LDS Romance Funny, Uplifting And NOT Totally Nauseating

(Image from Barnes & Noble)

Staggering under the debt of the fancy wedding she financed, but never got, 23-year-old Pepper Spicer has come back home to lick her wounds.  There's nothing glamorous about the life she's living now—she's sleeping under her parents' roof, bunking with a 7-year-old, and working a dead-end job at a sandwich shop.  She's got no social life, no romantic life, no life at all.  Pepper's got plenty to complain about.  And she does.  Loudly.  Constantly.  Exhaustingly.  It's wearing her—and everyone around her—out.  

It's not until Pepper's therapist father suggests she start expressing a little gratitude that Pepper realizes her life might not be a complete waste.  Through the weekly thank you notes she writes (at the insistence of Dr. Dad), she begins to see the truth:  Pepper Spicer might not be quite as pathetic as she seems to be.  She's got connections, a support system, maybe even some prospects for a brighter future.  With that little glimmer of hope leading her on, she starts taking chances, praying they'll lead to something better than Handy's Dandy Sandwiches.  

Before too long, Pepper's traded in her hairnet for a writing job in the city.  It's a dream position at a start-up online magazine, something that doesn't pay a whole lot, but has enormous career-making possibilities.  There's only one problem—she has to work her way up by producing a column on her experiences with online dating.  By actually experiencing it.  It's not an ideal assignment for someone as jilted and jaded as Pepper, but her snarky outlook on the whole thing strikes a chord with Salt Lake's similarly frustrated single crowd.   Pepper's pleased with her popular column, even if she doesn't feel right about deceiving her dates.  But, when she finally finds a man who's actually worth dating, her dubious job may be the one thing that stands in the way of Pepper getting what she really wants—true happiness.  

Like The List, Melanie Jacobson's debut LDS novel, Not My Type offers a fun, lighthearted story about a girl struggling to understand who she really is and what she really wants.  Unlike the former, the latter gives us a much more likable heroine, someone who's self-deprecating and sympathetic, with a focus that extends beyond just herself.  The warmth and humor that has become Jacobson's trademark writing too, comes through loud and clear with this one, making Not My Type a quick, enjoyable read with a lesson about gratitude that's difficult to ignore.  The story did get a bit contrived, with some bits that were difficult to believe (How does Tanner not realize Pepper's really Indie Girl?), but all in all, it's a happy book that's clean, uplifting and, unlike other LDS romances, not totally nauseating.  As a matter of fact, I quite enjoyed it. 

(Readalikes:  Reminded me a little of The List by Melanie Jacobson and My Ridiculous, Romantic Obsessions by Becca Wilhite)

Grade:  B

If this were a movie, it would be rated:  PG for mild sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love:  I bought Not My Type from Deseret Book with a portion of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger.  Ha ha.