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

Title: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

Author: Jennifer E. Smith

Goodreads Av. Rating: 4.00

My Rating: 2

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.

I can honestly say that I do not understand where all the hype surrounding this book has come from, in my opinion it is a very average mediocre book. There was nothing overally special nor addicting about it, the only thing that got me reading was just to see how it ended.
I'm not saying that it was a bad read, just nothing to me stood about to make it a memorable read.

The story follows Hadley and Oliver over a 24 hour period, who both have gone to London for a special event. Hadley misses the plane to her father's wedding and must wait til the next flight, which happens to be when she bumps into English guy Oliver, who after getting to know each other better, they both fall head over heels in love with one another.

Ok so it wasn't the storyline which caught my eye, I could not possibly comprehend how a book could be spaced over a mere 24hours, and I believe that it is probably near impossible, as proved by this book, I felt that contiously I was faced by boring filling scenes, to make the book longer, but barely was able to interest me.

I found romantic sparks fly through this book, which even made my heart skip a beat. Though these were rare occasions.

The book was written in third person, which I have a problem with anyway when it comes to Romance books, I felt that it limits how much of the characters emotions I feel while reading the books, and would really enjoyed to read Oliver's side of the story more.

The characters were both arguable relatable, though only in some aspects.
Unlike many other male character's, I felt no connection with Oliver, to be honest I found him to be annoying at times.
Hadley is a character who I hold mixed opinions on. I felt slightly sympathetic at the fact that she was not overjoyed about going to her father's wedding, to a person Hadley had never met, which is obviously quite hard for some people, but at the point of almost complete refusal to go, gave her quite a selfish side, and this was just where it began. Then she puts her own selfish needs, before her fathers and his new wife. She just was not written to be a likeable character.

Review: Private by Kate Brian

Title: Private

Series: Private #1

Author: Kate Brian
Goodreads Av. Rating: 3.96
My Rating: 4

 Tradition, Honor, Excellence...and secrets so dark they're almost invisible Fifteen-year-old Reed Brennan wins a scholarship to Easton Academy -- the golden ticket away from her pill-popping mother and run-of-the-mill suburban life. But when she arrives on the beautiful, tradition-steeped campus of Easton, everyone is just a bit more sophisticated, a bit more gorgeous, and a lot wealthier than she ever thought possible. Reed realizes that even though she has been accepted to Easton, Easton has not accepted her. She feels like she's on the outside, looking in.
Until she meets the Billings Girls.
They are the most beautiful, intelligent, and intensely confident girls on campus. And they know it. They hold all the power in a world where power is fleeting but means everything. Reed vows to do whatever it takes to be accepted into their inner circle.
Reed uses every part of herself -- the good, the bad, the beautiful -- to get closer to the Billings Girls. She quickly discovers that inside their secret parties and mountains of attitude, hanging in their designer clothing-packed closets the Billings Girls have skeletons. And they'll do anything to keep their secrets private.

What is not to love in the fabulous first instalment of Kate Brian's Private Series.
Just WOW this book seriously stole a piece of my heart.

It may not be the most complex or action packed book, but I felt like it was a story I was able to create a connection with.

Within the first page I was hooked, no it did not start with a ridiculously over the top action packed first page, instead it was quite sweet and simple, a running theme within the book.
There was just something so magically about the writing, it wasn't the average writing author's used, but it was in the language style I could imagine being used by Reed, the main character, which really bought the book to life.

It was the storyline which grabbed my attention, so I thought I would give the book a go, and ended up reading it in one sitting.

Reed earns herself a scholarship to one of the best schools in the country, Easton Academy. It's something she has always dreamt about, but mostly she wants to escape her not so perfect homelife.
But for Reed, going to a school full of the posh and privileged, is not all it is cracked up to be, and to feel excluded she attempts to catch the attention of student elite: Billings Girls.

I felt like in a way it is a book many can relate to, a sense of isolation, or a need to be someone we are not just to impress other's.

Reed, is a character, who can be either praised or critized.
Though I believe Kate Brian created one of the greatest female protagonist's I have came across. She has dreams, makes mistakes, naive at time's, but is always true to herself.
To get where she wants to be in life, she sees her only choice is to become a Billing's Girl. Like many people today, she attempts to change herself to fit in, and makes a slight fool of herself at times.
Definitely a book of relatable character's (to an extent).

January 2012 Monthly Wrap-Up

So this month has seen the introduction of my blog, and would like to thank all my followers and reader's!
Also I have managed to get through quite alot of books in my opinion, along with my first college exams.

15/53 Great start in the reading challenge!

1. Feed by Mira Grant
2. Silence by Becca Fitzpatrick
3. The Lost Saint by Bree Despain
4. Hate List by Jennifer Brown
5. Turned by Morgan Rice
6. Abadon by Meg Cabot
7. Mercy by Rebecca Lim
8. Wildthorn by Jane Eagland
9. The Outsiders by S.E Hinton
10. Cinder by Marissa Meyer
11. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith
12. Delirium by Lauren Oliver
13. Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder
14. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
15. Private by Kate Brian

Favourite Book: Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Least Favourite Book: Turned by Morgan Rice

Review: Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder

Title: Inside Out
Series: Insiders #1
Author: Maria V. Snyder
Goodreads Av. Rating: 3.93
My Rating: 2

I’m Trella. I’m a scrub. A nobody. One of thousands who work the lower levels, keeping Inside clean for the Uppers. I just do my job and try to avoid the Population Control Police, who dream of recycling scrubs into fertiliser. So what if I occasionally use the pipes to sneak around the Upper levels?It’s not like it’s dangerous… Well, turns out it is. Because I know every corridor, pipe and shortcut I’ve become the go-to girl to lead a revolution. I know if we find a gateway to Outside it’ll be suicide plain and simple. But guess who likes a challenge? I should have just said no…
I am a big fan of Maria V. Snyder's other works, which became a contributing factor to why I decided to give Inside Out a try. Such a large amount of hype and positive reviews surronded this book, but honestly I felt like it was a very poor read.

Dystopians are a very hard genre to write, though Snyder's ability to create world's in her other books, made me hopeful that she would be much more successful with this book, than she had.

Comparing Inside Out to other Dystopian novels, I believed this 'new world' was very under developed, no history is provided, no myths and barely any information of how they live now, is given. Multiple times I questioned the way these people are expected to live in this world, trapped basically in a building. People can not live without natural light properly, food can not be grown properly in unnatural light, how are animals surviving, where is water coming from and most importantly where is this never ending supply of metal coming from? These are the type of things I believe need an explanation behind them. The setting just wasn't believable.

The world is split into Upper level citizens, and Lower level citizens, otherwise known as Scrubs. I felt like this society based on Capitalist values, which considering the apparent and rather failed equality was unrealistic. The Upper levels have basically given up all the control over to the 'Trava' family, which lead to the Upper levels being treated as slaves despite their high status.

The main reason I did not like this book, was due to main character: 'Trella'. Main character's are meant to be lovable and definitely likable, by the reader. But Trella is portrayed as a very cold character, who reader's do not feel any type of connection with. Also Snyder's attempt to add Trella as being a victim of isolation and verbal abuse, in a way to get the character's to like her, though really I felt like Trella believed she was better than herself, despite the attempts of denying it.

The main story interested me, another factor which made me want to read the book. Though I felt like too much was happening at once, but nothing appeared to be leading anywhere. In the end everything got a bit too confusing, that it would take about 10 times reading the book to manage to get your head around the book.

It was only at about 60% that I thought the book got a slightly bit interesting, but this did not stay the same for long.

Follow Friday #2

 

         Follow Friday is now hosted by TWO hosts, Parajunkee and Alison of Alison Can Read.

Q: Define what characteristics your favourite books share. Do they all have a kick ass heroine or is the hot love interest the Alpha Male?

A: I tend to look for something much more unique in books than many other reader's. I plan to one day be a Counsellor for young people, which I believe influences what I enjoy in books. Despite a love for supernatural and dystopians, I find Real-life books much more to my style. In my favourite books, the majority of them share a running theme of real-life problems, which show the character's in many depth's.