Love and Other Foreign Words Book Review

Book Name: Love and Other Foreign Words
Author: Erin McCahan
Published: May 1, 2014
Publisher: Dial
Genre: YA Contemporary

Can anyone truly be 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 wages 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 that Josie understands.

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Lisamentary:

Love and Other Foreign Words is about a 16-year-old girl named Josie, who's a bit of a genius. She attends high school and college at the same time through a special program at her school so that she can continue going to school with people her own age. Josie is much like Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory. She's super smart and blunt and has a hard time understanding other people, which is why she comes up with many different languages in order to understand them.

I really loved Josie! (I really love Sheldon too!) Despite how disconnected she feels with people, I could connect with her on many levels. She's at this age where she's just figuring out herself, the meaning of life, love, etc. She's confused with all the changes in her life, especially because she hates change. And all of this is totally understandable. What makes her more relatable is that she's not a total recluse genius/prodigy. She's on the volleyball team too and does other stuff that's typical for teens her age. However, she's a bit quirky and that just adds to her charm and makes her a very funny heroine.

Another thing that I really loved about this book are the relationships that Josie has with her family and friends. Each adds to the dynamic, and it's great how much they care for Josie in spite of her being a handful sometimes. 

This especially applies to Kate since Josie, right off the bat, wants to break up her sister's engagement to this "pretentious" guy named Geoff. (The name really fits the description doesn't it?) This kind of first turned me off to Josie because it's not nice to want to break off someone else's engagement just because you don't like that person. But Josie doesn't understand love yet so she doesn't grasp that love is the strongest force of all and all that cheese stuff.

Anyhow, I have to admit that Geoff was not my favorite character when I first met him and he's definitely not my favorite character in the end. However, he did grow on me. Even though he's basically Josie but in guy, which is why Kate loves him so much, he just couldn't pull it off. And his winks are very creepy too. He should cool his jets and slowly try to warm up to Josie instead of going full blast and winking at her like they have an inside joke or something. Tsk. 

Regardless of how bad Josie was being, I hate how mean Kate becomes, going to point where she tried to blackmail Josie with a love letter Josie wrote. (That's the lowest of the low!) This is probably because I love Josie, but Kate should know that Josie's emotional intelligence is not all that high. She's more of a book smart person as opposed to street smarts. As a result, Kate shouldn't have been so harsh on Josie! Hmpph. 

Yet, it is because of these fights and her family that make the book as amazing as it is. There's no action/mystery aspect to the novel. It's just about Josie growing up, and the author still makes it interesting and funny. The story is realistic and honest and seems like it could actually happen in real life. (Like it could happen to me. HAHAHA!! Just kidding. I'm no genius, so that's impossible. Sigh.)

Love-wise, Josie does learn that there's many types of love, like love for her family, sister, friends, and so on. YAY, Josie!

As for real romantic love, it is very subtle in this book. Spoiler alert: She ends up with Stu. (Why the name Stu? It's not very attractive. I wish he had a better looking/sounding name.) It's pretty obvious but not because Stu doesn't even seem interested in Josie and it's true vice versa too. However, it's implied throughout the novel because Stu is one of the only people that understands her and she understands without the need for translation. Also, they hang out a lot because they're in the same integrated program and are neighbors who live across the street from each other. Basically, they're best friends (what a cute and cliché romance! I love!). Expected but unexpected. I just wish that their chemistry was better portrayed rather than it hitting me like a train right in the few last chapters. I didn't even get to enjoy any of their cute moments because there is like two max. Booo.

As a whole, I love this novel! It is definitely one that I could read over and over again and would because it has such a cute message with even cuter characters. The characters, especially. I actually laughed a few times while reading it, so that's a true indication of this novel's greatness to me. This book is highly recommended by me. It's like a go-buy-it-now/don't-do-homework kind of book because this book is an infinite amount of times better than doing homework any day. It's also definitely a stay-up-until-I-finish book because who needs sleep anyway? HAHAHA! But really, go read this book!

Enjoy!!!!!

Rating:

Story: 9

Characters: 9.5

Enjoyment: 10

Overall: