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

Title: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Poppy/Little, Brown and Co.
Publish Date: January 2, 2012
Genre: YA, contemporary
Pages: 236

Synopsis:
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.

From Goodreads

This book was adorable. I don’t read contemporary romances a lot. Not because I don’t enjoy them, but they always seem to take a backseat to all of my paranormal reads. When I do pick them up, I love to find one that’s as great as The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.

Love at first sight is a really rare thing, but also one of those things that you ache for. I think the best thing about it is that, when it happens, it blind-sides you. You don’t even know you’ve lost your heart. But you’re definitely a goner. At least that’s how I imagine it. And I feel like that’s what happened to Hadley.

Hadley is dismissive of love. She doesn’t really believe in it. Especially not in marriage. Not since her dad took off to teach at Oxford and fell in love with someone else, breaking up their family. So Hadley doesn’t think much about the boy in the airport that offers to help with her suitcase and shares a table with her for dinner. He’s cute. Nice. A distraction from the claustrophobia that’s overwhelming her in the cramped terminal, and the airplane miles in the sky. But he’s about to change her life.

The thing that surprised me the most about this book was how so much of it took place in London. Probably the whole second half of the book. I was expecting most of it to take place while they were in the air, and that that was where we’d learn the most about Hadley and Oliver. But I actually liked how it wasn’t like that. After seeing the way Hadley spoke about her father and his bride, it was interesting to watch all of her interactions with them through her eyes.

I don’t want to give any spoilers, but there’s this one point in the book where you know that Hadley is a goner. That she’s lost her heart. And although she thinks her actions are irrational, I found them beautiful and touching. She and Oliver are both very interesting characters and I think they fit so well together. Just over the course of 24 hours, the majority of which were spent apart, they created a bond and a relationship that’s true and hopefully ever-lasting.

I definitely recommend this to anyone that enjoys a good contemporary love story!