Review: This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

Tags: YA, contemporary, romance, small towns

Summary

G emails E by accident and the two strike up a never-ending interaction that both feel is one-of-a-kind. There are only several problems that the two of them can’t work out. First, G is Graham Larkin, the hottest new Hollywood star with a bevy of teenaged female fans all around the world and an almost equally large crowd of paparazzi following him everywhere. And E is Ellie O’Neill, a dreamer-poet living in Middle-of-Nowhere, Maine, who has her own reasons for wanting to avoid the spotlight.

Review

I was head over heels for the first 25% of the book, and then meh for the rest of it. Oh, there’s nothing wrong with THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE at all, but immediately after the two main characters finally met up, the romantic anticipation fizzled and there was a sense of “what next?” floating among readers and the narrative.

Don’t get me wrong: Graham and Ellie are adorable, separately and together. They are the kind of people you want dating your best friends: they’re nice and well-read and like sunsets and cute animals and hand-holding. Yes, things in this book’s world are a bit tame, especially Graham’s oh-so-cutesy humor, but hey, I’m not going to hold that against the book: it’s rare that we find a YA romance where at least one party is not either TSTL or a jerk.

For the most part, THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE is a dream come true for readers who, like me, wished their whole lives for a squee-worthy romance between a nice movie star and a nice ordinary girl. But then, as in most Jennifer Smith novels, there’s the extra dimension of family problems. Again, there’s nothing inherently wrong with including family issues into a contemporary romance, but it just wasn’t what I wanted to read about when I picked this book up. I wanted the never-gets-old sparkly tension of falling in love with someone new, of gradually getting to know them through cheeky emails, of the first time seeing them and thinking to yourself, “Oh. I have been waiting for this my whole life.” Only all of that happened in the first quarter of the book, and then the rest of it didn’t seem to add much more to Graham and Ellie’s relationship. It just didn’t do it for me.

Nevertheless, I would still recommend THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE to readers looking for a light romance. The characters and the picture-perfect setting of small-town Maine make this the YA romance that a lot of readers are looking for.

Similar Authors
Kristan Higgins
Maureen Johnson

Cover discussion: I really like how Jennifer Smith's last two contemporary romances have gotten these related but still distinctive covers. They stand out from the stock-photo covers of other YA contemporary romances for their originality.

Poppy / April 2, 2013 / Hardcover / 416pp. / $17.99

e-galley received from publisher and NetGalley.

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

Tags: YA, contemporary, romance, family, divorce, London, airplanes

Summary

It starts when Hadley misses her transatlantic flight to London to attend her father’s second wedding to a woman she’s never met. Luckily for her, the next flight contains Oliver, who’s going home for family-related business. It seems utterly ridiculous to feel such a strong connection to a stranger you’ve known for less than 24 hours, but in between coming to terms with her father’s remarriage and her new definition for “family,” Hadley will find out that anything is possible.

Review

I have been hearing about how wonderful this book is for almost one whole year before I finally got the chance to read it. Not only did THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT (er, henceforth known as STATISTICAL) not disappoint, it gave me more than I had expected.

STATISTICAL is sold as a love story, and it is that, to a lovely degree, but then it is also more. The unfolding of Hadley and Oliver’s romance over 24 hours could have been too cloying, too rushed; however, Jennifer Smith paces the story like a pro. As we read the book, we see easily how Hadley and Oliver have an enviable instant connection, but it is not insta-luv, no—rather, the romance unfolds over interesting but not blaringly obvious significant conversations, filled with lots of flashbacks and self-revelations.

Indeed, that, to me, was the best part of the book—the fact that it was not merely a love story, but also one of the most mature and empathic stories about understanding divorce that I’ve ever read. At the start of the book, Hadley is still not over her father’s desertion of her and her mother, to marry a woman she’s never met. But no one is solely the villain or the victim here: throughout informative and understandable flashbacks, Jennifer Smith reveals Hadley’s family’s history, and by the end, readers have strong hopes that things will work out for the best.

I am, unfortunately, super wary of YA romances nowadays, but I like how Smith develops Hadley and Oliver’s connection. Hadley is real: she’s not the silly protagonist who needs a guy to save her, nor is she the petulant teen just ripe for character development. Oliver doesn’t come off as an impossible-to-believe perfect guy: he is, to my heart’s delight, simply an above-average-intelligence college student with the type of familial concern and lighthearted flirting that you can expect out of any guy, given that you give him a chance. And STATISTICAL is Oliver’s chance. I totally dig that, had he not been a main character in this story, he would’ve been just another nice college guy who would eventually end up with his happy ending. In that sense, STATISTICAL felt more like a privileged glimpse into the random encounter of two very ordinary people, and I don’t think I can stress in mere words how lovely that is.

