review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight--Jennifer E. Smith

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
January 2, 2012
Poppy
Young Adult | Contemporary
Standalone
Pages: 236 
Source/Format: Little Brown/Hardcover
Author's Website | Amazon* | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound

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. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that 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 in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

REVIEW:

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is adorable and cute and oh my god, I want to erase my memory and read it all over again. It was tres yummy.

So, in YA fiction, readers see a lot of first person. And now, it’s more like first person present tense. Well… there’s one POV that I hate like crazy—third person present tense. There’s an author who I think doesn’t do it very well, and it annoys me to no end when I read his/her books. But see, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is written in third person present tense—but the best thing about is how Jennifer E. Smith writes it. It didn’t annoy me, even though when I saw it, I wanted to run far, far away from this book. So, hey, if you hate third person present tense, don’t run away from this book! Give it a chance because it’s SO CUTE.

I was expecting to love this book. The premise, hello, the title?, and even the early reviews I read all told me the same thing: it was a cute book and if you loved contemporary love stories, YOU WILL LOVE THIS BOOK.

Like most books set in a twenty-four hour period, there are flashbacks. Which is nice; I really like flashbacks. There was one flashback where it was a flashback of Hadley and Oliver’s time on the plane… but when we were reading their time on the plane, that scene didn’t show up. I thought it was cool. Maybe?

Oliver. Oh, Oliver. You know how everybody raves about Stephanie Perkins’ boys, Etienne and Cricket? YOU GUYS. OLIVER IS SO WITH THOSE TWO. Despite not having read Lola yet, but OMG. I love Oliver. HE IS SO NICE. And he has FEELINGS. (which we found out more in chapter twelve—and omg, I wanted to hug him so hard in chapter twelve.) Oliver is SO FREAKING NICE. And hot. AND NICE. And if I do a 2012 favorites, and book boyfriend is one of the topics, Oliver is SO. ON. THAT LIST.

And Hadley. Oh, Hadley. I have a girl crush on Hadley. She’s awesome and amazing and smart. And just amazing. It’s tough having to go to a parent’s second wedding, and I bet it’s tougher when you have to fly to a foreign country for a DAY to go to the bloody wedding and having to be IN the wedding?

Oh hell. It’s horrible.

I will say two things: the ending is ambiguous, and their first kiss is everything you want it to be. I might’ve cheered. In my head. Yeah.

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