The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

I’m going to be completely honest: this is really not my type of book. Romance-centric novels aren’t ones I tend to seek out, especially ones that take place over a short period of time. I don’t personally believe in love at first sight, so stories like that tend to be wasted on me. However, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight could not have come at a better time for me, and it was seriously just what I needed. This book is cute, fluffy, adorable, and surprisingly heartfelt. Not, perhaps, my favorite book of all time, but very welcome and definitely well-worth reading.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is about Hadley, who’s on a flight to London to attend her father’s wedding. Understandably, she’s a bit bitter at him, since he seems to have moved on and found more happiness with future wife than he did before. At the airport, she meets Oliver, and through a series of movie-like coincidences, they spend several hours together and forge a sort of bond that, hopefully, is more long-lasting than either of them expects.

I would like to point out that the title (while relevant to the story) is a bit of a misrepresentation. The connection that Hadley finds with Oliver is never labeled as “love”, nor is it love in actuality. That is not to say that, given time, it could become real love—I can actually see the two of them making a very successful relationship back in the US once things calm down with their families and such. I think this book’s title is unfortunate, though, because I outright rejected it back when it first came out because, as I mentioned, I don’t believe in love at first sight (especially since it often comes in the form of instalove, a dangerous and disturbing phenomenon in YA fiction).

Anyway.

For me, this book was charming and endearing but not particularly heavy or serious-minded. I think some emotional, realistic issues were brought up, and they were handled in a way that was very touching. At the same time, I thought this read very much like a movie, and though I don’t think that would have worked for me usually, it did here. With a final tally of just over 200 pages, this book is rather short, and I breezed through it in a few hours. Obviously, there wasn’t much time for deep emotional explorations or whatnot, but I think it worked for Jennifer E. Smith here, as I didn’t find this book to be incomplete or lacking particularly.

So while The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight isn’t my favorite book ever, it’s most certainly a very enjoyable one. Well worth reading multiple times, and it had a lovely film-like quality that was utterly addicting. I also appreciated the realistic “love at first sight” scenario, because anything other than what actually happened would have caused me to pitch a massive fit. Also: woohoo, family dynamics in YA lit!

I know what you’re thinking, two people meet and fall in love within 24 hours?! That’s so unrealistic and cliched. But Jennifer does an amazing job at creating Hadley and Oliver’s love story, you can’t help but fall for them. They definitely didn’t fall in love instantly, although there was the initial physical attraction. I love that Jennifer plays the minutes within 24 hours so well, you can see easily see and appreciate how these two complete strangers could fall in love. A random mistake here, a kind gesture there, and hours of conversation and key moments sparked a true connection.

You should know that the story isn’t all about Hadley and Oliver. Jennifer delves into Hadley’s background a lot and talks about the disaster of her parent’s divorce, her relationship with her father, and how Hadley has to come to grips with the fact that everyone is better off now. Her relationship with her father plays a key role in Hadley’s ability to believe in love and Jennifer incorporates that into the story well. This isn’t just a story about a guy and a girl falling in love, it’s about a girl learning to believe in love and marriage and understanding the importance of relationships and people in her life, whether its family, friends, or lovers. There are a lot of flashbacks into Hadley’s past as she tries to make sense of how her father could just leave her and her mother and fall in love with someone else. But you also get to learn a bit about Oliver too, which isn’t at all what I expected. The secondary characters were great too. I especially loved this woman named Victoria who, although doesn’t play a key role, was still very funny and memorable.

Jennifer paints a delightful and adorable picture of love and relationships in this story and it’s such a quick read too. I easily finished it in one sitting and didn’t find a dull moment in it at all. Although not an epic love story by any means, it plays with the idea of fate and romance that we all like to believe in and I enjoyed reading this book so much. Definitely pick it up when you get the chance!