Book Review ~ The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith

I have never been particularly shy about loving Young Adult books. Of course, I prefer the very good ones, but even the mediocre ones tend to be short enough that it doesn’t really matter that they aren’t very good.

I downloaded The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight from Netgalley. It’s not a new book, but they were offering a limited number of downloads, so I thought I’d give it a go. The first thing that struck me was what a striking resemblance it bore to a particular event in my life.

Seventeen-year-old Hadley is flying to England to attend her dad’s wedding. Missing the flight, she waits at the airport and meets Oliver, a handsome British guy who just happens to be on the same flight as her.

Sitting in an airport, worrying about missing a wedding struck a particular chord with me, because this is the situation I found myself in a few years ago. OK, so my travel woes were caused by a snowstorm, rather than a missed flight, and I waited a lot longer than Hadley for my flight, but I felt her pain! We were even both travelling (or trying to travel) from Connecticut to London, and both had the same fears over having terrible hair for the wedding (her fears weren’t realised, while mine very much were).

Sadly I didn’t fall in love with a handsome stranger either. Oliver is the perfect hero for a Young Adult novel; he’s tall, handsome, mysterious, and slightly tortured. Hadley has her own problems, but, of course, she goes on both a literal and metaphorical journey, and manages to reconcile herself yo her father’s new life in London.

This is a very short novel; and I really felt as though I wanted a little bit more time devoted to all the characters. I didn’t feel as though I really got to know anyone other than Hadley, and I didn’t believe in the relationship between her and Oliver, because there wasn’t enough time devoted to it.

The Statistical Probability of Falling in Love was fine as a quick read, but I don’t think I would have enjoyed half as much if I hadn’t identified with the travel crisis like I did.