I last tried to read this four years ago, and gave up on it as I’d deemed it to be woke. I decided to give this book another try, though, as I’d always really enjoyed Marissa Meyer books in the past… but also because I read the second book in this “series,” (not really a series, more like standalone novels with characters in common) called “With a Little Luck.” It was very cute, and not woke at all that I recall, so I thought maybe I misjudged this one? As it turns out, I did.
The story follows Prudence, an uber-type A teen, and Quint, her (apparently) lazy, laid-back lab partner whom she initially despises. (Prudence’s twin brother is Jude, the main character in the second book.) At first Pru isn’t terribly likable, honestly, but that’s just a setup for a character arc. She and Quint get a low grade for their shared project (to do with eco conservation), which ruins Pru’s GPA, but (because Pru is horrible to him), Quint refuses to redo the project with her. Pru determines that she’ll do it on her own, and when she reads the report Quint wrote (she hadn’t even bothered to do that before), she learns of an animal rescue center in Fortuna Beach that needs volunteers. She decides to volunteer there in order to gain experience that will make it into her report… only to discover that not only does Quint himself work there, the rescue center is actually run by his mom.
Meanwhile, through a magical set of events in which you just have to suspend your disbelief, Pru acquires a micro-power: that of harnessing “the universe” to exact “instant karma” upon wrongdoers of various types. Pru seems like the worst possible choice for such a power, since she’s already so judgmental–but as time goes on, it becomes clear that at least in some cases, the universe doesn’t cooperate with her judgments, and sometimes rewards those whom she deems worthy of punishment. As the story goes on, and Pru’s character arc progresses, though, she learns that this is usually because there was more going on than she was aware of, and sometimes the people she thought were deserving of punishment, weren’t.
Of course it’s also a slow burn romance, as Pru learns how badly she misjudged Quint. Quint really didn’t misjudge Pru, but he’s a forgiving sort of guy when she comes around in the end… until a misunderstanding nearly wrecks them just as they get started. In general, I despise misunderstandings as a plot device (they make me so anxious), so I skipped several segments of those chapters, but I still got the rest of the story in full. And it was cute and enjoyable.
My rating: ****
Language: none
Sexual content: none
Violence: none
Political content: minor
Leave a Reply