The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Schmidt - Book Review

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Smith, Jennifer E. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight. New York: Little, Brown, 2012. Print. 


“Hadley isn’t a big believer in things like fate or destiny, but then, she’s never been a big believer in the punctuality of the airline industry, either.” Hadley isn’t excited to go to London, she’s not excited to see her dad, and she’s especially not excited to see his new wife. When she misses her flight time by four minutes, she doesn’t care if she’ll miss the wedding, there’s always the reception. Does she really want to see her dad get married to a woman that isn’t her mother? Her answer: no. 
While she’s waiting for the next flight out to London, she’s sitting in the airport, hungry, tired, and completely dreading the next two days. Not only that, her claustrophobia has suddenly kicked in and she can’t leave her bags just sitting there. When a woman says it’s against the law for someone to watch her bags, Hadley stands up and takes her own bags to go outside, but then finds that she has too many bags for herself to carry. Oliver, a tall, brown-haired British boy volunteers to take that extra bag- and Hadley discovers he’s also on the plane to London.
On the plane, they sit next to each other and talk for the whole flight, and Hadley even finds herself sleeping on his shoulder. They also even had a moment by the bathroom, where Hadley was positive Oliver was going to kiss her. But, of course, the moment was ruined by a huge patch of turbulence. In London, while going through customs, Hadley loses track of Oliver, and she’s pushed around and shoved until she realizes that she will not be able to find him anywhere in that crowded airport. She finds herself thinking about him all through the wedding and reception; and wonders if she’ll ever be able to see him again. 
This was an outstanding book. Although I don’t really like books that are written in third person point of view, this was one of the very few that I actually liked. The way that it tuned into Hadley’s feelings and her memories was almost like it was in first person. The author was very descriptive and made it easy to channel into Hadley’s feelings. On the plane, when Hadley woke up and found herself on Oliver’s shoulder, I could feel the butterflies she got and I smiled with Hadley. Jennifer Schmidt did a great job writing this book, and it gave me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside.