Review: Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Title: Meant to Be

Author: Lauren Morrill
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Publication date: November 13, 2012

Genre(s): Young Adult (Contemporary)

Challenges: Debut, Contemporary, SARC

Source: NetGalley
Format: Digital ARC

Pages: 256

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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.

When I first started reading Meant to Be I must admit that I wasn't all that impressed. I've read a couple of raving reviews comparing it to Anna and the French Kiss. Foreign country, a love interest that is international and a likable protagonist. However what I wasn't betting on was that the love interest was a clown. You know how every class there is this guy who is considered the class clown? the one who pulls pranks all the time and  you're embarrassed FOR him? yea that is Jason. At the beginning I couldn't take him seriously or make him a love interest contender. I kept on hoping that maybe somehow someone pops up and he steps back in the shadows. But you know what? who decides if someone is love interest material or not? and I must say that Jason won me over. He toned his pranks and immature behavior down and I started liking him more. The main protagonist, Julia, was also likable but I couldn't stand it when she spoke of her Meant to Be and how she already knows who she is destined to spend the rest of her life with. At 17 you don't really know such a thing, especially if you've never said two words after you hit puberty to the guy who is supposedly your Meant to Be.  

As for the plot, I personally found it a tiny bit lackluster. Yes Julia and her classmates go to England, yes she somehow ends up giving her phone number to a guy she can't remember who starts texting her. Her and Jason talk about finding out who it is but the whole novel is about Julia wondering when will Mark, her Meant to Be, will finally figure out that she's HIS Meant to Be. It honestly got a bit tiring towards the end. However I enjoyed the tour of london, especially when Julia went to the places I just visited during this summer! However towards the end Julia finally snaps out of her Meant to Be haze. This was when I really liked the novel and kept on flipping the pages to find out how she was going to clean up the mess she created.  

I have to say, even if Meant to Be did frustrate me at times and others had me rolling my eyes, I really did like Jason, as well as how Lauren Morrill wrapped up the novel, she didn't rush it and didn't abruptly end it. It was a great ending that I was satisfied with and overall I really did enjoy this contemporary novel. I would recommend it to all contemporary fans, especially fans of Flirting in Italian by Lauren Henderson.