N=∑ (n-2), n=(β+3), ∑ ≈ LOVE

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

The Skinny: When Hadley misses her flight to London by four minutes, she’s stuck in the airport waiting for the next one. She is on her way to England to be the bridesmaid to a woman she’s never met who is marrying her dad. Had she shown up just four minutes earlier, she never would have met Oliver. Sweet, funny, slightly eccentric Oliver is flying to London and is assigned the seat next to Hadley. Over the course of their wait and 7 hour flight, they have an instant connection, ending with a scorching kiss in the customs line. In the rush of getting through the airport Hadley realizes she never even asked Oliver his last name. As Hadley goes through the motions of her father’s wedding, she comes to realize that she must put aside her anger towards him, move past her hurt and begin to heal, and decide what she’s going to do about the boy from the flight.

BFF?: I kind of really liked Hadley. She’s sort of mixed up, angry and happy, sad and hurt… Looking back on my own teenage years, I saw a little of me in her. My parents aren’t divorced, so I have no experience with what she’s going through, but I remember feeling all sorts of things, snapping angrily at people and feeling immediately bad about it, running my mouth off without fully thinking about the consequences. But while that side of Hadley makes her seem kind of horrible, she had all these great redeeming qualities that made me want to be her BFF. I also had a lot of admiration for her, especially since she runs off in the middle of freaking London to a place she’s not even sure where it is looking for a guy she met on the plane. I wish I had that kind of ballsyness and gumption!

Readability: This read pretty fast. I loved how easy it was, how you just slipped into the story and stayed there until you finish. Since it takes place over 24 hours, there’s not much skipping around and is pretty straightforward; no getting lost here!

Crush Level: 7
Oliver was just really cute. I don’t feel a huge connection to him, but I loved how flirtatious he was, how he let on little bits of himself but still kept it hidden until the end. My only complaint about him is that we didn’t get to know him very well, and I totally would have liked to know him better. However, what I know now, I like!

Bonus Points:
Airports

I know not a lot of people like airports but I LOVE them! While I wouldn’t call myself well traveled, I have been to quite a few and have had so much fun seeing them. While I’ve never been to the one that Hadley got trapped at (one day though!) I love seeing how different they all are.

London

London isn’t on my top list of places to visit, but I’d love to go there at least once. I loved that Hadley just took off to London for a weekend – pshh… the ability to jet off for a weekend trip in London? LIFE LONG DREAM!

Commencement Speech: I need some more cute, lovely falling-in-love books in my life. This one wasn’t 100% what I expected but that was okay – it took on a totally different theme that was so real and so good that I didn’t mind. There’s truly nothing better than love at first sight and that feeling you get when you fall head over heels for someone you’ve just met. And while that part is totally prevalent in the story, there’s real depth to it, real emotion and heartfelt feelings. And I don’t mean of the love kind. Hadley doesn’t get all swoony and “my life is not complete without him!” No, she just wants to see him again. She understands there was a spark and just wants to fan the flame a little bit. Her actions aren’t driven by crazy teenager love but instead by immense guilt and sadness for Oliver, emotions that are a little warring with each other. I love when books turn out to be something deeper and more complex than you first thought and The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is totally one of those!

Yearbook Quote: “He was a professor, a lover of stories, and he was building her a library in the same way other men might build their daughters houses.”

(Oh Dad…)

Superlatives – Most likely be that annoying passenger who keeps their light on during a nighttime flight

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