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

[Otherwise written as “Stat Prob of ❤ @ 1st Sight”]

Publisher: Poppy, Little, Brown
Publishing Date: January 2012
Genre: young adult, romance
ISBN: 9780316122399
Goodreads: 3.79
Rating: ★★★★★

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father’s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother 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 sitting in her row.

A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?

Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.

Hadley, whether consciously because she really doesn’t want to attend her father’s wedding or unconsciously because of several other factors, is four minutes late for her plane to London. Frustrated with the entire situation, not to mention the still bitter wounds of the divorce, Hadley books a seat on the next flight out and waits in the terminal. Across from her, disheveled and similarly packed for a big event, sits a boy who offers to help her with her luggage. From his accent to his charm, his helpful distractions and philosophical life lessons, Oliver begins to brighten Hadley’s life in ways she never thought possible. What’s even more is how much she brightens his.

This book is my dream meet-cute. Hadley’s 24 hours with Oliver is exactly how I want to meet the love of my life (and obviously my love will be British). Each hour of Hadley’s trip is documented in the book, along with her hopes and dreams, her resentment for the divorce, her change in attitude towards her father’s new bride, her interactions with her mother, all the anxieties of travel mixed with the nonchalance around strangers. It was beautifully written, clever, and incredibly entertaining. I truly felt I was there with Hadley every step of the way.

As the story progresses in time, we learn more about Hadley’s parents’ divorce, her father’s struggles, her mother’s efforts to move on, and even Hadley’s confusion. The back-story for her bitterness is revealed as she begins to fall in love with Oliver, who shows her a new outlook on life. It’s as if the more she opens up and accepts her stepmother and forgives her father, the more we begin to sympathize with her situation. She no longer comes across as a whiny teenager — but instead, a more wholesome being.

I cannot express how happy this book made me feel. Such a simple story, yet with a complex plot lovable characters!