Release Date: November 13th, 2012 (TODAY!) by Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Details: 304 pages, hardcover
Genre: Young Adult > Contemporary > Travel
Source: NetGalley (Thank you NetGalley & Delacorete!)
Summary (Goodreads):
Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.
It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").
But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.
Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.
Meant
to Be follows Julia on a Spring Break school trip to London over the
course of a week. Her best friend wasn’t able to make it out with her
and if that’s not bad enough, her travel partner is Jason the class
clown and king of breaking rules. Julia does NOT break rules, she
doesn’t believe in it! She also doesn’t believe in not being prepared.
Which is why she picked Mark as her “MTB” (Meant to Be).
Julia
has been looking forward to this trip FOREVER. She’s marked up her
travel guides with places she needs to visit and Jason makes some of
those places incredibly difficult to get to. Instead he’s more
interested in sticking his nose in his school issued phone, ditching
Julia, going to parties and sneaking out after curfew. And while Julia
thinks this is the worst thing ever, I’m sure she can’t deny that Jason
ended up taking her to some pretty cool places.
Julia
was a bit of a frustrating character because everything had to be
planned (OMG is this how my husband feels about me?!) and within a time
line (OMG I think it is!) while I get that this time in a different
country is crucial I think she should had gotten lost once or twice just
for fun. Her obsession with Mark was a little strange. She thinks she
knows these things about him and he has all these qualities of her
perfect guy (reads Shakespeare, likes The Beatles...) only to not really
know for sure if he posses these qualities but she’s been “in love”
with him forever!
Jason
was just as frustrating. He was a jerk one minute then the next he
seemed like he wants to be her friend and other times -- more than her
friend but then he goes right back to being a jerk! Especially when Mark
somehow shows up to London and wants to hang out with Julia (be still
my heart!) he is especially a jerk then. Like, the biggest jerk on the
face of a jerky planet jerk. It really annoyed me. I mean, if he didn’t
think too highly of Mark maybe HE SHOULD HAD JUST SAID SO. I mean, he
sort of did but he also sort of didn’t. But then I’m sure even if he did
Julia probably would had just brushed him off as stupid. Another thing I
didn’t like about Jason was that his actions were a little too abrupt
for my liking. Like he’d make some jackass move then he’d just leave.
Just like that. Also apparently Jason was this really smart sweet guy
who likes helping other people but sticks Julia with all the
assignments! What’s that about?!?
While
I didn’t love Meant to Be like I thought I would, I did enjoy it. The
journey that Julia goes on to really figure things out and realize that
life can’t be planned was amazing to see her go through. I loved the
places the author described in London (I haven’t read a book based in
London before!) and it made me want to visit it sometime even more! All
the historical places were interesting too!
If you’re looking for a cute contemporary in an oversea country and an unlikely romance, I would recommend Meant to Be!
"You laugh in your sleep."
My head snaps up from my lunch. So he does know.
"I what?"
"Yeah, don't get excited," he says, smiling to himself.
"It's not cute. It's kind of creepy. More like a cackle. You are whacked, Book Licker."
Oh my gosh---the quote is hilarious. Glad to hear you still loved this one, even the though characters were frustrating!
ReplyDelete@Becky I'm a sucker for anything quirky ;)
DeleteDespite the fact that the characters doesn't sound perfect, I think I want to give this a shot. I don't read a lot of these type of books, but I think I will enjoy this. The quote is funny.
ReplyDelete@Mel I definitely would suggest you give it a shot! I've seen a lot of rave reviews! And it is pretty entertaining!
DeleteI think that with Mark that kind of personifies a crush sometimes... you have this person all built up in your head and usually they are not really what you had them as.
ReplyDeleteBrandi from Blkosiner’s Book Blog
@Brandi Agreed. I'm sure majority of people are guilty of doing so -- especially in high school so it makes it pretty easy to relate to! I could feel her heart crushing when she realized he wasn't who she thought!
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ReplyDelete