The Statistical Probability of Love At First Sight
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Release Date: January 2, 2012
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Seventeen year old Hadley Sullivan is not looking forward to her weekend trip to London for her father’s second wedding to a woman she’s never met. To make matters worse, Hadley is four minutes late for her flight and has to stick around the airport for three hours until the next flight, meaning that when she arrives in London, she will literally have to rush from the airport straight to the wedding. But then something happens that changes everything. While she’s waiting for her new flight, she meets Oliver, a British college student headed home to London. Taking place over 24 hours, Hadley learns to believe that true love can be found where you least expect it.

I adored every page of this book. There is so much to love about THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT that I’m not even sure where to begin. Clearly, this is going to be a gushing review.

Let’s start with the cover and title. The cover immediately draws me in with its black and white images with just a splash of red. The couple kissing? Love. The title of course captures me too; it’s quite a mouthful to say but it describes this book so accurately. I especially love in the ending of the book when the title and plot meet, and everything all of a sudden makes perfect sense.

Okay, away from the superficial things and onto the content of the book. Immediately, I like Hadley, our main character. She is one hundred percent relatable and likable. I love that she isn’t perfect, makes mistakes and is completely okay with it. In just a span of 24 hours, we see Hadley change and grow immensely. I really enjoyed watching her attitude shift from completely angry and frustrated at the end of the book to completely blissful at the end. Hadley embarked on an emotional rollercoaster and it was a delight to be able to take the journey with her.

I am absolutely fascinated by the fact that this book takes place in just 24 hours. I have to admit, I was a little nervous before I started reading. I was wondering how an author could manage to keep a readers attention in a book that happens in such a short amount of time, especially when most of the action takes place in an airport and on an airplane. However, I should have known not to worry. Jennifer E. Smith manages to create a story that seriously captured my heart and kept me reading until the very end. Not only was there plenty of action happening within the actual 24 hours the story takes place, but a decent amount of backstory adds to the story, as well.

Okay, and then we have Oliver. I am a complete sucker for a boy with an accent, so I fell in love with Oliver, right along with Hadley. Just like Hadley wasn’t perfect, I love how Oliver wasn’t either. Jennifer E. Smith points out his many imperfections, but makes him lovable all the same. One lingering question I have is why Oliver disappeared after going through customs in the airport.

In the midst of the romance between Hadley and Oliver, I enjoyed the secondary storyline of Hadley’s relationship with her dad and her feelings about her father’s wedding. This is where some of that backstory came in. I really liked learning about how and why he ended up moving from the United States to England. Seeing Hadley experience a change of heart on the day of the wedding showed just how much she really grew throughout the story.

It’s hard to talk about THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT without gushing about the love story that unfolded over the course of the book. I’m clearly a romantic and stories like this one make me believe that love at first sight is absolutely possible. I adored the fact that Hadley and Oliver met in an airport, which is beautifully described in the book as a place where people are neither here nor there; in a sort of limbo. Then, I was obviously completely enamored with how important it was for Hadley to find Oliver in London that she literally wandered the city looking for him based on only a few facts.

Sigh, if only something like this could happen to me…Jennifer E. Smith has written a truly fantastic book that will appeal to teenagers, adults and everyone in between.

5/5

Thanks to Anna for sharing her review copy of this book!