THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT by Jennifer E. Smith
Release Date: January 2, 2012
Publisher: Poppy/Little Brown
About: 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.
My Review: THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT is one of those books that took me by pleasant surprise. It wasn't that I wasn't expecting a great novel, it was just that I wasn't expecting a novel that I'd love so much that I'd immediately go out and buy a copy and try to plan out when I'd have to time to read it again. It was that good. No, it was that GREAT.
Hadley isn't exactly looking forward to her father's wedding. In fact, there are many things she'd much rather be doing than flying to London to be in the wedding to his soon to be new wife. The fact that she's less than enthused about the wedding is more than enough reason to explain why she misses her flight, and why she's oh-so-close to missing the nuptials in their entirety.
But this turns out not to be such a bad thing when a mysterious and super cute boy, Oliver, saves her from an old lady at the airport and then from boredom on the plane when they finally do take off. Hadley makes some assumptions about Oliver that are easy to follow along with at first, but after learning more about him, and still not truly understanding him, it becomes clear that Hadley is missing something important about his trip back home. Oliver's character is, in my opinion, written perfectly. He's witty, handsome and has that awesome accent that even though you're just reading it, you can totally hear it in your head. Oh, and he's a little bit of a dork, which makes him even more loveable, as if that were possible.
And as much as you expect to dislike Hadley's father, and his decision to remarry, it was impossible for me to do so. In fact, Hadley's character growth in this novel was one of the strongest selling points to me. Hadley's emotions are tumultuous and believable throughout. Smith does a remarkable job of making Hadley a girl you could connect with, making it impossible not to root for her to make the right choices.
I loved this book so much, I think I'm going to start calling it THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST READ.
My Rating: