The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Review

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

By: Jennifer E Smith

Published: January 2nd 2012 by Poppy/Little Brown

236 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Source: Personal Kindle Library (On sale for $2.99)

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Goodreads description--Four minutes changes everything. Hadley Sullivan 17 misses her flight at JFK airport, is late to her father's second wedding in London with never-met stepmother. Hadley meets the perfect boy. Oliver is British, sits in her row. A long night on the plane passes in a blink, but the two lose track in arrival chaos. Can fate bring them together again?

Theoretically I love the title of this book, but boy is it annoying to type out. I’m severely behind the game when it comes to this book. Released in 2012, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight has received much hype and fanfare. And because of this, I’ve had this book on my TBR list for years. It wasn’t available through my library and you guys I’m just cheap, so when it went on sale I had to snatch it up. I’ve only read one other book by Jennifer E Smith (Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between) which I didn’t love as much as I’d hoped considering the hype around this author. But I was holding out hope that the hype was worth it for this book in particular.

One quick thing to note that I didn’t like is the narration style. This is told in 3rd person past tense in one of those all-knowing eye in the sky type voices. I didn’t enjoy this in Hello, Goodbye, and Everything in Between and I can’t say that I liked it any more in The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. This is really just a personal preference. Not my favorite narration style/voice. Any character’s emotions or thoughts are open for discussion at any given point. And I don’t love that. I like the mystery of how each character (and therefore the reader) doesn’t always know what the other characters are thinking/feeling.

There’s a lot of negativity around stories where characters fall in love too quickly or the entire book happens within one day. I was a little wary of that going into this book even though I’m normally not bothered by that so much. I do think it’s possible for two people to develop an intense and unique connection within that time frame, but love is pushing it. However, I found The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight appropriate. There were no real declarations of love even if the connection did exist. So if this bothers you, have no fear.

I will say that I struggled with Hadley off and on throughout the book. I was annoyed that so much of the beginning was backstory surrounding Hadley’s parents failed marriage. It really was necessary set up for the entire story, but I wanted to jump right into the fun stuff happening now rather than dwell on her past. Even though I can 100% understand the anger and bitterness that Hadley feels toward her father, sometimes she really got on my nerves. But again. I have to put myself in her shoes and say that I probably would have felt very much the same way that she did.

While I was reading The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight I was really enjoying the romantic buildup between Hadley and Oliver. The nature of the way that they meet and how there’s an impending time of departure hanging over their heads makes their situation unique. Everything that needs to be said needs to be said before they have to leave each other or risk never knowing what could have been and live with that regret. Yet how much of a connection can you really develop with someone in less than 24 hours? Enough to risk coming out of your comfort zone? By how much?

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is just as much about Hadley’s relationship with her father as it is with her developing relationship with Oliver. Which is probably why my only highlights revolve around Hadley’s relationship with her father.

Favorite quotes:

-In the end, it’s not the changes that will break your heart; it’s that tug of familiarity.

-After all, it’s one thing to run away when someone’s chasing you. It’s entirely another to be running all alone.

-And this was the most unfair part of it all: What Dad had done, he hadn’t just done to him and Mom, and he hadn’t just done to him and Hadley. He’d done it to Hadley and Mom, too.

In the end, I really enjoyed The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight while I was reading through it. I finished it within 24 hours. But now that I’ve had a couple of days to reflect, I don’t think Hadley and Oliver’s relationship or this book will be marked down as an epic story that I remember forever and ever. Would I recommend reading this? 100%. But is it going to fall into an all-time favorite for me? Probably not. I’d still give it 4 Stars. Have you read The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight? What did you think? Let me know!