ARC Review: The Oracle of Dating by Allison van Diepen

I've always been the type to listen to people. I know I'm loud at times, funny at most, but if you want to get sound advice about anything, ask someone else. I am bad at giving advices. I can be your soundboard, but I'm no genius in giving out advices to people. I also believe that no matter how good advice we give to people, in the end, its still up to them if they want to follow it or not.

It's a totally different story with Kayla though. She's the Oracle of Dating! She gives love advices to people who needs it, at a certain price. But what would happen when an advice to a friend goes horribly wrong? And when the Oracle got herself a little love dilemma, how will she deal with it?

Title: The Oracle of Dating
Author: Allison van Diepen
Pages: 256

Summary:

For five bucks, the Oracle of Dating will tell you:

* How to flirt
* If that cute guy you're crushing on likes you, too
* Whether your new romance will last through lunch period
* And much more

What she won't tell you? Who she is.

No one at Kayla's school knows she's the famous Oracle of Dating--the anonymous queen of dating advice. She doesn't even have a boyfriend. Two relationship disasters were enough to make Kayla focus on everyone else's love life.

But then her advice backfires on her own best friend. And Kayla starts to seriously obsess about Jared Stewart--the very cute, very mysterious new guy in school. Suddenly, the teen queen of advice needs her own oracle of dating--and she knows just where to find one....

It's really a joy reading a book like this. One of the reasons why I say I enjoyed is because this hits close to home. I have a friend who reminds me of The Oracle, Kayla, and yep, you guessed it right. It's my friend/co-author, Tin.

My most favorite quote from the book:

"Attraction, apparently, is often accompanied by delusion."

I'm a firm believer that girls over-react to almost everything. Yes I know, I'm a girl and everything I feel whenever I have someone I like is perfectly captured and described in this book, its like I'm seeing myself again when I was in high school/freshman in college. It's funny how much I can relate to this because I've been through the twists and turns of crushes and guessing if the guy likes you or not. We girls tend to over think and over analyze everything when sometimes its not even really there. Thus the disappointment. Thus the heartbreak.

It tugged on my heart strings at times, especially when you see parts like this:

"I know lovesickness. I know how painful it can be. Even if your loved one is not a vampire, even if he's that boy in class--if you can't have him, it hurts. It aches."

I have to say, I learned a lot in this book. It's a bit unusual how Kayla seemed to know more about love than her older sister, and I agree that sometimes, you don't need to go through the same thing someone did for you to learn from it. Kayla seemed mature for her age and thinks things through a lot. Sometimes that can be your strength and your weak point as well, as the book shows when Kayla was thinking about everything. When is it a date? When do you kiss? When do you call someone? When do you officially become a couple?

To sum it all up, this book has substance. You can relate to almost every character. Admit it, when you were in high school, you had friends like them. I did, and I do until now. It also shows a lot about the issues and dilemmas teens are facing when it comes to dating, all wonderfully wrapped up in a neat writing. And what did I say about bad boys? There's just something in them that girls can't resist, Oracle of Dating or not.

I'm giving this 5 stars because I love the way it was written and what is written. Even if you're grown up, or in high school, I recommend you read this. I'm 24 and let me just say that this book has a lot of stuff in it that is very entertaining and interesting to read. Give it a try. You can never learn too much or too little when it comes to dating, and of course, love.

I was happily surprised when I saw there's going to be a second book, The Oracle Rebounds! Can't wait for that!

Rating: ★★★★★ : AWESOMENESS! MORE! MORE!