Sunday, January 1, 2012

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

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
by Jennifer E. Smith
Reviewed by: Baby Sister Brittany
Release Date:  January 2nd, 2012 (Consider it a New Year’s gift to yourself)!
The Sisters say: Sweet, Sad, Special, Statistically—well, who cares about statistics! It’s fantastic! :)

Four minutes.

It doesn’t seem like very much time. It’s time spent waiting in line for coffee. Time spent on hold waiting for someone to take your call.  Time spent annoyed with commercials waiting for the regular TV programming to come back on.

For Hadley, those seemingly inconsequential four minutes change everything.

Against her will, she’s on her way to be a bridesmaid in her Dad’s second wedding. And when four minutes of lost time causes her to miss her flight, she finds herself on a new plane and a new path. 

On this new path, she meets Oliver. He’s just a boy (albeit a very cute, British Boy… which really those are the best kind) in the airport who helps her with her luggage. But then it turns out he’s just a boy who’ll be sitting next to her for the very long flight. He’s just a boy she explains her fears to. He’s just a boy who makes her second guess her hatred for her father. As it turns out… he’s a whole lot more than just a boy.

He might be THE boy.

This book is a fast, witty, romantic read that has the feel of Serendipity meets Love Actually. The statistical probability that you will love this book is pretty much 100% guaranteed.

Family Drama + Chance Meeting + British Boy + Grand Gestures = Love at first read!

Need more specifics?

As usual, let me start with the boy! Oliver! Oh, Oliver! I’m a sucker for an accent! But I’m even more of a sucker for hilariousness said with an accent!  Oliver was witty and mysterious and charming. More than that, he was a well-rounded realistic character. He felt completely real to me, as if I could walk into an airport and really find him. (PLEASE CAN I WALK INTO AN AIRPORT AND REALLY FIND HIM!!! KTHNXBAI!)

I also really loved Hadley, the main character. She’s a teenager, so the angst is inherent. Her boyfriend recently broke up with her. Her parents are divorced. She’s having issues with her Mom, but that has nothing on the big mess of brokenness that is her relationship with her dad.  With all of that, I was a little worried that she might be a whiny or annoying protagonist, but she really wasn’t. She had the perfect balance of logic and emotional that made her journey interesting, but not off-putting. I rarely—RARELY—like the girls in contemporary YA romances as much as I liked Hadley! She was great!

Pacing and Place where two of the things that I felt this book really succeeded with. The whole book takes place within 24 hours. The romance, as well as the life-altering occasion of the wedding, truly felt like a whirl-wind that I, as the reader, was caught up in, too. Now, Place—I love books that have such a vivid sense of place that I feel as if I could step into that place, and thus step into the story. The author perfectly captured the annoyance, excitement,  stagnancy, hope, mystery, and anxiety that I think defines the airport. I’m not sure I will ever be satisfied until I, too, meet an amazing British guy in an airport.

I mean, statistically speaking, it’s not IMPOSSIBLE, right?

This is a book you definitely need to read! Besides being an enjoyable work, the cover is great, and the design of the book itself is really gorgeous.

I really have no complaints.

Buy it now!