Review: Meant To Be

Goodreads Summary: "It's one thing to fall head over heels into a puddle of hazelnut coffee, and quite another to fall for - gasp - the wrong guy. Straight-A junior Julia may be accident prone, but she's the 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. Julia also believes in fate, and that Mark, her childhood crush, is her MTB - her meant-to-be.

But this spring break, Julia's rules are about to get defenestrated (SAT word: 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 live a little along the way. And thus begins a wild-good 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."

I started this one on a whim; I was stranded at school for another three or four hours waiting for my ride and happened to have my Kindle on me and though this was next on my official TBR, I had no real intentions of starting it while I was away from my laptop. [You see, I'm one of those odd ducks that often take notes while I'm reading a book so that I have them handy for when I write the review.] But I decided to read the first line or two. And then the next thing I knew an entire hour had just vanished...POOF!

I adored this book. I fell for it hook, line and sinker. It was completely adorable in every possible way and yet, so realistic. I think that might be the part of it that I loved the most, the fact that Meant to Be really explores what people are really like and that they might not always be what you thought they were and that you might not always want what you need. If I'm being crazy cryptic and you're now staring at your screen all squinty-eyed, I apologize, I just don't want to take any of the magic out of this read for you. And it is a magical love story. And not in the traditional sense for me either, there is no "real" magic. It's a contemporary.

Pick those jaws up off the ground! I DO read contemporaries you know. Every once in a while. On occasion. Okay, so I devour fantasies by the zillion and its rare that a contemporary peeks out on my blog. But I couldn't resist the cover of this one when I saw it on Netgalley, and the synopsis was so cute, and LONDON WAS INVOLVED. I have a great weakness for that city as you may or may not already be aware. Guys, it was seriously MTB [yes, pun intended].

I adored the cast of characters. Especially Julia and Jason. I loved seeing them develop along the craziness and begin to get to know one another as they helped each other out. I just wish I could have seen more of her classmates, but what I did see of them I liked. But you see, that's just an afterthought really after having finished the book. I hardly noticed that I didn't get enough, I'm a nosy person like that, of the entire cast because I was so wrapped up in the story itself. I hardly noticed anything else. I most certainly did not notice the rapidly dropping temperature and the darkness that had fallen while I was reading this, you see, I was outside of my school's Starbucks when I started devouring this darling.

Every now and again a contemporary comes along that has me devouring it within hours without paying mind to the world around me and finally closing it with a sigh. These are the contemporaries destined for my keeper shelves and Meant to Be is one such book. I adored this one, you guys, truly adored it.