Disclaimer: I received this book from Netgalley. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book Series: Standalone

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: One member of the family is gay, but unfortunately he doesn’t play a huge role in the book.

Publication Date: October 1, 2019

Genre: YA Contemporary Romance

Recommended Age: 15+ (some sex is mentioned, some slight language, lots of cute romance)

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 336

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Sophie wants one thing for Christmas-a little freedom from her overprotective parents. So when they decide to spend Christmas in South Louisiana with her very pregnant older sister, Sophie is looking forward to some much needed private (read: make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Except it turns out that Griffin wants a little freedom from their relationship. Cue devastation.

Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents' house, where the rest of her boisterous extended family is gathered for the holiday. That's when her nonna devises a (not so) brilliant plan: Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. And a screaming baby.

When Griffin turns up unexpectedly and begs for a second chance, Sophie feels more confused than ever. Because maybe, just maybe, she's started to have feelings for someone else . . . Someone who is definitely not available.

This is going to be the worst Christmas break ever... or is it?

Review: Holy crap how cute is this book!?! I loved every minute of this read! I have a big family too and I just loved seeing a great big family working together to make one of their own happy. The characters were fantastic, the story was interesting, the romance was cute, the writing was well done, and I freaking love this book!

The only issues I had were that I wish I had more backstory on the other family members. The author could really market on this book and make it a series with some of the other characters from it, like Sara or Addie or even Nonna!

Verdict: I love this book so much.

So so cute! This is a great YA holiday read! I loved the big family dynamic! Sophie opens up so much while going on these blind dates and really re-discovers herself.
I just loved all these characters and all of the family.
I will be recommending this one to my teens for sure!

I received an ARC of this novel from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a well-written YA novel about a high school senior who is heartbroken when she overhears her boyfriend talling about breaking up with her. I love her journey and the fact that she discovers how much of herself she had lost in keeping her boyfriend happy. This is a good novel for young women who need to be reminded of their self worth and the things that are truly important in life.

This book was freaking adorable. I loved the characters and the family was precious. It was a fun and quick read. I would highly recommend for people who are fans of romance and Kasie West.

While fairly predictable of a story, the book was fun and cute. A nice, light, and happy read that one can quickly get through.

Thank you to Netgalley and Disney books for the opportunity to read and review this book early.

This was an absolutely precious story!! I absolutely loved the family dynamic and I totally want Nonna to be my grandma. Sophie, Wes, Olivia and Charlie are amazing main characters and I love that they support one another but also poke fun at each other now and again (reminds me a lot of my friend group). I absolutely LOVED the idea of the Blind Dates and Sophie’s Family members picking the dates. Some of the dates were extremely cringey but made me laugh nonetheless. This book was heartwarming and hilarious and I’m definitely going to be picking up more from Ashley Elston in the future ❤️

The story has a cute premise; our main character has a falling out with her boyfriend right before the holidays, and her family sets her up on 10 blind dates to help her deal with the situation. There are a few places where the plot drags. Some of the references are not ones I'd expose my middle readers to, but I think the love story would interest some of my high school readers.

10 Blind Dates is a wonderful teen light-hearted read. Sophie is a fun and relatable girl who finds her strength from her family and friends. Instead of letting herself get depressed and isolated when her boyfriend breaks up with her, she turns to her friends and family and embarks on an hilarious series of blind dates that help her discover who she is. This is a great book for teens who want a fun Christmas read and a great book to show teens a healthy way to deal with heartbreak.

Slow to start, but picked up as the dates started. I loved Sophie as a character and the family dynamic in this book, it adds something fresh and dynamic to the YA Romance. A nice, light Christmas read.

This was a great book. Very accessible forteens, and I am sure they will love it. Very funny. Fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han, take note.

A delightful, funny, light story about a girl with a large extended family who come up with a solution to her heartbreak of losing a boyfriend. Sophie overheard her boyfriend, Griffin, complaining about her and now she won't talk to him. Her parents went to stay with her sister who is having a difficult pregnancy so Sophie is staying with her Nonni and Papa where everyone comes to visit. Nonni sets up a board for 10 blind dates over this Christmas breaks. Family members sign up for a date. Dates vary and so do the guys! Taking everything in stride Sophie continues the dates and does talk to Griffin. She reunites her previous friendships with the Fab Four who always have her back. Love and friendship wins out in this realistic story.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC! I feel like this book made it easy to see where it was heading. I enjoyed the characters and the family dynamic. I thought the dates were funny and realistic the way they were planned and the way they happened. I was just bored by the love interest and how that story unfurled. After all the YA I have read, predictable is hard for me to swallow. I also did not find the dialogue very fresh or witty and did not see anything new and fun in here for teens.
Overall, cute book. There are teens who will enjoy it as a simple love story with no sexual situations or profanity. It just lacks depth and true originality for me.

