Parallel

Author: Lauren Miller
Goodreads Rating: 4.03
Pages: 432
Format: E-ARC from Edelweiss from the Publisher

Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.
With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.
As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.

Ugh. I’m really struggling with how to rate this book because there were a lot of really great things that I adored about this book, and then there were some things that really made me want to scream. At first I was a little wary of the book, I didn’t really like Abby because things were told to us in the most roundabout way. For us to know that she was filming a movie in LA, we had to be told all about how her class was cancelled and then how the teacher called her into the office and then how it went from there. I know that I totally do this when telling a story, but to write that way, was a little rough because all the sudden she started to talk about what was going on in LA, and I forgot that was where it even started.

I really liked how original the idea was. I know that there have at least been times in my life where I have wondered where I would be if one little detail of my life had changed. I loved how Abby was able to take most of the things in stride, doing what she could to stay positive and net let what was happening to her get her down. Of course she wasn’t perfect, and she did have her moments, but for the most part she was a strong character with flaws that I could relate to and I liked that.

I got frustrated with her when things didn’t work or her life was changed by this other girl. I was concerned when I started the book that I wouldn’t be able to keep all the worlds straight, but surprisingly, it wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be. I was annoyed by some of the repitition in the book that I felt wasn’t necessary (I also read a book a day, so facts don’t really escape me). What I was annoyed by was the science talk, I am not the type of person that likes science and if I’m being honest it doesn’t like me much back, so when there were all of these complicated scientific explainations for what was happening and why, my eyes sort of glazed over, I got the gyst of it, but big science words almost put me to sleep on my morning commute.

I found all of the support characters were great from Caitlyn her super sciency best friend to the two boys who were vying for her love. I adored that this was based in my own graduation year, so that made me feel special, althoug I nitpicked about the fact that Words With Friends was not really a thing in 2008, but, fine, I’ll roll with it. I think that this book would make a great movie.

Right now you’re asking yourself, “Well Nicole, it sounds like you enjoyed it, why the low rating?” And for me to answer that, I would have to ruin the whole book for you and I would much rather not do that. At all. I want you to read it and form your own opinion on it, because it had some really great merrits. Its possible that down the line I will come back to it, and give it a higher rating.

The Courts Decision: