I was shopping for books when I spotted this cute book and I knew I had to buy it, I'll write a review about its cuteness when I read it! Keep you posted!!

Cat is dragged to spend the summer in London while her (s)mother researches a little known Regency era woman. The woman has a daughter with a diary, which her mom thinks Cat would benefit by reading. The back and forth between the two times, and similarities between them, grew more interesting as the story went on. ( )

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 was really excited for Falling in Love with English Boys prior to its release, but was a little wary because I’d heard mixed things. I’ve heard it had mature content, was a little boring, etc. And after reading it? I’m so glad I didn’t let those reviews stop me.

The modern-day protagonist, Cat, is awesome. She’s sassy and witty and I always get annoyed when I read about teen girls complaining about spending their summer in Europe, but it was totally different with Cat. She had actual reasons and issues to not want to, which I appreciated. She loved chocolate and I loved reading her adventures to the newspaper stand down the street. At first it was just a minor thing, but the characters Cat met at the newspaper stand began to play a real role, and I thought that was a very well written segue. And those characters totally rocked. I was a huge fan of Cat’s British friends and I would love to see more of them if Melissa Jensen were to write another book in this world.

I loved Will. He’s British – what’s not to love? And I loved Cat’s interactions with Will. I thought their relationship was well formed and I was pleasantly surprised by the amount of romance in this book. I’m a moron, though, because how could I NOT get that from the title? Their text conversations bugged me, but that’s just because I hate the level of emoticons they went to, as well as abbreviations.

I was a little annoyed with the historical-fiction-diary-flashback bits at first, because they sort of interrupted Cat’s flow for me, but then I really got into them because they allowed the reader to root for another protagonist, Katherine. I also liked how connected the diary was, because rather than just being some random diary Cat found, it was related to her mother’s work, and was more believable.

As for the character/storyline in the historical-fiction-diary-flashback bits, it took me a while to warm up to them. Katherine seemed super shallow at first and so did all of her friends, but as it continued on, I was really rooting for her and the [guy] which I will not spoil here!

Overall, Falling in Love with English Boys definitely did not let me down! I’m so glad I read it right when I’m leaving for London too. Such a cute and fun book, and I recommend it for fans of contemporary YA, for cute YA, or even for people who just like reading books in foreign settings! ( )

Oh, London. Melissa Jensen knows the way to this girl’s heart. She had me at English boys to be honest. The main characters here are Catherine and Katherine (you can already see the parallels, I bet). One is an American teen “stuck” in London for the summer, and the other is a nineteenth century British teen more in the tradition of Jane Austen (although she has a lot of growing up to do before she can be in the same class as Elizabeth Bennett).

Told through alternating blog posts and diary entries, Jensen juggles the two story lines well--taking us on two distinct yet overlapping adventures as Cat and Katherine struggle to figure out the worlds they live in, develop new friendships, explore London, and, of course, fall in love with English boys. It’s light and fluffy fun, but it’s also filled with descriptions of all the best tourist destinations in London--making this book the perfect affordable alternative to a British Airways ticket and front row seat at the royal wedding.

http://tatalonline.blogspot.com/2011/04/new-releases-royal-wedding-edition.html ( )