Book Review: Johnny Doesn't Drink Champagne

Johnny Doesn't Drink Champagne by Cody Young

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: Golden Bay Press (October 27, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0473194031
• ISBN-13: 978-0473194031

I’m seventeen and he’s twenty-one. That’s okay… isn’t it? He drives a Lamborghini. So what? He was born in 1462. Uh-oh. He seeks revenge, but there is one person standing in his way. Me. On a high school trip to London, Madison Lambourne meets seductive stranger Johnny De Vere, who believes he knows her already, and is torn between love and revenge. Eager to learn more about this beautiful, lonely young man, Madison agrees to go with him to a re-enactment at the Tower of London. Dressed as a highborn medieval lady in a black velvet gown, she accidentally slips through a doorway that leads to the past. Knowing she will not last long on the streets of medieval London, Johnny must follow her… with devastating consequences for them both. A wild time-travel adventure full of love, lies, mystery and betrayal.

Ok, first of all the cover is good but it’s not that eye-catching at all.. actually what lures me to request the book is it’s unique and interesting title. And the book really lived up to that expectation.

Vampires have been all over lately, but with “Johnny doesn’t drink champagne”, paranormal meets historical. It’s hard to imagine without expecting it to have characters which lived from the 15th-18th, but this book surprised me by adding another theme- time travel. So you get the picture, the heroine time-traveled back to medieval London and see the mysteries uncovered.

The book was well-researched with historical details of the princes, the tower, beheadings, and the early London. I’m always been a lover of historical, and I devoured this right til the end. It’s very descriptive that I feel like I’m in medieval times, the poverty, etc. The writing style is easy to follow and really sounds like Maddie (the 17-year-old heroine). Also the author manage to keep the reader’s waiting and thinking things out.

I love the characters, although I love to see more of Maddie’s bff. It seems she was there to faint and complain… anyway, I really loved all of the characters in the time-travel part (medieval time), both primary, antagonists, and even those ordinary people they met seemed to be unique and real to me.

There’s a lot of twist that somehow I am expecting when it happened but I haven’t really seen coming at all. I know I sound confusing but believe me, this book is hard to put down, once you start reading the unique love story, you can’t really stop until you know what happens.

The ending meanwhile really left me hanging..and I really wish I could read the second book now.. I’ll be looking forward to reading the next in the series. I would love to know what would happen to Maddie and Johnny. Romance, medieval London, mystery, vampires complete Johnny Drinks Champagne into another YA book females and males alike would read. Highly Recommended!!!




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