Meant to Be

I cannot talk enough about how much I loved Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill (and I don't think I have stopped talking about it since I first read it)! Seriously, this book is me...but in book form. Very rarely have I ever felt like an author sat down and was like, "Hmm, let me think of the perfect book to write for Tara." But I totally felt that way with Meant to Be.First of all, the setting. I lived in London for half a year last spring and there was so much of Meant to Be that was so familiar to me. Some of Julia's experiences in London were exactly like my first experiences - I went to the same places and ate at many of the same restaurants and it was like I was reliving my time abroad all over again.And Julia, the protagonist, is totally a straight-laced, uptight, always on time and always following the rules kind of girl. In many ways I found myself relating to her totally (but in other ways I just wanted to shake her and tell her to go have fun). I think she's going to be one of those characters that people either really like or really dislike, and I definitely feel the former.And the swoon! The swoon! I loved Jason, even though he was a total butthead at the beginning of Meant to Be. He kind of ended up as a total butthead in an adorable kind of way.Yes, there was plot too, besides the traveling abroad and romance thing. Which I found to be super entertaining, even though there were a lot of bits I predicted, I still enjoyed the ride. Oh, and there were some bits I totally didn't predict and it made me MAD for Julia even though Julia didn't really react the way I would have. But in any case. The plot of Meant to Be is a lot of fun.Basically - go pick Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill. It's hilarious with a side of deep and emotional, not to mention the swoony romance and the awesome experience of traveling abroad for the first time. Lauren Morrill's writing style is one that I loved and she's definitely already landed herself on my auto-buy list.I can't wait to get my finished copy of Meant to Be in my hands and reread it all over again.

It starts out on a plane (I love plane rides!) with London as the destination. Serendipitous, as I was also reading The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight which is also set in London. One book for work and one for home. As I love London, it seemed like it would be a perfect book.It’s a school trip heading to London for 10 days. The story is told from the point of view of Julia Lichtenstein who is sort of on the fringe and mostly invisible. The travel group is 20 teens with one chaperon, which seems a recipe for disaster.Julia begins her adventure as an uptight, know-it-all rule follower. She is judgmental, a bit arrogant, but at the same time very naive. I have to be honest. I didn't really like her at first. She has rules she lives by, ideas that are not based in reality, expects every one else to behave as she does and those that don’t are branded as immature, jerky, shallow and any other number of classifications. She keeps her nose in a book, which I do not have an issue with, but she seems to believe life and love should be like the books or like the songs say. She believes in a one true love or Meant to Be (MTB), that all relationships should be like the loving, perfect relationship her parents had. It is this idea of a prefect love that she holds onto.When she was young, she had a friend named Mark. They were neighbors and were always together. They even had a fake wedding which ended in Julia’s first kiss at the age of 5, but the following year, Mark’s dad was transferred and they moved away. Julia has held a torch for him ever since. Now his family has moved back to town and she thinks he is her MTB, although in the 8 months or so he’s been back, he really doesn't pay any attention to her or talk to her.So, she’s off to London, the land of Shakespeare and where her parent’s went on their honeymoon. She packed about 20 books to reading and about 5 travel books all with post its to highlight all the places she wants to go and things she wants to see. She’s organized down to having an exact place for everything in her messenger bag.When they get to the hotel, they find that they all have to have a buddy. Their teacher hands them each a cell phone that is charged with 20 minutes that is to be used for emergencies only. They have cultural time every day where they are to go explore the culture of London and write reflection papers on what they've seen and experienced. They are not to go anywhere without their buddy and the buddies are responsible for each other. While Julia doesn't have anyone she would call a friend on this trip, she gets paired with the absolute last person on earth she would want to be buddied up with, Jason Lippincott.Jason is everything Julia is not. He is a bit of a clown, is charming and can worm his way into anyone’s good graces. He seems to be able to wrap girls around his finger and get whatever he wants. He doesn't believe in perfect love or the idea that there is a one true love. He’s sloppy, lazy, certainly not a serious student and just wants to have fun.Put these two together and the results can be disastrous. The very first night in London, Jason sets the stage for their partnership. He learned about a party and wants to go, so he goes to Julia’s room to take her with him. When she refuses, he points out that if she doesn't come with him, she will be letting him go out alone and they were told to not let their buddies go out without them. Knowing he has her caught, she figures she will break a rule either way. She will either break a rule going out after hours or break a rule letting her buddy go off alone. She figures it is better to go and keep an eye on him. The trouble is their teacher collects their room keys every night so they can’t sneak out, but Jason charmed the girl at reception and got duplicate room keys for the two of them.The party is a bit of a disaster. Jason abandons her as soon as they get to the party so he can go chat up girls. She ends up getting drunk and decides to make herself seem more interesting by telling the guys she meets that she is a model. She ends up getting drunk and Jason gets confronted for talking to the wrong girl.Hung over the next day, Julia gets a text from some guy named Chris she can’t remember. The class is at the Tate. She was really forward to the outing prior to the drunken outing, but all she can do now is try to stop her head from moving and she sits down. Unfortunately, Jason won’t leave her alone. He seems to like to tease her, calling her “Book Licker”. When he takes her phone and sees the text from Chris, he decides to go all Pygmalion on Julia and decides to help her real in this mystery guy. The catch? She has to write his reflection papers.From there, is it a hunt all over London for the elusive mystery guy. And the more time they spend together, the more she realizes Jason is not the jerk she thought he was.

Uma leitura leve e fluída com um romance bem clichê. Foi ótimo para trazer o inglês na minha rotina.

Great book

Dieses Buch war einfach toll. Der Schreibstil und die dadurch verliehene Leichtigkeit haben das Lesen sehr angenehm gestaltet und ich habe es in wenigen Tagen beendet. Trotz einiger Hin-und-Hers der Protagonistin kann ich das Buch jedem empfehlen, der eine leichte Lektüre für Zwischendurch sucht. Verdiente 5 Sterne und einfach nur lesens- und liebenswert!

High School JuniorのJuliaは成績優秀でドジ。恋に恋していて初恋の相手MikeをMTB（Meant To Be）だと信じ、いつかは結ばれると思っている。春休みのロンドンへの１０日間のSchool Tripでクラス一のお調子者（宿敵）JasonのBaddyにされてしまい・・・自由時間は２人組で行動せねばならず、計画的で慎重なJuliaは、まるで正反対の衝動的で無鉄砲なJasonに振り回されっぱなし。初めてルールを無視して行った（連れられて）異国のホームパーティーの後日からJuliaのケータイにChrisという謎の人物からメールが届くようになり、Jasonと共にChrisを探し始めるが・・・。最初のうちは嫌々だったJuliaも徐々にJasonのペースの流され・・私にはJasonのキャラが、行動の意味が、最後まで謎・・・・完全に理解不能・・・言ってしまえば、幼稚で目立ちたがり・・・？でもすごく活気のある描写で引き込まれ、笑えるシーンもあり、ラストを読んだらすべて良く思えてしまった・・・とろけました。

Richtige Liebesgeschichte. Julia, quer durch England gereist, nur um ihren Romeo zu finden, der die ganze Zeit vor ihrer Nase befand. Etwas für alle Romantiker.