review: this is what happy looks like

THIS IS WHAT HAPPY LOOKS LIKE
Jennifer E. Smith
Poppy

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight was a really good book, but I wasn't floored by it the way so many others seem to have been. I liked it a lot, but didn't love it. Still, when I first saw This is What Happy Looks Like on Goodreads with a comparison to You've Got Mail, I put it at the top of my must-buy list. (YGM is my faaaavorite movie of all times ever.)

And let me tell you: for me, This is What Happy Looks Like blows The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight out of the water. The story (told in alternating third-person perspectives) of a girl in small-town Maine ending up an accidental e-pen pal to a boy whose identity she doesn't know is great. Of course there are plenty of opportunities for internet safety speeches here, but the book doesn't take that direction because this is a book about sweet and unexpected love. Ellie and Graham follow the You've Got Mail rules of not revealing anything personal in their letters (although Ellie does accidentally let the name of her town slip), which means that when Graham shows up in Ellie's hometown to shoot his new movie she has no idea that this is the boy she's been emailing. And Graham has no idea that for Ellie, being in the spotlight seems like the worst thing in the world. The secret of Ellie's camera-shy personality is one that in other books could have come across as overly dramatic or heavy-handed, but here is handled exactly perfectly well. Her reasons, when they come to light, aren't as deep and dark as they could have been and fit in well with the rest of the book, with her and her mother's reaction to Graham's fame.

I've said multiple times that a book has to be more than just "cute" or "entertaining" to make me really fall for it, and based on that and how utterly sweet this story is, you'd think this would be an easily forgettable book for me. But it's not. This is What Happy Looks Like is the best sort of romance; it's sweet and funny. The characters are loveable. The more unrealistic aspects are more than made up for by the fact that the emotions felt by these characters are so utterly relatable. These are the most universal of feelings: love, friendship, infatuation. And This is What Happy Looks Like relies on these themes/feelings (along, of course, with Jennifer E. Smith's great writing) to make the unrealistic premise work really, really well. It's a sweet, adorable, wholesome romance that I totally fell into. In short: I loved this book. It's the best sort of YA romance and if this review doesn't seem to do it justice it's just because beyond omg so cute so good awwwwhhh!!! there's really no better way to describe or explain how I feel about this book.

(Also you can note that this is the first five-star book I've read in all of 2013. Step it up, year.)

my fan-made playlist for this is what happy looks like.

My review of Jennifer E. Smith's new book, This is What Happy Looks Like is coming up next week but for today I made a playlist for the book, full of songs that I think capture the bubbly, lovey, happiness feeling of this story.

Woot. Here is.

And, in case my writing is too tiny for you to read -

Walking on Sunshine - the Aly & AJ cover

I'm Into Something Good - The Bird & the Bee

I Am A Heart - Hey Ocean!

Boom - Anjulie

Kiss You - One Direction

Drunk - Ed Sheeran

Little Numbers - Boy

Homeless - Dia Frampton

Something More - Aly & AJ

Today Was A Fairytale - Taylor Swift

Everything Has Changed - Taylor Swift with Ed Sheeran

I Want to Hold You Hand - The Beatles

Accidentally in Love - Counting Crows

Review: The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight

THE STATISTICAL PROBABILITY OF LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT
Jennifer E. Smith
Poppy/Little Brown

When she misses her scheduled flight by four minutes, Hadley gets bumped to a later transatlantic flight -- one that will get her into London with barely enough time to get to the church before her dad's wedding (to a woman she's never met) begins. This later flight also leads to her meeting Oliver, a charming British boy whose easygoing, calming personality helps Hadley deal with the anxiety that flying brings. Understandably angry over the fact that her dad went to Oxford for a few months, then met a woman there and left Hadley and her mom -- his first family -- for her, Hadley's surprised when the flight to London brings her in contact with this wonderful boy who she quickly finds herself falling for.

I have an often antagonistic relationship with books that can easily and simply be labeled as "cute" -- for me, a book has to offer a bit more than just cuteness in order for me to really enjoy it. Luckily The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight delivers on more than just the obvious. Jennifer E. Smith's writing brings just enough depth to Hadley's emotions to elevate her story above all the other quick-teen-love-stories out there, while the very real family drama grounds the story while adding another dimension to it.

The fact that this novel plays out over the course of 24 hours and just over 200 pages is both a benefit and a detriment to the story. On the one hand the shortened time frame adds an urgency to Hadley and Oliver's love story and makes the inevitable ending and events leading up to it all the more aww-worthy. On the other hand, while everything about this book would lead you to believe it's a romance, the true driving force is the hurt Hadley feels over her dad's new life and I would have loved to see that play out a bit more. The way her parents' divorce happened and the fact that her father is now marrying the woman he had an affair with are such huge things that, unfortunately in this short novel, just didn't get the time or development they deserved. In the end, Hadley's very real and complicated feelings are treated lightly in a way that downplays their significance.

While Hadley and Oliver's romance is undeniably cute, it's also quite predictable and in spite of his many quirks, Oliver's a fairly bland love interest. But weirdly, that doesn't end up mattering much because Smith's writing is so on-target that the romantic feelings between Hadley and Oliver are easily felt despite any other shortcomings. This is, above all else, an adorable story that stands apart thanks to the lovely writing.