Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
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.
Publishes in US: Nov. 13th 2012
Source: Delacorte via Netgalley
Series? no
I really liked Julia, the main character of Meant to Be. She is the right blend of nerdy, smart and quirky. The backdrop of Meant to Be is London, and it was charming to read about, I could almost picture myself there with the descriptions on the pages of Julia's journey to learning about life, meant to be, and herself.
I loved that she had her own interests and even though she was clutzy and insecure she had ideas off what she wanted and didn't want to be taken advantage of.
I was so back and forth with Jason and that is a real talent to keep me so undecided and questioning a character. I really liked getting to know him and figuring out why he acts like he did and what his motivations are. He was so typical guy though. Transparent in so many ways, immature in others, absolutely sweet and melting in orders, and then there are the times where you scratch your head and think they must be from another planet.
There were plenty of steamy moments but at times I felt like I had whip lash with the back and forth between Jason mark and Chris. I liked how they all played into the story though and what she learned about herself through interactions with each of them.
The plot twist was interesting and added interesting to this fun yet sometimes emotional contemporary.
Bottom line: Cute and funny story with good characters.
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