I admit that I had hesitations about how much I’d like this book, despite others singing its praises. Jennifer Smith’s omniscient writing has had its times when it did not work for me in the past. However, for THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT, the balance between internal monologue, flashbacks, and present-day action achieved a delectable balance. Channeling the best of authors like David Levithan, Jennifer Smith’s newest novel is one that fans of subtle romances and family dilemmas will surely appreciate.

Similar Authors
David Levithan
Maureen Johnson
Sara Zarr

Cover discussion: It's funky! It's artsy and a little all over the place and a little sweet. Kind of like some cool artwork I'd expect to find in the Village (that's Greenwich Village, in New York City).

Poppy / Jan. 2, 2012 / Hardcover / 256pp. / $17.99

e-review copy received from publisher.

Waiting on Wednesday (113)

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

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 18B. 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. [summary from Goodreads]

When was the last time I read a YA contemporary love story that truly blew me away? I... I can't remember. But despite this book's slightly melodramatic premise, and the fact that the last Jennifer Smith book I read was alright but didn't completely impress me, I still have high hopes for this book, especially some of my favorite British bloggers, like Jenny and Carla, have nothing but praise for it. (How did they get to read it so early? I'd like some of that!) This is the sort of thing I always find myself wishing would happen to me when I'm having a day when nothing is going right. Oh, travel woes, how I empathize.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight will be published in hardcover by Poppy on January 2, 2012.

Review: You Are Here by Jennifer E. Smith

Publication date: May 19, 2009

Tags: YA, road trip, family, death

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Summary

Sixteen-year-old Emma Healy has never felt like she belonged in her family full of professors, geniuses, and success stories. While her much older siblings went on to college and careers, Emma has kept to herself, dreaming of “normal” birthday parties and conversations that didn’t revolve around obscure literary figures.

Emma’s neighbor, Peter Finnigan, is a Civil War-obsessed nerd who wishes he had a family like the Healys. Instead, it’s just him and his cop father, forever separated and at odds by the taboo subject of Peter’s mother, who died giving birth to him. When Emma discovers a birth and death certificate for a twin brother she never knew she once had, it’s as if she suddenly feels complete. This discovery leads Emma and Peter to take a road trip from New York State to North Carolina to visit Emma’s brother’s grave, but what they discover is not grief and loneliness, but rather togetherness in all senses of the word.

Review

Jennifer Smith certainly knows how to write. Her narrative reads like one of those twelve-page character description exercises that writers occasionally do in order to get to fully know their characters. At the end of the book, we know Emma and Peter inside out. Neither one is without flaws, but all of their complexities, worries, passions, and dialogue simply sing through the pages. Jennifer is in real command of the language here.

I think that the book’s weak point, the one thing that made me not like the book as much as I would’ve wanted to like it, was its plot. Road trips are a pretty common plot in YA lit, and so it’s hard to redo the age-old plot without falling into a rut. Emma and Peter’s road trip, while completely realistic, with things such as the New Jersey Turnpike and the Gettysburg battlefield described in a mesmerizing yet straightforward and thus believable way, was also unfortunately not very exciting or engaging.

They pick up a stray dog who never gets a name, they visit a bunch of random places and have conversations that sometimes run deep and sometimes turn into arguments…these are all nice things to think about, because they happen in everyone’s lives, but when these incidents and family flashbacks make up the majority of the novel, something gets lost. Never mind the fact that this book has a strong message: family is not just about similarities, but also about staying together despite the differences. It’s a great message…provided you don’t get lost along the way.

I also wasn’t much a fan of the Emma-and-Peter romantic coupling. I felt like I knew it was going to happen, and yet while reading the book I REALLY didn’t want it to, I wanted the book to break the stereotypes of boy-girl get-togethers at the end of the novel, but alas. Maybe I didn’t get a clear image of Emma and Peter as compatible human beings. They are great as individuals, yes, but together? I need more convincing.

Overall, however, YOU ARE HERE is far from being a bad and unenjoyable book. Jennifer Smith is definitely a strong writer whose talent deserves to get noticed. Readers who enjoy character-driven books will like YOU ARE HERE, and for those of us looking for a faster-paced read, well, you’re going to have to wait for another book.

Similar Authors

Susane Colasanti (When It Happens)

Catherine Ryan Hyde (Becoming Chloe)

Sarah Dessen

Writing: 5/5

Characters: 4/5

Plot: 3/5

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Cover discussion: 3 out of 5 - You can't see it from the image above, but the blue background is actually semi-transparent, so that you can see the vague likeness of a road map beneath. It's this subtle layering of images that I love. Other than that, however, I'm ambivalent. The car in the book is YELLOW, anyway, not blue. The model's windswept hair is pretty, though.