The statistical probability of love at first sight By Jennifer E.Smith

Hadley Sullivan is a problem struck girl,  living in the midst of the remainders her parents awkward break up. She lives with her mum, and her dad has moved on and has started a new life in england with his fiance. Out of pressure from her family, hadley is going on a trip to london to her father and soon to be step mums wedding.
Yet hadley finds herself in a bad situation, that she has just missed her flight by 4 minutes. But while waiting for her replacement flight she meets someone who might be worth missing a flight for; oliver. He is a charming english boy who finds out about hadleys story and becomes her travel companion.

The characters in the book, are all so unique and had been crafted like real people. Hadley seemed reasonably normal with her opinions and personality and I think this made her very likeable straight from the start. Oliver's character is well suited for the audience of readers, mainly teenage girls, as he has lots of charisma and his joking personality makes it funny to read. As for the other characters they are also very lifelike and interesting and quietly add to the books hook.

I know most would say she's a bit too obvious in the storyline, but still, my favourite character is Hadley. I just love the way her personality is very different on the outside to what she actually is. Also she makes the book exciting without being too bold and making too obvious actions, and smith really writes her well.

For the negatives about the book, I can't see any! But if I had to be picky I would say at times you could see what was going to happen, but wasn't too obvious and didn't spoil the storyline.

I reallyyy loved this book, for many reasons! The characters were so realistic and in so many books authors make their characters perfect, and I think with a few flaws it really adds to the books emotion! The books ending was all summed up nicely and made you have a sigh of relief. Also I like the short time period in which this book is set, it stops it from dragging on and let's the author go into detail, with added suspense as times runs quickly.
This book may seem a bit girly, but I think boys would enjoy it too, and people of most ages! I would definitely read another one of hers in the future!

9/10! Chloe year 9

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

Hadley Sullivan, an American girl living with her Mum in America and on her way to for a weekend of hell, her Dad’s wedding with his new fiancée in England.
Ever since Hadley’s Dad had left herself and her Mum she has had a rocky relationship with him but after weeks of persuasion she finally agrees to go to the ceremony. However she is four minutes late and by chance she meets Oliver, a handsome, witty, British boy who has his own reasons for travelling to England.
This is the story of their journey to England as they uncover each others’ reasons for their journey and their feelings for each other.

First of all, this is not my type of book, I personally try to avoid any romance books wherever possible so this book was already doing quite well to be in my hands and being read.

I thought the characters were very plausible and their different personalities and clashing opinions were really well written in the book and constant throughout.
I think Hadley was the sort of person that you could really empathise with and I found that I would have reacted in a similar sort of way to her Dad if I had been in her situation.
There was a good range of characters in the book however I personally thought that Oliver may have been a bit more upset on the plane journey throughout instead of just when a direct question was asked about his parents.

I found the plot very readable and there was always enough to make me want to keep reading meaning it wasn’t a struggle to persevere to the end like it is with some books. I thought it was very well planned and although I find it hard to believe that Hadley would have been able to find Oliver at the church at all I don’t think it took much away from the story.
The only complaint I’d have with the plot was the fact that there seemed to be endless flashbacks after they had got off the plane and I found that I could skip whole pages without it taking much away from the story, I think it would have been better if they were a bit more evenly spread out in the book so we can gradually learn more about the characters like that.

I thought it was written really, really well. Smith got across the characters personalities and feelings perfectly and it the romantic bits were good because they were neither over the top or boring.

I also found this story makes the reader think about several different issues and shows how they can affect people and what people do about them in real life, such as: love, divorce, the importance of marriage and family and, again, I found myself emphasising a lot.

Overall, although this isn’t ‘my sort of book’ I can see exactly why many people would love it and I don’t regret reading it. The plot was in some ways predictable but I think there was always enough to keep the reader hooked.
I think Smith perfectly demonstrated how well she can write and I would be very tempted to read any other of her books in the future.

Nathan Dumpleton, Year 9

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

By Jennifer E. Smith

Hadley Sullivan lives with her Mum in America. Her Dad lives with his new fiancé in England. Right now they are not exactly the best of friends, but, after weeks of persuasion, Hadley has agreed to travel to London for her Father’s re-marriage. This story follows Hadley’s day as she misses her flight by four minutes, meets an English boy called Oliver, and falls in love over 50,000 feet up in the air. As Hadley struggles to accept her Dad’s future, Oliver has his own secrets and, not exactly by chance, they meet again in England. But will Hadley’s new found romance last or will she be left flying solo once again?

