit of romance (no sex). Lola is funny and witty, you will also meet her friend Vivian and cousin Aram and a bunch of other colourful people along the way.
She's in for a surprise when she meets his family.
April 18, 2015
This book is laugh-out-loud delicious! A real page-turner. I often wonder why people waste time participating or even watching reality shows, but Neil and Lola's journey is quite eye-opening! 24 back-stabbing, catty girls with their eye on the ultimate prize, engaging in a sneaky, under-handed contest to win Neil for themselves. Lola is in a class by herself. No guy had ever made Lola feel special, so she refused to hope that she could ever have a chance with Neil. The chronic rejection/racism that she lived under all of her life killed her dream of true love. Is this the end of the ride for Lola? I really enjoyed this book!
July 5, 2015
Not for me
Maybe you need to be a fan of reality tv to enjoy this although 25 to love had its share of lol moments. I still couldn't get into it.
Maybe you need to be a fan of reality tv to enjoy this although 25 to love had its share of lol moments. I still couldn't get into it.
May 19, 2017
Highly recommend this book. Don't let the cover fool you, it's all gold inside.
Will leave a lengthier review at a later date.
Storytelling = 5.0
Technique/structure = 4.0
Will leave a lengthier review at a later date.
Storytelling = 5.0
Technique/structure = 4.0
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews