Sunday, July 14, 2013

Book Review: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Meant to Be
Author:  Lauren Morrill
Publisher:  Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 304 pages
Publication Date:  November 13, 2012

From Goodreads:
Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question. 

It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's queen of following rules and being prepared. That's why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that's also why she's chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB ("meant to be").

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she's partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.

Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.


Review:
Cute cute cute.  An adorable book that will have you smiling throughout.  

Julia was likable, but she was definitely an uptight girl.  Rule follower, brown noser (with teachers).  It's the classic uptight girl needs to have someone show her how to have fun and loosen up.  And that person is Jason, of course.  Not the most original premise, but really well done.   

I liked Jason, and one thing I liked about him was that he wasn't perfect.  At all.  A lot of authors portray the love interest as this perfect guy who does not exist, while Jason had a lot of faults.  A typical teenage guy who is pretty obnoxious, cuts up, tells stupid guy jokes, etc.  I mean, he has his good points too, don't get me wrong, but you can see why Julia didn't really like him based on what she knew.  I just thought it was great that the author wrote him in such a real way.

The setting is great:  London.  Julia and Jason are paired up to experience London and I loved the sightseeing aspect of the book.  

It was a neat little twist with the text messages that Julia is getting from someone named Chris.  Julia met a lot of guys that first night and she doesn't remember who Chris is.  And I thought it was creative how the author started the chapters with text messages. 

Fun, light read that is perfect for summer.


Posted by:  Pam

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