Young Adult
Pages: 256Publisher: Poppy
Release Date: January 2, 2012
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.
So there's this new thing or story style I'm crazy about and I've been calling it the 24 hour book or Before Sunset books (if you have not seen Before Sunrise and Before Sunset, do it now!) after THIS POST I wrote when I had first read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight.
Needless to say, the story takes place in a very short period of time. Which means, it's so much about feelings and moments and the feeling of the moment, and less about consequences and future. Still, you know those really long days that somehow change everything and you end up telling the story of that day over and over? It's one of those days. Sigh.
There's something about traveling and airports that can make a great story. Airports and planes normally constitute a leap out of our normal lives. Traveling involves excitement and change along with beginnings and endings. The plot was delightfully thought out. "Airports you are like suspended, not here and not there. Anything can happen" -Oliver says in the book. SO true.
Hadley and Oliver are both flying to England on family business. They meet in the plane. It's magic, and the heart-warming romance just takes off from there. A romance so true and sweet that it wins you over. In good contemporary, romance doesn't feel pushed or hurried. Even when they fall in love in a day. When you spread out that day in a whole book and you feel like you're living it, you understand how it happens and it makes it believable. So yeah, I had previously stated that I don't believe in literary love at first sight. Now I correct: I don't believe in literary love at first pages. This book makes that distinction. It never feels rushed. That's how it should be.
For romance and realistic YA lovers, this is a must read.
