Author : Lauren Morrill
Genre : YA contemporary
Release Date : November 13th, 2012
Publisher : Delacorte Books
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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.
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.
*This review may contain some spoilers
To say I'm a little disappointed with this book would be an understatement. I had so much hopes with this book because of these things :
1) The setting is in London, which is one of my favorite city in this world (even though I never went there)
2) It has some adventures. I always love books with an adventure in it (until now, of course)
3) I love funny characters, and this book has it too.
4) There's enemy-turn-lovers romance in this book.
Then why did I don't like this book if there's so many things I like? The first reason would be the main character, Julia. At first, she was okay. She's that kind of girl who's smart, like to study hard, and prefer books over friends. Unfortunately, she's also like to looked down to another people. She believe she's better than anyone else, just because she read books and listen to the Beatles and take everything seriously. The whole time I just want to scream "Girl, you're seventeen! No one is that serious at 17!". The other MC--Jason--was slightly better than Julia. He's funny, but personally I think he's too childish. He often do something funny that made people (or at least, me) feel uncomfortable.
The second reason would be the romance. This was supposed to be enemy-turn-lovers romance, but it doesn't feel like it. There's no chemistry or spark or sexual tension between Julia and Jason. Around 3/4 of the book, Julia always thinking about her "MTB" aka Mark, and her "unidentified guy" aka Chris. Not to mention, she kept saying that she hates Jason. Jason was no better. He lying to and humiliating Julia all the time, and I'm pretty sure it's not something you do to a person you like. So, I think it's not my fault that I don't believe their "love confession" at the end of the book.
The last reason is the plot. Like I said, I love adventure book. Throughout the book, Jason and Julia were wandering through London in order to find Chris. Normally I would love it, but, once again, it feels plain for me. They bicker constantly, and eventhough there's some sweet moments between them, it's small compared to their "hating each other moments".
Overall, this book disappoint me in many aspects. It's sad, since I had so much hopes with it.
Aw, what a pitty that this did not turn out to be better. Blurb sounds really good but I can totally understand your disappointment in romance aspect if there was no spark between main duo :/
ReplyDeleteYes, I was so disappointed by this book. The summary did sound really good, but turns out the book didn't :(
DeleteI'm sorry that this book was a major disappointment, and I kinda see why. I don't like judgemental and elitist characters on the get-go, not unless they develop a huge character make over somewhere down the road. And the fact that there is no chemistry or spark between them would turn me off as well, especially since this is obviously romance-centric!
ReplyDeleteFaye at The Social Potato
I actually did not expect that the MC is judgemental. She didn't sound like that from the summary. And yes, I don't even feel anything I usually feel when I read this book!
DeleteSorry it was a disappointment for you, Tiffany. I totally get all your points. Lack of chemistry and character development is deal breaker for me.
ReplyDelete