Tuesday, February 14, 2012

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Release Date: Jan 2nd, 2012 by Poppy/Little Brown
Details: 256 pages, hardcover
Genre: Young Adult > Contemporary
Source: Bought
Summary (Goodreads):

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.






Ah, airports.

On one side there's something mystifying about airports; missed chances, a stranger glancing for far too long, spit second smiles... and on the other side, there's something really really irritating about them; lots of waiting, crowds and the ickyness hanging in the air. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight mixes both of these things together, perfectly.

This is the type of book that reminds me why I read YA. [main character] has this notion of how she feels about marriage and lifelong partnership, but she's still so young and she still has much to learn. But she's convinced it can't be any other way! The idea of being brand new to something and watching this main character take this journey she doesn't know she's on... it's like experiencing it for the first time yourself and I think as you get older, you tend to want that feeling back and this book, it gives me that feeling.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight wasn't a fluffy lovey-dovey read like I thought it would be. It was much heavier than that. Long story short, Hadley hates her dad and at that moment, she also hates her mom, just a little bit for sending off to the other side of the world to see her father marry a woman Hadley has never met. I think that's pretty good grounds for a seventeen year old to hate her parents, I mean, if I were Hadley, I'd be pissed. Along the way she meets a strange boy named Oliver.

Hadley has a pretty fantastic relationship with her parents, you know, prior to hating them. It was hard to tell who she was closer to. It was obvious she was daddy's little girl but since the divorce, she was also her mother's best friend and it's nice to see a book in YA where the kid gets along great with (both) their parents. Hadley herself I think needed this trip. She needed this trip to understand. To figure out what she wanted in her own life herself and she needed it to heal. 

Oliver was an interesting character. He was funny, kind, a total gentleman but also totally mysterious. We meet Oliver and he seems like he's this happy cheerful guy and as the 24hrs goes on, we see that he had his own problems to deal with that led him to London. We see Oliver break down and that's not something you usually see in the male main character of a YA book, so it was refreshing. It helped make Oliver seem real. 

While The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight wasn't light and fluffy or what I expected it to be, it was still an enjoyable read.


"No one is useless in this world," it reads, "who lightens the burden of it for any one else."

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