Falling in Love with English Boys: A Novel by Melissa Jensen

Falling in Love with English Boys by Melissa Jensen

Cat is going on what some might consider the trip of a lifetime. Cat and her (s)mother are going to spend 10 weeks over the summer in England! Many would ask why this is a bad thing, well here are the reasons; she is 16 and old enough to stay on her own, her mom won’t let her stay with her grandma, her soon to be stepmonster needs her dad’s guest bedroom for wedding plans, she has no friends in England, they have weird TV shows, different magazines, and different chocolate. It’s not like she and her mom will be going sight-seeing, shopping, and to parties, no they are there for research. Her mom is doing research on some woman from a long time ago, that no one has heard of, and no one cares about. For some reason her (s)mother thinks Cat will be interested in reading the diary of Katherine, the daughter of her research subject. (S)Mother thinks she needs to get out of her depressing funk, so she asks the hot English descendent of the research subject, whom if you squint just right and tilt your head, kind of looks like Orlando Bloom. The thing is Cat can’t tell if he’s hanging out with her because her mom suggested it and he’s trying to be nice, or he just feels obligated. Luckily, she makes some awesome gal pals here in Jolly Ol’ England. Follow Cat’s blogs to her friends as she navigates her way through England and learns that sometimes no matter how far in the past some things never change.

Falling in Love with English Boys: A Novel by Melissa Jensen was a pretty good book. It alternates between Cat’s voice and her blogs to Katherine’s diary entries. I don’t know how I would feel if I found myself in England, but Cat seemed kind of like a whiner and very shallow. Maybe it’s just the history buff in me seeing the missed opportunity. Katherine, in her diary entries was shallow, but I enjoyed her best. Her view on the balls, social politics, and relationships of the era were fascinating. It is interesting to think on how little the emphasis on women finding a mate today has changed. As for the friends Cat makes, I can’t make up my mind about them. The main one Elizabeth seems to hate Americans with a passion, but thinks Cat is ok because she likes Al Gore?  And they become bffs? Something just doesn’t click with that. I know I would get tired of hearing how “stupid” us “yanks” are. I have to admit I found her friends more interesting than she was. I am a sucker for all of that British slang and vulgarity. As for Cat’s blog posts, I know I’m being picky here, but her constant usage of “thang” and “sez” killed me. She’s from Philadelphia, do they talk like that? I guess it was to spice up the blog entries. There are other things I could harp on, such as how fast she is able to pick up the British slang herself and use it without hesitation, but I won’t. The ending was ok, but I think it should have been fleshed out a little more to better wrap everything up. I felt like I was left hanging and thinking, “I read all of that for this ending?”  Enough complaining, all in all, this was a cute and short book. If you are looking for a fast and shallow read, go for it. I give this book a 2 ½ STAR rating.

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Falling in Love with English Boys: A Novel by Melissa Jensen has approximately 304 pages and was published on December 23, 2010 by Speak.