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

"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. Having missed her flight, she's stuck at JFK airport and late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother 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 sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?
Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

 

This book wins two awards from me this year: 

 

1) Best cover of the year! (So far)

 

2) Longest freaking book title in the history of mankind.

 

I first heard about this book a handful of months ago- about the time it came out. The idea intrigued me. I'm not really a believer in "love at first sight". I think it's more "LUST at first sight" and then it turns into love (which I think can happen quickly! I'm not totally cold hearted and cynical...)

 

To be honest, I had a really difficult time diving into this book. It's told in Third Person, Present Tense, which doesn't sound so bad, right? It is. It mostly just made me uncomfortable the whole book, even though I loved the story. If this book would have been much longer than its 236 pages, I would have put it down simply for the way it's told. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but for me, it was a huge distraction for most of the book. There were times that it was easy to ignore, but they were few and far between. 

So the question is: Would I recommend this. You may be surprised, but I whole-heartedly say YES!!! As I said, I loved the story. I loved both Hadley and Oliver and their chemistry as they got to know each other over the course of their flight. I loved the way they were brought back together at the most inopportune times and how fate worked it's fickle magic. I think it was a wonderful story. But... if you are reading along and can't figure out what seems so strange, now you know what it is.

Happy Reading!

The List by Melanie Jacobson

Ashley Barrett doesn't want to get married. At least, not anytime soon. She doesn't care how many of her friends and family members and fellow churchgoers had weddings before they finished college -- the last thing she needs in her fun-loving twenties is the dead-weight of some guy. And that's why she created The List. By the time she completes all twenty-five goals -- from learning a language to skydiving to perfecting the art of making sushi -- she'll be more ready to settle down. Maybe.

This summer in California is a prime time for Ashley to cross two items off the list: learn to surf (#13) and have a summer romance (#17). And Matt Gibson, the best surf instructor in Huntington Beach and the most wanted guy in the singles ward, is the perfect man for the job. Ashley hatches a plan to love him and leave him before heading off to grad school in the fall (#4, get a master's degree). But when Matt decides he doesn't like the "leaving" part, Ashley's carefully laid plans are turned sideways. Now Ashley faces an unexpected dilemma: should she stick to the safety of The List, or risk everything for a love that may tie her down —- or might set her free?

This was our book club pick that we were supposed to read this month, but it's one I've been wanting to read for a long time. So I really struggled in my waiting-to-read-it-until-I'm-laying-on-the-beach moment. Alas, I resisted. I did actually read this on the beach in California, not far from Huntington Beach where this book takes place. And I loved every second of it.

As someone much like Ashley's sisters who got married fresh out of high school, I can see Ashley's viewpoint. Wanting to accomplish things in life and be her own person before she's forever attached to someone, and maybe even some little someones. I loved seeing her grow and realize that she could still be someone and be WITH someone. Yes, there were moments where I wanted to shake Ashley (and Matt), but I liked the way everything worked out for the best (for both parties) in the end. I also liked the online conversations between Ashley and Ryder and thought that they gave a fun and different twist to the story.

I would definitely recommend this book. I enjoyed it very much! It was the perfect summer read.

Happy Reading!

A Girl Named Digit by Annabel Monaghan

Farrah “Digit” Higgins may be going to MIT in the fall, but this L.A. high school genius has left her geek self behind in another school district so she can blend in with the popular crowd at Santa Monica High and actually enjoy her senior year.

But when Farrah, the daughter of a UCLA math professor, unknowingly cracks a terrorist group’s number sequence, her laid-back senior year gets a lot more interesting. Soon she is personally investigating the case, on the run from terrorists, and faking her own kidnapping—all while trying to convince a young, hot FBI agent to take her seriously. So much for blending in...

Hey there! So, we survived our very first real family vacation. This past week we walked Fremont Street (which should be renamed Freak Street- even if it was so cool!) in Vegas, lounged on the beach, did some boogie boarding, shopped lots (!!!) and we were even ambitious enough to brave the crowds at Disneyland and California Adventure for Cars Land. (Which was awesome!!, and actually the main reason for our trip. It was like walking through Radiator Springs. My boys loved it!) Anyway, along with all that, we had lots and LOTS of hours in the car coming and going. Translation: I got a lot of reading done. Four books, to be exact. And that was just during travel time. I need a life.... LOL

This was the first book on my "What I Want to Read on My Vacation" list. I've heard and read quite a few mixed reviews about it but I thought it sounded like a fun read so I threw caution to the wind and bought it anyway. I loved it! It was a really short, quick read but I thought the story was fun. A perfect vacation read, to be honest. Had I not been very relaxed from vacation on my brain, I could easily find things to pick apart in the plot line, but since I was feeling very zen (aka: sleepy and a bit loopy....thanks to HIGH doses of Dramamine--I'm a terrible traveler!) I really enjoyed the "out there" and "unrealistic" world of genius teenager who just happens to uncover a terrorist plot and then even more astonishingly gets to work with the youngest (and HOTTEST) FBI agent in the bureau. Far fetched? Yes. But was it action packed. Also yes. Just what I wanted.

