Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill
Publisher: Listening Library
Publication Date: 26th March 2013
Source: Audible
Narrated by: Shannon McManus

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.

This is now one of my favourite contemporary novels. As soon as it started, I fell in love with this book. It was such an adorable novel. I'm a sucker for cute romance novels, and this was such a brilliant one.

There were times I liked Julia, and times I wanted to hit her. She was a smart, organised, goody two shoes, clumsy character and I really liked her. During her trip to London, Jason makes it his mission to help Julia find out who her mystery guy is and while he's doing that, he helps Julia loosen up and have some fun. But, should could be pretty naive and stupid sometimes. She didn't notice what was right in front of her for so long and she was so focused on her perfect MTB (meant to be) that she didn't realise that her MTB might not be who she thinks. She's a very awkward character. She ended up in some pretty hilarious situation and had me cracking up a lot. 

I freaking loved Jason. He was such a hilarious character! Sure, he was immature, but he was so focused on having fun that it didn't bother him and I loved it. He's so cocky and funny, and he had me cracking up so much during this book. The only thing that bothered me about Jason was that he gave out so many mixed messages. It was unbelievable how confused he was making me with his constant back and forth. 

Julia and Jason has some hilarious banter together. At the start of the book, Julia really didn't like Jason. They're paired together for the trip and they start to become really close. Jason gets Julia to experience some new things and have fun for once. I adored them together. They were both giving each other mixed messages and for most of the book they weren't on the same page. They have so much chemistry, but Julia is unwilling to acknowledge it for most of the book. They were at each others throats a lot in this book mostly because Julia didn't realise how Jason felt. 

I loved that this book took place in London. Even though I've been to visit London, I never got to visit some of the sights that they saw in this book and I adored discovering them along with the characters. Julia is convinced that her MTB is her childhood best friend Mark because he's so perfect. She's so focused on finding someone the same way her parents met that she can't see what's right in front of her. Jason helped Julia have a lot of fun during this book. They did things that she normally wouldn't do, like: walking around during a thunderstorm and going to a party and getting drunk. She experienced a lot throughout this book and started to loosen up slightly. Julia is getting texts from a mystery guy and Jason agrees to help her find out who it is and they have some pretty cool adventures. I was wondering for most of the book why Jason and Sarah seemed so close and why they kept passing notes. It all fell into place at the end though. 

The twist at the end was hilarious! It definitely added something to the story and it wouldn't have been as good if it hadn't been for the twist. I love how it allowed Jason and Julia to get to know each other. The ending had be smiling like an idiot. I adore Julia and Jason together and I was squealing with delight! They're so cute <3

Overall, I absolutely adored this contemporary. It's definitely one I'll be listening to every year. It was cute, adorable and I loved every second of it. It's one I definitely recommend.