January 7, 2013

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith


Title: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Release Date: January 2nd, 2012
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Page Count: 236
Source: Borrowed from the New York Public Library
Rating: ★★★★☆
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

[Summary Source: Goodreads]
THE REVIEW

How CUTE was this book? It's just this short, little piece of adorableness and I want to read the last oh, 50 pages or so on repeat for a little while, just so I can enjoy the peak adorable moments over and over again.

Let's break this down:

I think the reason I loved this book so much is because the actual concept of "Love at First Sight" isn't brought up until the very end. The idea isn't forced on the reader over and over again. It's something that's shown as the book goes on. The reader feels the emotions and see the actions of people who are falling in love at first sight instead of the author being all like "hey, check it out, love at first sight!" Show, not tell, y'know? Totally legit and so not one of those insta-love moments. I hate insta-love. So much. No. This was one of those slow realization adorable love moments. And when I say slow I mean within an 24 hours, but still. Slow.

So while the whole show, not tell is great and all, I found Hadley to be REALLY ANNOYING at the beginning of the book. She's just so angsty. I guess it's legitimate that she's all angrytown, but some of the things she says and does at the beginning make me cringe a lot, which was rather unpleasant. So I get it, but I don't love it. But then she meets OLIVER, who's this lovely, tall British bit of wonderful (sign me up for one of those, please) and I'm all like, kay, ready to love everything and everyone, including angsty Hadley, now!

But then she gets to London and that's when I'm so on Team Hadley all on her own, even without Oliver there to make me like her more. Everything she does from the second that plane lands to the very last page of the book I'm just like YOU GO GIRL. YOU GO AND YOU GET IT. I especially felt like this during scenes with her dad (ESPECIALLY the one in the hotel room) and when she's off to find Oliver. Like whoa. All of the feels. I forgot about all of the feels but then this book came by to remind me.

Anyway, all in all, this book was swoony and unpredictable (DO NOT LIE AND TELL ME YOU KNEW) and absolutely adorable. I love how the story unfolds and I absolutely adore Jennifer E. Smith's writing style. Really. It's like a waterfall of wonderful words (an alliterated cliche? I think so). I don't know if that sounds like a good thing, but it is and it's exactly how I felt as I ate up 200 pages in one sitting. The whole story just washed over me and left me feeling delightfully happy and hopeful at the end. And I'm a cynic who definitely doesn't believe in this whole "love at first sight" thing, so that's pretty good.

The long and short of it?
Plot: Love, love, love. Maybe not at first sight, but definitely love by the end.
World Building: It felt liken airplane to me and I wasn't even on it. Not sure if I hate or love Jennifer E. Smith for that.
Character Development: Sensical and delightful.
Prose: A WATERFALL OF WONDERFUL WORDS, I TELL YOU.
Would I Recommend This Book?: Do you think this review can stand more caps locks? Yes? Okay then: READ THIS BOOK SO WE CAN SQUEE OVER IT TOGETHER PLEASE.

4 comments:

  1. I read this book around Christmas and absolutely loved it! It's adorable while still being realistic, which is saying something considering the premise isn't all that realistic. And I'd like to be signed up for an Oliver as well. Apparently, I need to hang out in airports more often.

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    1. I spend a lot of time in airports and this has NEVER happened to me. So not fair. I'll be in another one soon, so I'm hoping for the best.

      Thanks for commenting, Stormy! I'm glad you liked the book :)

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  2. I think Jennifer's writing style is quite lovely. I've read another book by her (You Are Here) and still found the writing as compelling and beautiful as I did in this one. I loved this book though! And, you know, I wouldn't mind a British boy in my life ;)

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    1. Hmmm I'll have to add You Are Here to my list since I really did love this one!

      Thanks for commenting (as always), Alexa!! <3

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