This book was received as an ARC from Disney Book Group - Disney-Hyperion in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.

I did not know what to expect just from the title and description alone. My first impression was that this is going to be another girl who is not sure of herself and who is treated like she is property and then someone unexpected comes along, sweeps her off her feet and then she finds the true meaning of life, relationships and love. What was unexpected from the book is that family meddling is actually beneficial finding Sophie a date and it was rewarding to read that Sophie was taught some lessons not only applicable to love but to life. Out of all the teen romance novels I have read, I was glad to see that this one was written more on the realistic side rather than the common storyline if girl meets guy and they fall in love.

We will consider adding this title to our YFiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.

There’s little I love more than a book that can make me smile the whole way through, one that’s funny and fluffy and shippy as hell. They have a bit of magic because they can make all the stress and pain of daily life disappear for a few hours. I read with a goal of escapism, wanting to get out of my life into someone else’s. Some would argue that this is inferior to other forms of reading, but those people can shove it. Escaping into a thoroughly joyful narrative leaves me with more hope for life than I had when I started it, and how can that not be a good thing? 10 Blind Dates absolutely did all of that good stuff for me, and I loved it from the start to the end.

10 Blind Dates reminded me of a couple of other pop culture things, not in a too-similar kind of way, but in a “hey, if you liked those then you might like this” kind of way. First off, it reminded me of a one woman show called The Twelve Dates of Christmas, not to be confused with the ABC Family movie of the same name, where a woman sees her fiance cheat on her at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, after which the play runs through her dates over the next year, ending with cuteness. It’s sort of like that, only all in one holiday season.

It also reminded me of Morgan Matson very strongly, though her books can sometimes be rather heavy, so think the fluffy end of the spectrum. Particularly, I feel like I got from 10 Blind Dates what I wanted from Save the Date. Both deal with big, quirky families, but I felt so much more connected to both the family and the romance in this one.

10 Blind Dates has an unrealistic but perfectly rom com premise: after breaking up with her boyfriend Griffin, because she found out he was bored of her, her big family decides to set her up on 10 dates over the holiday season to bring her joy back. It’s so gloriously silly and charming. The family turns it into this big competition, complete with betting on date outcomes. Her family’s a mix of deeply lovable, super odd, and loathsome people, but as a whole I fell really hard for this family. Over the top the 10 blind dates plan may be, but the goal was to help Sophie move on and have fun over the holidays, and it succeeds.

There’s a romance in here, obviously, and I shipped it so hard from the very beginning…but I also like that the blind date scheme was proving successful long before the romance really appeared on the horizon. It’s not finding a new boyfriend that helps Sophie get over the breakup but the mere act of going on a bunch of dates, some terrible and some fantastic, that helps Sophie figure out what wasn’t working with Griffin. It’s not a method that would work for everyone, but it’s super convincing here.

It’s always a sign that I’m super in love with a book if it has long chapters, and I don’t care. In this case, I didn’t even notice. Since the ten dates are just one chapter each, the chapters are mostly quite long, but they’re all so entertaining that I never wanted to put the book down or flip to see how much of the chapter was left. I just wanted more.

The dates are all exciting, which is a serious feat. They’re not all exciting in the same way, of course. Some are sweet, some are awkward as hell, but they’re all very cinematic. It’s nigh impossible to believe that all of these events could exist and be going on, but that’s fictional magic tbh. Some stand outs were the date to the fancy party and the dinner and a movie date, for completely different reasons.

This book’s so much about friendship too. Sophie’s grown apart from her childhood friend group, consisting of two cousins and a neighbor kid, Wes. I love how, when they finally address the distance, it turns out to be a complete miscommunication, but not in the normal melodramatic way that’s usually done in fiction. I also really admired how kind most of the people are in this story, like the guys who clearly are not real prospects from the very beginning of a date but who work hard to make the night fun anyway and maybe even become friends.

If you want a fluffy, romantic read that will make your smile spread from ear to ear, I cannot recommend 10 Blind Dates highly enough. This makes me want to read more Elston so badly, but her other books are thrillers, and I’m not a huge thriller person. Anyone read those and have thoughts on whether I’d enjoy them?

The storyline, characters, premise, and basically everything about this book is adorable. I loved it. I cannot wait to recommend this to all of the YA readers in my life.

