Review: Wasted Words

Wasted Words by Staci Hart
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed Staci Hart's "Wasted Words," a sweet, amusing novel featuring (mostly) likeable characters and an engaging story inspired by Jane Austen's "Emma." I'm a huge fan of Jane Austen's work, but I have to admit that "Emma" is probably my least favorite of her novels because I have never found Emma herself to be particularly likeable. I thought Ms. Hart did a good job of making her female lead character, Cam, relatively likeable despite her Emma-like traits, although Cam's neuroses did get to be a bit too much for me at times. She seemed really cool and funny right up until she started dating her best friend and roommate, Tyler. After that, it was like a switch flipped and turned on all of Cam's crazy. Based on her past history, I understood why Cam felt and behaved the way she did, but IMO it got to be a lot by the end of the book.

Tyler was pretty much the perfect book boyfriend: handsome, thoughtful, kind, and incredibly patient with Cam's relationship anxiety. Their romance progressed very quickly (the entire story unfolded over only a week or so), but their feelings for each other felt believable to me because they were such good friends before the story began. However, I found myself frustrated by the fact that Cam constantly compared Tyler with her high school boyfriend, Will, and expected him to behave the same way Will had even though they were nothing alike. Most importantly, Will kept his relationship with Cam a secret from everyone, whereas Tyler was very open about being with Cam and didn't hesitate to tell others how much he cared about her.

My favorite part of this story may actually have been the fictional Wasted Words bookstore and bar, which I wish existed in real life. I could absolutely imagine myself hanging out there and reading while enjoying a glass of wine!

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