I really enjoyed this book and found it near to perfect. It is the kind of book you could read again and again and never get bored of! It follows Hadley, a normal American teenage girl, as she struggles to come to terms with her Dad’s fiancé and his new life in London. As Hadley’s day becomes a roller coaster with ups and downs, she misses her flight, landing herself into what she at first thought was trouble, but turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to her. She meets Oliver, a boy from London, studying at college in America and they sit next to each other on the plane. Hadley soon realises that what she feels for Oliver is not just gratitude, but love.

The characters in this book are very realistic and well formed. At first you think they sound almost too perfect but, by discovering their personalities and delving deeper into the book, you soon see they too have their faults. Smith has created Hadley, and, by giving her these everyday faults, she is easy to relate to. She seems just like a normal teenager and I believe this would connect with many readers, especially girls, and encourage them to read the novel too. Oliver is a handsome but intelligent boy and is constantly coming up with things to make Hadley smile. He has a jokey attitude but we can see that underneath he is very focussed on his studies.

My favourite character is Charlotte who, although not a main character, plays an important part in the novel, being in fact, Hadley’s Dad’s new Fiancé. Before she flies to England, Hadley has never met Charlotte, but has received numerous ‘girly’ emails from her filled with gossip and the latest trends. She immediately assumes she will hate Charlotte and that the whole classic ‘evil Stepmother’ story will commence. However, when we finally meet Charlotte, we instead find she is a kind, caring, down-to-earth woman, who is eager to meet and embrace Hadley into her family. By the end of the novel Hadley and her Dad are closer and have forgiven each other for all their misdoings. Hadley is even becoming friends with Charlotte, Smith leaves the novel open, all the loose ends are tied up, but, somehow, you’re still eager to know what is happening with Hadley and her family a few months or so later.

Another big theme in the novel is panic attacks. Hadley is scared stiff of flying in an aeroplane. She has to force herself to get on and is constantly trying to think of ways to get out of going. In the past she has had panic attacks due to pressure and worry. When this has happened her Father has always told her to look up at the clouds and feel free, she has used this trick every time, but it’s a totally different situation when the clouds are below you and you’re 50,000 feet up. When Hadley discovers her and Oliver are on the same plane she confides this fear to him and he keeps her occupied during the long flight. Coming up with crazy questions, interesting stories, and rubbish jokes. He refuses to let Hadley’s mind wander back to her fears. It’s in this way that the two main characters really get to know each other and it’s in this way they discover they have a real spark together. By adding this theme Smith has given another dimension to the book which makes it more interesting and gives the plot a new level.

Throughout the book Smith has narrated it from a third person point of view which I think also helps as it allows you to see how both characters are feeling and reacting during each chapter. It lets you get an outsiders view and think about the situation in your own way as the text is not biased to any individual point of view. Smith has been able to incorporate lots of detail for all the surroundings and characters by choosing this way of narrating as it does not leave one character, namely the person narrating, out like so many other novels do.

The other aspect of this novel which I really liked was the fact that it was set over just one day and night. It really allowed you to connect with the storyline as it felt as if it was in real time and not the make-believe time line of most fiction books. Chapters picked up after a few minutes instead of your normal few days or even weeks. This unique setting was enhanced even more by the fact that I read this book over just a couple of days as well and couldn’t wait to reach the end!

To conclude, I can safely say that I loved this book and would definitely read any more that are released by Jennifer E. Smith. The characters are really well created and you can relate to them easily. Although the plot is classic and a little predictable it is never boring as it includes the other theme of Hadley’s fear of flying. Smith has used an ingenious way of narrating giving you the outsiders view on everything meaning it is much easier to picture what is happening. Also, the description and techniques used in this book were very good and I loved the setting of just one day as it made it seem more like real life. Overall, a really fantastic read and I would recommend it to anyone who wants a fun, charming, light novel that will grab their attention and their heart!

By Eleanor,
Year 9