I didn’t have high hopes for this book from the synopsis. Well I was WRONG! I got into the story immediately and it was just a joyful read but with worry mixed in. There are two stories surrounding main character Sophia.
Sophie wants one thing for Christmas— a little freedom from her overprotective parents. Her parents plan to spend the holidays in South Louisiana with her very pregnant and bed ridden older sister, Margot. Sophie is looking forward to some much-needed private (make-out) time with her long-term boyfriend, Griffin. Sadly or maybe it’s a good thing, Sophie overhears Griffin telling his friend he wants a little freedom from his relationship with Sophie,

Heartbroken, Sophie flees to her grandparents’ house, where the rest of her very large and loud, loving extended family is gathered for the holiday. The family immediately becomes involved in Sophie’s love life or lack thereof. Her clever Nonna devises a brilliant plan to cheer Sophie. Over the next ten days, Sophie will be set up on ten different blind dates by different family members. Like her sweet cousin Sara, who sets her up with a hot guy at an exclusive underground party. Or her crazy aunt Patrice, who signs Sophie up for a lead role in a living nativity. With a boy who barely reaches her shoulder. Let’s try and forget the date who unknowingly took her to a porno drive in theater. To this reader Sophie was a good, great, even a fantastic sport.
All this chaos is happening as her sister Margot delivers a very tiny struggling preemie. They name her Anna. Margot is struggling too as she is extremely weakened from the ordeal of a tough pregnancy and delivery.

The book is torn between the funny dates, ex-boyfriend Griffin, and the tiny infant niece fighting for survival three hours away.

I think young adult and maybe middle school girls will enjoy this novel immensely.

Thank you Netgally and Disney Book Group
Disney-Hyperion for this uplifting book you granted me the privilege to read prior to publication.

Cute, cute, cute!!! Oh my, but I loved this book!! I have not had the privilege to be part of a large clan like this, but I have friends who are and I have watched from the outside. I laughed out loud, and could see some of things really happening. I also cried quite a bit. I love it when a story can pull so many emotions from you. Wonderful read!!

A cute story about a young woman rediscovering the importance of family. Though pretty light, the subplot about the protagonist's sister was moving. The integration of social media within the story felt organic and there was some real humor. While the chaotic sense of a big family was captured, some of the secondary characters didn't feel well-developed or distinct enough.

Sophie’s parents are going to Louisiana to spend Christmas with her favorite sister. This leaves Sophie some time with her Nonna, her extended Italian family, and with her long-time boyfriend (Grifffin). When Griffin decides he needs a break, Nonna decides Sophie needs to heal her broken heart. Together Nonna and the rest of the family set Sophie up on ten blind dates. However, matters of the heart are never easy. Will the posts make Griffin realize what he’s missing? Will Sophie figure out what she really wants? The plot is cute, realistic, and engaging. The characters are likable, fun, and easy to relate to. The family dynamics are heartwarming. Perfect for fans Jay Ashton’s “What Light?” and other Hallmark-like books.

4.75 / 5 stars
*Thanks so much Disney Book Group for providing me an eARC to review on Netgalley.

Prepare yourself for the ultimate holiday read.
Ashley Elston highlights family relationships and support in her new novel 10 Blind Dates. This book follows a girl, Sophie, who recently had her heart broken when she overhears her boyfriend talking about wanting to break up with her. Sophie decides to change her holiday plans up a bit by spending more time with her family so that she can avoid her ex. Sophie loves her family dearly, but she is afraid of how they will react to her breakup. However, her family shocks her with their plan to set her up on 10 blind dates to help her get over her heartbreak and be the old Sophie again.

I love the premise for this story. I love the concept of close family gathering around the holidays and supporting each other through hard times. I really appreciated all the family support and shenanigans that appear in this novel. Elston shows true positive family relationships throughout this novel which was so well-done with the additional holiday cheer. I love the setting for this book and how it takes place during the holiday season. This is truly a must-read for December.

Sophie goes through quite a bit of character growth and reflection throughout the novel. I loved her character development and humor. Overall, this story was quite humorous and enjoyable. My only big critique would have to be the ending. There was so much buildup for the last date, but ultimately it was too convenient and uneventful. The idea for the last date made me very underwhelmed and not satisfied; it felt off and sudden. The idea was kind of thrust out of the blue and it just was not the ending that I thought the book deserved. It was hard to focus on the ‘cute ending’ idea it was trying to convey. I really wish that the last date and overall ending sequence would be rewritten, because in my opinion it was pretty weak compared to the strength in content throughout the rest of the book.

*I will also note that a few things were a little mature or verged to that side at times, but I could see this in an 11-12th grade classroom.