Name: Kate's review of Meant to be by Lauren Morrill
Item: Meant to be
Rating: 5
Author: Kate

Lauren Morrill

During an educational trip to London, away from her friends and the boy she thinks she is fated to love, Massachussets high school junior Julia Lichtenstein is paired with her nemesis, Jamie, and begins seeing many things differently.

Meant to be

Kate

Livie Isbill

It's 7:16 a.m. I started this book probably around 2. I am finished and thoroughly enjoyed this book. London was perfect, thanks London. I wanted more of an ending, like just another chapter or two, but it was lovely. way to go book you win

Ella Zegarra

Ese momento en que de verdad se necesitan las medias estrellas. ¡Goodreads, por favor! Un poco más de código solo le falta a la web, Booklikes te está ganando...

Lisa Collins

Meant to Be was one of those books I saw and instantly wanted to read. I love stories that take place in London, Paris, et cetera and I love contemporary, so I knew this would be right up my alley. The story itself is rather cute even if a tad typical and the characters were satisfying to read both when I liked them and when I didn’t. I’ll explain what I mean by that in a minute.

Firstly, when I say the story is “typical” I don’t necessarily mean it in a bad way. Contemporary romances usually have some conflict (due to one or more misunderstandings) in the middle that is eventually ironed out in time for the end of the story. Meant to Be certainly did and that’s totally fine. The whole time I was reading this book I realized what was going on with the characters and thought I knew everything. Oh, boy, was I wrong! I don’t know how I missed it, but Morrill slipped something huge by me. You’ll have to read the book to find out what I mean. But just so you know: it was great.

See above to: “…the characters were satisfying to read both when I liked them and when I didn’t.” Sometimes the characters in Meant to Be killed me with the way they acted. I really liked the way all the characters were written, but some of them were there to hate. And hate I did. I won’t specify, but you get what I mean. For the most part I liked the characters I had a lot of exposure to. I’m actually a little bummed we didn’t get to see more of a couple characters, but oh well. Can’t have everything.

Julia, the main character is… difficult, to say the least. I’m not completely sure how I feel about her. As a person I think she has the potential to be cool, but for the duration of the book she wasn’t quite there. She’s a wonderful character to read about because there’s so much room for growth. For so much time before her trip to London Julia sort of locked herself in a box, so it’s not surprising she’s so stubborn and sort of difficult to deal with.

Despite all the annoying things he does, I really liked Jason too. He was a complete cad a lot of the time, but I liked him from the very beginning. Everything he did was completely confusing and had a sense of playground innocence to it. It would seem weird calling Jason--the class-clown--more down to Earth than Julia, but he really is. For someone so intelligent and grounded Julia certainly has her head in the clouds a lot of the time. During the trip I feel like Jason was sort of an anchor for Julia, whether she liked it (or even realized it) or not. They balanced each other out well. Their relationship was super complicated but in retrospect it was simple as all get out, and I loved that because it’s something the reader doesn’t realize it until the end.

I had a ton of fun reading Meant to Be. It’s one of those books that will have you laughing (and dying of secondhand embarrassment) from the very beginning and will get you to yell, “Don’t be an idiot!” at the characters more than you’d probably like to admit. (Just me?) If you dig contemporary YA this is a must read for you.

noha

And the award of the most disappointing read of 2017 goes to : *drum rolls* 
THIS BOOK

it’s the most annoying story i’ve ever read!

An unbelievably irritating main character “Julia” who thinks she’s better and smarter than everyone else. She, literally, believes that everybody else is shallow, stupid and “not worth her time”~ yet, the superior jules complains about not having friends :/// hmmm?

A completely unrealistic story with an insufferable heroine and a bloody awful romance...

Jacelyn

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

** Originally posted on Lost in Literature.

4.5 stars!

I wish I had gone on this trip when I was in high school! What a blast!! And the whole time I was reading, I felt like I was right there on that trip with all of them. It definitely pulls you right in from page one.

Poor immature, inexperienced Julia. Besides having no idea how to get and keep a boyfriend, she's also socially awkward and uncomfortable in groups. She's totally different than your average teenager. Her head is often stuffed in a book and she loves studying and getting good grades. But when it comes to going out with the other kids and having a good time, she doesn't have a clue. Leave it to her "buddy" on the trip, Jason, to help her learn how to have fun.

And have fun she does! While shuffling 3 different love interests, she's also needs to learn the hard way how to let loose and have fun. This entire book takes place from beginning to end on this trip. Julie must choose between her "MTB" Mark, who she's known she would marry since her childhood, the new boy-toy Chris she meets while out at a party (but has no recollection of ever meeting because of the amount of alcohol that was involved at said party...) and her nemesis, Jason, who she absolutely loathes but gets assigned as a buddy for the trip, so she's forced to spend time with him, wanted or not.

This is an adorable contemporary story that I've already recommended several times since reading it. I really enjoyed it. It was a quick, fun read full of drama, fun, excitement and romance. The characters are awesome and totally relatable, no matter what your age. It's got it all, so don't miss this one!

Lacey

Such a light, fun story! I had a great time reading this. Although I have to admit, Jason and Julia frustrated and annoyed me to no end, I still thought their story was so adorable and sweet and hilarious. A perfect book if you're a fan of YA contemporary romances.

Jessica 

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Meant to Be was very nearly a 3-star read, but something just didn't click with me. I felt like there was so much in it that I wanted to like more than I did. While it's not exactly puzzling for me to not fully fall into a contemporary romance (they're just hit or miss with me, it often has nothing to do with the novel or author) I had expected something more compulsive about Meant to Be. And it just wasn't there for me. 

That being said: this is not a bad novel. 

Lauren Morrill has an easy-going way to her prose that makes the story move along at a pleasant pace. It has its flaws in development, but those flaws don't always define it and, if you connect with Meant to Be you will scarcely notice said flaws. 

The story itself certainly accomplishes what it was meant to: it's sweet, it gives into the warm and fuzzies that the genre is known for, and the plotline weaves itself together in a way that is lovely. It's not unlike a warm, spring day--bright, something to look forward to and easy to pass through. 

In short? It's perfect for a quick read. It's perfect for the romantic at heart. While it wasn't wholly my cup of tea, I can see why so many flock to it. If you're a fan of the genre, you'll likely adore this book in the best way possible.

Kate &
Meant to be by Lauren Morrill

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