29 Dates

I voluntarily read and reviewed an ARC of this book. All thought and opinions are my own.
2.5 stars

I remember reading some of Melissa de la Cruz's books back when I was in high school. My fond memories of those books was what prompted me to pick this one up– that and the matchmaking aspect sounded unique.
Unfortunately, it seems I am no longer a fan of this writing. I felt such a huge disconnect from the characters. Everything felt surface level and surprisingly fake.

First off, buying an airplane ticket to send your daughter to a different country and even signing them up for school there without them knowing and then only telling them they are going the morning of the flight makes no sense. It takes a while to board flights... AND to pack!!

Also, Junior year is the most stressful year in high school. Senior year is stressful because of the applications, but colleges don't really look at senior year stuff unless your on the waitlist and such – or so I'm told. Unless you're in a country where they take entrance exams to get into university (like South Korea), then things are a bit different.

Jisu's feelings never felt solid to me. She likes Austin, but doesn't. She likes other guys, but then feels more indifferent towards them. This I can forgive though because she's 17. The heart is still learning in high school and so this felt somewhat believable, but I'm not convinced with the ending.
I wish there was more about Jisu adjusting to living in America. Sure, she says she's fluent in English, but there is a huge difference in learning and speaking English outside America or other native English-speaking countries. Jisu knew slang and a few other tidbits I found strange. Yes, she watches American makeup tutorials (really??? When Korea has better products and a completely different style??), but I don't think she'd pick things up so naturally before getting to America.

I did like the diverse cast and taking down the racist classmate. The parts I enjoyed the most were the date scripts. At first I thought they were text messages, so that was an awkward start... but once I knew they were at a place together, I kind of liked the format. Anyhow, there is some awesome conversation in those parts.

All in all, this isn't a book for me and I know that. I do have a few people in mind I might recommend this to: ones looking for relationship-drama, but besides them I probably won't recommend this to many people.