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

Rowena's review of The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.

Main Character: Hadley
Love Interest: Oliver
Series: None
Author: Twitter|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. 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.

I've been looking forward to reading this book for ages now. I mean, it's been months and months and months since this book came onto my radar and when it finally came out, I had to have it. There were so many reviews going up about this book and so many different people were loving it so I just knew I was going to love it too.

And I did.

Only, I didn't love it as much as everyone else did. That's not to say that it wasn't plenty entertaining, I just didn't go absolutely gaga over it.

I guess because for me, the main focus wasn't on Hadley's romance with Oliver but on her estranged relationship with her father who is getting re-married and the reason why Hadley is going to London in the first place. You see, Hadley hasn't really forgiven her father for splitting their family up and for hurting her mother and you see the toll all of this non-forgiving takes on their relationship. The father knows that he messed up and he misses Hadley but Hadley is more wrapped up in what her father's moving away did to their family. Hadley loves her Mom and is mad at her Dad and this new woman for hurting her. You understand why she's mad but there were times when I wished she would lighten up.

Then there's Oliver. She's four minutes late to the airport so she misses her flight. She has to wait for the next flight and Oliver is on that flight. Oliver spends the seven hour flight trying to make Hadley laugh so that she wouldn't stress about anything (she's afraid of flying) and also to keep him from thinking about waits for him at home. I really enjoyed getting to know Oliver through everything that happens on the flight but for some reason, even at the end when everything comes out, I still felt like I didn't know Oliver as much as I wanted to.

Did they fall in instant love? I'm not sure. Do I believe in love at first sight? No. I believe in lust at first sight and attraction at first sight but I'm not sure I believe in love at first sight. Did I believe they were on their way to being in love with each other by the end of the book? Totally.

Getting to know both Hadley and Oliver throughout this story was entertaining because Hadley is going through a lot of things and she's smart so it was easy to fall along with what she was going through. The way that Oliver was on the airplane and then when they land in London, it was really cute. I really liked him and my heart went out to him just because you could tell that there was something going on with him but he spent most of the time with Hadley trying to keep her spirits up and I loved it.

I really liked the conflict between Hadley and her father. Far too often in YA books, the parents are either neglectful and selfish but to see that Hadley's father miss his relationship with Hadley, to see him want to fix their relationship was refreshing and I was glad to see Hadley meet him halfway. You see Hadley change for the better from the beginning to the end and I enjoyed that aspect of this story.

Overall, it was a good, solid story and I enjoyed it. I will definitely be reading more from Jennifer E. Smith.

...and that's your scoop!

This book is available from Little Brown Company.
Buy the book: B&N|Amazon|Book Depository
Book cover and blurb credit: http://barnesandnoble.com