The beauty and the basketball player

Katie Vickery is a sorority pledge and there is no way she can show up to a party without a date. Having just broken up with her jerky football player boyfriend, she’s at a bit of a loss, until her roommate Scarlet sets her up with a childhood friend, Andrew Baschnagel. While Katie normally dates football players, at least Andy is an athlete and an upperclassman, even if the sport is basketball. Of course, Katie pretty much wants to eat worms than go to the party, as her lowlife ex is going to be there, along with his fraternity brothers, in front of whom Katie was humiliated. Yet it’s an important night, so Katie’s going to suck it up and put on a brave face. She can tell instantly that Andy’s a very sweet guy, even though he’s way taller than she’s used to and she’s worried he’s going to think she’s a complete nutcase.

Pretty much all of Andy’s experience with girls comes from his older sisters, one of whom has been advising him over the phone before his big blind date. Having admired Katie from afar since they started taking history together, he can’t quite believe his luck when he gets a chance to go out with her, but isn’t really thinking that it’s going to be more than a one time occurrence. He can tell that she’s nervous and upset about something and just hopes it’s not because she doesn’t want to be seen with a big geek like him. Doing his very best to put her at ease, he’s absolutely appalled when she finally confesses why she’s so uncomfortable with the idea of seeing her ex-boyfriend again and does his best to help her gain the upper hand and regain her confidence.

After the total angst-fest that was The Year We Hid Away, Blonde Date was like a delightfully refreshing palate cleanser. Having already found out the end point of Andy and Katie’s blind date in the previous book, there wasn’t much doubt in my mind (even if this wasn’t a romance) that things were going to go well for the couple, but it was nonetheless fun to see how they ended up at the point we get an indirect glimpse of towards the end of Scarlet and Bridger’s book.

I loved everything about this novella, and can absolutely see why the incomparable Mrs. Julien has deemed it an instant classic.