Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?
Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan’s life. Having missed her flight, she’s stuck at JFK airport and late to her father”s second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon-to-be stepmother Hadley’s never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport’s cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he’s British, and he’s sitting in her row.
A long night on the plane passes in the blink of an eye, and Hadley and Oliver lose track of each other in the airport chaos upon arrival. Can fate intervene to bring them together once more?
Quirks of timing play out in this romantic and cinematic novel about family connections, second chances, and first loves. Set over a twenty-four-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver’s story will make you believe that true love finds you when you’re least expecting it.
What if you hadn’t been able to find a seat in the next flight out?
What if your seat didn’t happen to be next to a charming British guy you met earlier in the airport?This is the kind of story that is charming and romantic in the way it set up its premise. Fate and chance brought two strangers together by tiny threads of connection. If any of the above things hadn’t happened, Hadley and Oliver would’ve never met. That is the kind of story I am completely a sucker for. And this time around, Jennifer E. Smith didn’t disappoint me.
The chemistry between Hadley and Oliver was amazingly believable. Sometimes I find it hard to believe in the connection between the people who are supposedly “attracted” to each other. I just can’t feel it. This wasn’t the case here. Yes, the story takes place over the course of 24 hours but it wasn’t completely like they fell in love immediately. There was this cute teasing and banter they had throughout the flight that really softened me up to both of them. They even teased each other about how they “became a couple” when an old lady sitting next to them mistakenly assumed they knew each other prior to arriving at the airport.
“So,” the woman asks, “how did you two meet?”
“Believe it or not,” Oliver says, “it was in an airport…I was being quite gallant, actually, and offered to help with [Hadley’s] suitcase. And then we started talking, and one thing led to another….”
Hadley grins. “And he’s been carrying my suitcase ever since.”
Oliver particularly helped, being the funny and adorable guy that he is. Their conversations or Hadley’s memories of them later in the story were my favourite part.
“Which was your favourite? Of all the places you’ve been?”
Oliver seemed to consider this for a moment before the telltale dimple appeared on his face. “Connecticut. What about you?”
“Alaska, probably. Or Hawaii…I’ve been to all but one [state], actually.”
“So which one have you missed?”
“North Dakota.”
“So if you could go anywhere else in the world, where would it be?”
Hadley thought about this for a moment. “Maybe Australia. Or Paris. How about you?”
Oliver had looked at her as if it were obvious, the faintest hint of a grin at the corners of his mouth. “North Dakota,” he’d said.
See how easy it is to love them together? That being said, this book isn’t all centred around their romance. In fact, a lot of it dealt in Hadley’s anger at her father for leaving her mother so out of the blue for another woman he met while away for a semester in Oxford. Smith did a very good job of making me feel as broken as Hadley did over what her father did, and the new life he was about to finalize for himself. Half way around the world, leaving the life he did have with her back in America.
I liked that by the end, she was able to deal with the mess of things that had been tossed her way. Love is an illogical thing , quoteth both of Hadley’s parents. Even when things end, there may be good out of it all.
All in all, it was very romantic and heartfelt. Both about learning to love your family no matter what may happen or the distance between them, and taking chances before there is no time left for them. I wished the book hadn’t ended so fast, yet at the same time, the way it concluded left an air of magic and uncertainty to it. In fact, the uncertainty of the future made it all the better because it leaves room for us to imagine how things would play out past this 24 hour mark. An absolutely great story, and definitely worth the 4.5 stars!
Overall Recommendation:
The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight is as unique as its name, and definitely lives up to its implications. With two sweet characters that are both troubled with family issues, Hadley and Oliver makes it believable when it comes to sparking a connection so deep that they’d be willing to find each other in the heart of London again after one amazing transatlantic flight together. Filled with witty banter and the heartache of letting go of anger, there is no other book I’d rather recommend in this genre.
Down the Rabbit Hole 
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