Synopsis
Meant to be or not meant to be . . . that is the question.
It’s one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for the—gasp—wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she’s queen of following rules and being prepared. That’s why she keeps a pencil sharpener in her purse and a pocket Shakespeare in her, well, pocket. And that’s also why she’s chosen Mark Bixford, her childhood crush, as her MTB (“meant to be”).
But this spring break, Julia’s rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: to be thrown from a window) when she’s partnered with her personal nemesis, class-clown Jason, on a school trip to London. After one wild party, Julia starts receiving romantic texts . . . from an unknown number! Jason promises to help discover the identity of her mysterious new suitor if she agrees to break a few rules along the way. And thus begins a wild goose chase through London, leading Julia closer and closer to the biggest surprise of all: true love.
Because sometimes the things you least expect are the most meant to be.
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My Review
Julia is off on a school trip to London for 10 days. It’s the city where her parents took their honeymoon and Julia has wanted to experience the London magic since hearing stories about the city and since finding her mother’s Romeo and Juliet book. She’s completely accident prone but she’s definitely one for following the rules and hates to break them. She takes books wherever she goes and always has her pocket Shakespeare in her pocket. She also has a MTB (Meant to be) in the form of Max Bixford, her childhood crush. He just hasn’t acknowledged her in years, but she’s determined he’s the one for her.
Jason is nothing like Julia’s envision of a MTB. He’s a jock who teases Julia, calling her Book Licker, he flirts with any girl in a skirt and is a total rule breaker. And now Julia is partnered up with him during the ten days – nightmare! But maybe this could be a good thing?
During their trip, Julia is slowly conforming to the ways of Jason. He presses her to have fun and be a rule breaker instead of being a stuck-up book worm and when she ends up getting drunk at a party he takes her to on the first night, and begins texting a guy she met – albeit she can’t remember him – Jason is there to help her find him.
This book reminded me of Bound Together, as Julia was alone on the trip without any friends, much like Zoe, and Jason was the misunderstood jock, much like Matt. Although they were both in different cities, they both were partnered together and grew closer and both Matt and Jason blew hot and cold, making both the girls confused over their feelings for the guys.
During the book, there were times when I loved Julia and times when I just wanted her to let loose and have fun and stop being so prissy. Albeit, her dislike for Jason turned her off following his plans, but I did like that she let her guard down sometimes and the chemistry between them was hard to miss, even through the bickering and the ‘cultural’ hours they went on – like the London Eye and at Stratford-upon-Avon. Boy did I love the rain part! Swooooon.
With the texts, I really thought Jason was sending them to Julia, but alas, I was totally mistaken, and was completely laughing when it was discovered who the texter was. It was a good twist to the ending, seeing I was adamant it was either Jason or one of his friends doing it to embarrass Julia. Thank god I was mistaken, because I loved the confession from Jason at the end of the book. For someone who doesn’t necessarily believe in MTB’s and love, it was a sweet declaration.
Mark – well what can I say about him? He seemed so lovely when he ‘saved’ Julia – I suppose you could say – but the more time spent on him, the more he became an absolute prick. I disliked him as soon as he mentioned the plane ‘gossip’. It just proves that even if you were best friends once upon a time, years can change anyone and it definitely changed Mark into an asshole. Jason repeatedly told Julia about him, but once you have a vision of how you want your crush to be, you don’t like anyone telling you otherwise. It was great to see the jealously steaming from Jason when Matt was mentioned and when the three of them went to Hyde Park. Boy was that totally awkward.
I loved all the texts, and after finding out about the phones at the end of the book, I literally went back and read them all again from SF. Seriously, if you read this book, take note of them, because everything will become clear with them at the end.
This was my Lazy Sunday book, and by God, I fell in love with it. I’m a sucker for bad boy/good girl loving so this definitely gets my seal of approval. It was a cute story about finding yourself and love, no matter how unpredictable it can be.
Z. Elizabeth 