Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
Publication date: January 3, 2012
Publisher: Poppy

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.

Let me preface this review by saying how much I love This Book. Let me also preface that I will be referring to The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight as "This Book" because the actual title is too darn difficult to type more than once.

I'm automatically drawn to anything related to the UK and I enjoy the thought of love, so I had to read the book. I specifically j'adore London and always have. I want to live there and work there and marry there and have English babies there with my English husband named Oliver (after reading This Book, his name has to be Oliver). Before delving into it, I assumed that the book was going to follow Hadley and Oliver's relationship, but I was surprised to see how little there is of Hadley and Oliver and how much there is of Hadley and her father. This is not a complaint, merely an observation. See, Hadley is on her way to London to attend her father's wedding as a bridesmaid to the woman who Hadley's father left her and her mother for. How AWKWARD is that?? That's a rhetorical question because obviously the situation is completely awkward. Anyway, the relationship that Hadley has with her dad really hit home with me and I may have gotten more emotional than some other readers, but that's probably because of my daddy issues. Moving on...how cute are Hadley and Oliver?? If your answer is SO FREAKING CUTE I WANT TO SQUEEZE THEM UNTIL THEY DIE then you are correct. From the moment those two get together, I knew that they were meant for each other and not just because the book told me that they were, though I'm sure that helped a lot. I think it shows great writing talent when an author can introduce love interests and have them fall for each other in a 24 hour period (or a 250 or so page book) and make it read naturally, not forced. The dialogue feels natural, the settings are brought to life with Smith's descriptions, the characters are three-dimensional.

I'm pretty positive that this is just a one-off book, but I know I wouldn't mind reading many many more books following Hadley and Oliver. In future adventures, they could be eating breakfast or could go to a baseball game or something like that. I don't even like baseball, but if Hadley and Oliver were doing it, I'd find it very interesting.

This Book can make you feel every emotion. It can make you laugh, it can make you uncomfortable, it could make you cry...it WILL most definitely make you want to jump on an airplane to somewhere in hopes that you'll sit next to your own Oliver, but honestly, in all probability, you'll end up sitting next to an inappropriate space hog like I did on my last flight.