Review: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Title: Meant to Be
Author: Lauren Morrill
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Delacorte
Publish Date: November 13, 2012
Source: Owned

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "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."

My Two Cents:

Are you looking for a cute, light love story? Then "Meant to Be" is for you! This was one of the books that I read for Dewey's Read-a-thon a little while back and it was the perfect pick for the wee hours of the morning when I needed something light that would still totally engage me so I stayed awake.

I really liked the main character, Julia. Julia reminded me a lot of myself in high school. While I am still very much a rule player, I've definitely lightened up a little bit since high school. Also, we have the whole swimming thing in common. I liked seeing how she progressed from wanting to have everything planned out, even to the point of who she was supposed to be married. It took me a little bit longer than Julia to realize that you can't plan too far in the future or you're going to fall on your face in the present.

I liked the love story between Julia and Jason. Jason is totally carefree almost to the point of being careless. I wished that we would have gotten a little more insight into his character and his motives for being the way that he is but the lack of this doesn't take too much away from the story line between him and Julia. I really liked seeing how they fell for each other.

I absolutely love London and I loved that this book took place there. This book made me want to go back and experience some of the other things that I didn't get to experience when I was there for my honeymoon. Aside from being a cute love story, this book is definitely good for armchair traveling. Julia and Jason get to see and do a ton while they are on their school trip.

I would love to have known what happened to Julia and Jason once they get back to the States. Do they stay in love? Maybe there will be a sequel? I know that I am personally hoping for one!