It was kind of a fun change of pace for me to read an unrealistic book without any fairy tale elements to it. It was more of an on-the-edge-of-your-seat-contemporary. Which proves that even without vampires and fairies and dead people, a YA book can still hook you, break your heart, make you jump for joy, and keep you on the edge of your seat until the last page. I would definitely recommend this book. 

Happy Reading!

Starring Me by Krista McGee

Release Date: July 10, 2012

Kara McKormick is told she's auditioning to star in a new teen variety show. But it's what she isn't told that could change her life.

The feisty New Yorker moves to sunny Orlando to participate in a month-long audition, where she'll live with nine other contestants and an eccentric housemother. Kara knows that the show already has a big-time celebrity lined up for the co-host, but she doesn't know who it is.

Chad Beacon quickly rose to fame after winning America's Next Star, but he doesn't want his entire career to be about singing. There is so much more he wants to do-like act. The new variety show sounds like the perfect next step for him, but his parents want him to have a co-star who shares his faith since they'll be spending so much time together.

Acting is high on Kara's priority list. But a relationship with God? Not so much. In fact, she's tried to stay away from anything religious. But God is after Kara's heart and He's put people in her life who are showing her there's far more to Christianity than rules and judgment.

And just when it seems that Kara's going to have to give up her acting dream, God reveals that she may have a starring role after all-in a story so big only He could write it.

This is a companion book to First Date that was released earlier this year. I would highly recommend reading that book before reading this. You can read my review of First Date by clicking HERE.

I think I am officially a Krista McGee fan. Are her books fairly predictable? Yes. Do they have plenty of fluff in them? Also yes. Do I love them even more because of that? Absolutely. I wasn't so sure about the Christianity element when I read First Date but I thought it was refreshing in this book.

I really liked Kara. She was sassy and confident and lovable--and not in an obnoxious way. I thought she was such a great character. I am glad that Addy and Jonathan made guest appearances in this book. I was hoping there would be more to their story when I finished the first book in this "series".


I don't want to have to do a spoiler alert in this post at all, so just know that I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it, but make sure you read the books in order! Even though this is a companion book, you still need to read the first book. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!


Now, I want to let you all know, THERE WILL BE NO REVIEWS NEXT WEEK (July 10th and 12th). I'll be back to posting on Tuesday, July 17th. See you on the flip side! (That is such a lame saying, but I couldn't resist. I've always wanted to work it into a conversation.... I figured this was close enough!)

Happy Reading!

**I received this book from the publisher for the purpose of review.

Never Sit Down in a Hoop Skirt and Other Things I Learned in Southern Belle Hell by Crickett Rumley

Expelled from thirteen boarding schools in the past five years, seventeen-year-old Jane Fontaine Ventouras is returning to her Southern roots, and the small town of Bienville, Alabama, where ladies always wear pearls, nothing says hospitality like sweet tea
and pimento cheese sandwiches, and competing in the annual Magnolia Maid Pageant is every girl’s dream.

But Jane is what you might call an anti-belle—more fishnets and tattoos than sugar and spice. The last thing on her mind is joining the Magnolia Maid brigade and parading around town in
a dress so big she can’t even fi t through doors. So when she finds herself up to her ears in ruffl es and etiquette lessons, she’s got one mission: Escape.

What’s a hipster to do? Will Jane survive Bienville boot camp intact or will they—gasp!—make a Southern belle out of her yet?

I had never heard of this book before, but when I saw the title as I was browsing the shelves at the library, I had to read it. It sounded like it had potential to be an entertaining book, which it was, but in a different way than I was expecting.

This book was very much about Jane figuring out who she was and coming to terms with her mother's death and her father's constant absence. Becoming a Magnolia Maid, while it was more a "to spite everyone" move at first, set the wheels in motion for Jane's journey to self discovery.

I suppose it also helped that there was a cute boy waiting back in Bienville that Jane happened to have unresolved feelings for. Cute boys solve everything! I just wish there would have been more to the Jane/Luke story worked into the "I am woman, hear me roar" story.

Anyway, this was a quick and easy summer read. It'd be a good book to take to the beach or the lake or camping or to the park and just sit around in the sun and enjoy. 

Happy Reading! 

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. 

But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

This was our book club pick for this month, and I have to say-- without book club I never would have picked it up. Actually, I probably never would have even heard of it. Really, I thought this was a fascinating story....when I think of it as just a story. But when I think about the girls that live this life day in and day out, it actually makes me sick to my stomach.

I was talking to my husband about this book the other day and I said, "How can anyone be a part of something like this and think they are in the right?" And then as I got thinking about it, I realized that that same thing could be said about any religion nowadays by anyone of a differing religion. In fact, I said to him, "I wonder if someone is saying the exact same thing about our religion right now..." 

People have crazy ideas. People get brainwashed into doing horrible things and say that it's "God's will", like labeling it as orders from Diety will make it okay. Polygamy is just one of those things that I absolutely cannot wrap my head around. I don't understand how someone could force thirteen-year-old girls (babies!!) to marry old men (often men they are related to), have baby after baby after baby, and convince them that if they die in childbirth or while pregnant, that they are an abomination and won't go to heaven. That if they even look at other boys, if they read books, if they aren't subservient to their spouse, the Apostles, the Prophet, then they are of the devil and are going to hell. That if their child cries or misbehaves in the slightest, they have to torture them into submissive obedience. I thank God that I was not raised like that. I don't blame Kyra in the slightest for wanting to run. Actually, I applaud her strength. 


It breaks my heart that people live like this. There are so many religions today that are based on love, built through love, and have loving, faithful members. The "religion" and "way of life" talked about in this book is absolutely NOT about love. It's about dominance and control and fear. It was interesting to me to read this book because, like I said, I never would have read it otherwise. It really made me think about how thankful I am that I was raised by loving parents in a nurturing environment. Not everyone is so lucky. 


I would recommend this book simply because it was very well written and it's a story that will stay with you. It's a story that will make you re-evaluate your life. It will make you count your blessings. Not once, but over and over again.

Happy Reading!

The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacher

Release Date: May 8, 2012

I'm Adrienne Haus, survivor of a mother-daughter book club. Most of us didn't want to join. My mother signed me up because I was stuck at home all summer, with my knee in a brace. CeeCee's parents forced her to join after cancelling her Paris trip because she bashed up their car. The members of "The Unbearable Book Club," CeeCee, Jill, Wallis, and I, were all going into eleventh grade A.P. English. But we weren't friends. We were literary prisoners, sweating, reading classics, and hanging out at the pool. If you want to find out how membership in a book club can end up with a person being dead, you can probably look us up under mother-daughter literary catastrophe. Or open this book and read my essay, which I'll turn in when I go back to school.

When I first started reading this, I thought, What a fun idea! A book in the form of a school essay? Neat!

No. 

NOT NEAT. 

Obviously I forgot how boring and poorly written the majority of high school essays are, and this one was no exception. First off, I read this entire book as though they were fifteen-year-olds (which I swear it says in the book). Apparently this is not the case, as the book description says that the girls are all going into ELEVENTH grade A.P. English. Which leads me to believe that: 1) the author has low expectations for her characters and/or missed the lesson on character development, or 2) the girls depicted in this book are just plain stupid. Really, the most likely conclusion is it's a bit of both. 

Second, I can't think of a single redeeming quality in any of the girls. Or their mothers for that matter. Books really didn't get discussed in their "book club"-all the girls locked themselves in the bathroom and talked about anything but books.

Third, Adrienne's mother had to be the worst literary parent I've read about in a long time (and that list includes crazy parents, absent parents, "checked-out" parents, etc, so she must have been REALLY bad to top my list.) I am a firm believer in the "parent first, friend second (or third or fourth...)" philosophy, and obviously Adrienne's mother was not. It seemed like she was overly lax in her parenting because she was so worried about "ruining their mother-daughter friendship." I'm just saying, if it were me, I'd say "Screw that" and lock her in a closet until she came to her senses and/or went back to school. Thank heavens I have sons and not daughters! :)

Anyway, I think they pretty much hit the nail on the head naming this one-- it was, in a word, unbearable. Don't waste your time! 

Happy Reading!

*I received this egalley from the publisher for the purpose of review.