September 16, 2014

Book Review: THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT by Jennifer E. Smith


Book:  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author:  Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher:  Poppy/ Little Brown

Genre:  Young Adult Romance, Fiction

“Love is the strangest, most illogical thing in the world.”- Mom
“I’m not talking about love, I’m talking about marriage.”- Hadley
“That is even worse.”- Mom

Blurb via 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. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother 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 sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

My Synopsis:


Hadley and Oliver need to go to London for two very different reasons. Hadley's father is getting remarried and she is angry.  He left her and her mom for a job opportunity in London, which was supposed to last a few months. 

Next thing she knew, her parents had broken up and he had fallen for someone else, hence the wedding.  Though she was always closer to her dad than her mom, this changes every single thing.

Hadley and Oliver meet accidentally at the airport.  She is late for her flight and has been moved to the next one and is seated next to Oliver. Ten hours of talking, sharing and dozing with and next to each other ends in one certainty, and that is Hadley has fallen for him.

They part at the airport not knowing each other's surnames, much less other crucial information, except for one thing: Paddington.  So off Hadley goes to search for what could be something real...... Or something that could break her heart.

My Review:

Though this book was mostly about growing up, realizations and acceptance within a short 24 hours, I felt thoroughly engaged in the story.  

I hurt with Hadley.  Her flashbacks, specifically to when she was a child with a doting father, were painful.  He was very much her hero, the almost perfect dad who had all the answers until he fell in love with another woman and broke all his promises to his family, to Hadley.  

Author Jennifer E. Smith
The circumstances he put his wife and daughter in were unacceptable to me, but then again, Hadley is a forgiving person, or at least she becomes one after meeting Oliver and understanding his side of the story which is a total opposite of hers.

Is it really better to have had something wonderful and lost it than to have had nothing at all?  Is it best to forgive when all is settled with everyone happy but yourself? I can't say.  Hadley is a good character.  Much too young to have been put in the situation she was in but well handled in the end.  

What I get from this story is that
when true love and happiness presents itself to you, no matter what is in the way, you have to grab it, then fix everything else after.  Because those who truly love you will eventually understand and give way to what is important.  
This story does have its sweet romance, but more than that, it's about family that breaks and slowly heals in the end. 

Meet authors Jennifer E. Smith and Lissa Price this weekend and get your copies signed!  September 19, 6pm at the SM Cebu; September 20, 2pm at the SM Aura Premier and September 21, 2 to 4pm at the SMX Convention Center for the Manila International Book fair.  Be early as there are only 200 slots available on the last signing day.  This is upon the invitation of the National Book Store.

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