"The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight" Is Off The Charts


 Title:  The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author:  Jennifer E. Smith
Format:  Hardback ARC
Length:  256 pages
Publisher:  Poppy/Little Brown
Rating:  5 stars

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   -Goodreads


Review Disclaimer
Let me begin this review by saying that I don't usually write my reviews in first person, but with this book I felt that there was no other way to truly convey to my audience this book's effect on me other than to do so.
That being said, here we go...


We Are Family
Hadley's irritation, sorrow, confusion, loss, need, anger, and yes, love stood up and screamed at me from the opening lines of this book.  I wanted so much to dive into the pages and slap her father!  The abandonment and betrayal of the father/daughter and familial bonds on which this girl built the foundation of her life had been ripped away and he seemed so ready to just move on!  (Yes...I am screaming in a blog post!)

Jennifer E. Smith will forever have my deepest gratitude for allowing readers of this novel to experience the reorganization of Hadley's family from her POV without excluding or overshadowing the importance or the dynamic of her mother's loss and the way that she dealt with it as well.
Though Hadley's family structure changed, its status as a family did not.  Thank you Miss Smith for allowing Hadley's mother to go through all of emotional turmoil that a separation of that caliber would cause, and still remain Hadley's mother.
Although I feel that in the grand scheme of things, Hadley's father got away with murder.  I cannot fail to acknowledge that he did take responsibility for his role in things.  I have to albeit begrudgingly, give him a bit of a pat on the back for attempting to include his daughter in his new life.

See YA authors...You can have strong parental interaction and respect between parent and child and the book won't self destruct.    

Imagine Meeting You Here
The way that Hadley and Oliver met was so natural and unscripted that I just had to stand up and cheer.  Proof that it is often the most ordinary occurrences which have the most life altering effects.   I loved the two of them together from the beginning, and literally had to speed read my way through the areas in this story that didn't concern them; to get back to their parts.
Oliver was just Oliver...sweet, intelligent, wounded, loveable, funny, Oliver.  It was the fact that he was 'just Oliver,' that made him so loveable. 
 We regular girls the world over get to experience a little wish fulfillment in Oliver and Hadley.  Through them we get to see what happens when an ordinary girl with issues meets an ordinary guy with issues and they become extraordinary together in spite of said issues.

 And Finally
"The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight" is a beautiful microcosm in which love lost, love found, and love metamorphosed is presented to the reader with an unsurpassed beauty and heart-tugging emotional honesty that any reader would love.

 

3 comments:

  1. Sounds like an amazing book! I will definitely be checking this one out :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great review! Very nicely done! This is on my to-read list now, though I do not read YA novels, but it sounds so promising!

    Komal @ The Review Girl

    ReplyDelete
  3. That will definitely go on my reading list. I just hope the book is as good as the review!
    Gwynneth White
    http://todayinshenaya.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for stopping by. I love comments, so please leave a few.