Saturday, January 26, 2013

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

THE DETAILS:
Pages: 215
Genre: Teenage Fiction, Contemporary
Release Date: May 2012
Publisher: Headline

Bought it online.

THE BLURB:
Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Imagine if she hadn’t forgotten the book. Or if there hadn’t been traffic on the expressway. Or if she hadn’t fumbled the coins for the toll. What if she’d run just that little bit faster and caught the flight she was supposed to be on. Would it have been something else - the weather over the Atlantic or a fault with the plane?

Hadley isn’t sure if she believes in destiny or fate but, on what is potentially the worst day of each of their lives, it’s the quirks of timing and chance events that mean Hadley meets Oliver...

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' by Jennifer E. Smith promises a quick, fun, romantic and inspiring contemporary read. While some of the reviews I've seen did question the ending, most of them did depict the story to be fabulous. I agree; what a great story! My only issues were small ones, and really, it's nice to read a book that's so good you have to go all knit-picky to find issues.

Hadley was an interesting character. I felt like I really didn't know her, but it wasn't in a bad way. It wasn't that the author hadn't been descriptive enough or anything like that, It was just her. She was like a sister or a cousin that you'd have a hard time buying birthday presents for. At first I thought she seemed a little bit bratty, but after a while I understood why she had a grudge against her father and her father's fiance. I could see how both parties saw things differently in their fight.

I liked how the story progressed. At the beginning everything is Black/White, but as we move further on there are all these other shades and viewpoints from where we can see the issue. Everyone had their reasons for what they did, as logical or illogical as they may be. There are definitely a few messages ingrained in the story and a few other things for the reader to think about.

My favourite thing about this story is that it runs for 24hrs. I thought there was something magical about that and the fact that it ended at midnight. I also really enjoyed the descriptions in relation to time; how time was going slow, how it felt like it was going fast. And, I liked that Hadley thought about her path could of changed had she done something else that morning...etc. She was aware that it was because of fate, but also that she does have some control over her destiny.

One thing I wasn't sure about in this novel was the title, 'The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight'. I think "Love at first sight" is such a finicky term. I think everybody takes a bit of warming up to. Even if you do instantly like them, I think it would take a while for it to progress into love.

The main issues I had with the story were the uncertain ending and the format of the flashbacks. I thought that the ending seemed uncertain because the characters didn't really confirm that they were going to try and see each other again, they just went on about some statistics that they could possibly meet again which worried me; I wanted to know for sure that they would be together. What bothered me about the flashbacks was that there wasn't any real introduction to them or a difference in the fonts. I would get myself confused thinking I was reading about Oliver (He) when "He" was actually Hadley's father.

Overall, 5/5 stars. It was a very quick, fun read that will make you laugh and cry. I wouldn't call it fluff, but I think a few fantasy readers may view it that way. I think Morgan Matson fans will enjoy this one.


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