Review of Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Title/Author: Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill
Publisher/Date published: Delacorte Books for Young Readers, November 13th 2012
How I got this book: received it from the publisher through NetGalley
Buy it at: The Book Depository

Goodreads summary: 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.

Sometimes you just need something light and fun to read and Meant To Be by Lauren Morrill was exactly this for me!

Even though Julia is REALLY uptight, I could relate to wanting not wanting to break the rules and being scared of jeopardizing her future because of someone else's antics. I liked her, though there were times when she made me want to shake her a little because she was just so obviously not seeing something and sometimes also being really unfair to Jason.
I liked that Jason had hidden depths and that he sorta serenaded Julia during one of their trips and is a fan of the Beatles. I mean, I KNOW all their songs by heart cause my dad has all the CDs, so I was sorta raised on them. I liked that he brought a little fun into Julia's very serious life.

And while this was a really cute, running around London and confusion over what guy was the right one for Julia book, I did had some issues with the romance. I mean, Jason just blows hot and cold and seriously, I would have been SO MAD by something that was revealed towards the end! They were pretty sweet together, but just when I found myself swooning over Jason he'd do something to mess it up. It was like someone kept dumping a bucket of cold water on me after I'd just warmed up again.

I really liked Lauren Morrill's writing, she kept it light and fun and the story never lagged. I flew through this book in no time and it was exactly what I needed after reading some darker and issue heavy books!
Meant To Be is a fun, cute read and I loved rediscovering London along with Julia and seeing all my favourite places through her eyes!

My rating: 3,5 stars