Author- Lauren Morrill
Published- November 13th, 2012
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
304 pages
Recieved from ATW ARC Tours
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.
Gosh darn! These contemporaries are just sucking me right in. I guess I have just had a secret yearning for romance for months now and now that I have time to read I am just gobbling them up! Meant To Be was no exception!
The first thing that struck me as funny when i went to pick this book up was the odd resemblance to Anna and the French Kiss, which I literally just finished reading! Both are about school and foreign countries and cute guys. In some ways I like that it was similar, but in others I think it may have been TOO similar.
I quite like the cover of this book. The colors are vibrant and I like the mixture between reality and cartoon like. I am also really fond of the font they chose. Overall, it is a very attractive cover in my opinion. It would no doubt look great on your bookshelf!
As far as the main characters go, they weren't really my cup of tea. I found Julia to be boring, wishy washy and just plain rude. I had a hard time connecting to her as a character. Jason was just okay. He definitely didn't have me swooning like Etienne did. I honestly feel like I didn't really get to know Jason all that well, even though he shares a large part of the book with Julia. The supporting characters were much the same. I honestly had no care for any of them.
As far a plot goes, I found this book to be slow. It didn't really suck me in like most contemporaries and it became more of a chore to read than a pleasurable activity. There wasn't really all that much going on in the story and I guess that is what made the plot monotonous.
Overall, I enjoyed Meant to Be, but I definitely don't feel like it is the best contemporary you could choose to read. The characters were bland and the storyline was slow and monotonous. If your are looking for the traveling + love angle, then I highly recommend Anna and the French Kiss!
