Hello bookish friends and welcome to my Blog Tour Stop for Chemistry Lesson by Meredith Goldstein hosted by Rock Star Book Tours. Today, I have my review to share with you and a giveaway at the end.
Pub. Date: June 19, 2018
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Formats: Hardcover, eBook
Pages: 256
Amazon, B&N, iBooks, TBD
From advice columnist Meredith Goldstein, a dazzling, romantic, and emotionally resonant YA debut about a teen science whiz in Cambridge, Massachusetts, who tries to crack the chemical equation for lasting love and instead wreaks havoc on herself and the boys in her life.
For seventeen-year-old Maya, the equation for happiness is simple: a dream internship at MIT + two new science nerd friends + a perfect boyfriend = one amazing summer. Then Whit dumps her out of the blue. Maya is miserable until she discovers that her scientist mother, before she died, was conducting research on manipulating pheromones to enhance human attraction. If Maya can finish her mother’s work, maybe she can get Whit back. But when her experiment creates chaos in her love life, she realizes that maybe love and loss can’t be understood using the scientific method. Can she learn to trust the unmeasurables of love and attraction instead?
Cute and Charming YA Contemporary
Chemistry Lesson by Meredith Goldstein is a lighthearted and charmingly fun novel with a unique scientific twist on love and attraction. It’s quite endearing, adorably amusing, and sweet. I had a good time reading this book and would definitely recommend it.
The premise of this book was really intriguing and fun and I really did like this book, but I didn’t completely fall in love with the story like I expected. Plot wise, some parts were slow and there just wasn’t enough excitement for me in the beginning. Having said that, it does get better and there were fun scenes that I loved and the storyline itself was well-written and easy to follow that I was able to finish this in less than 24 hours. The pacing was also pretty good and while some moments were a bit predictable, I enjoyed all the deliciously fun surprises along the way. The romance wasn’t super swoony or anything, but a few cute moments certainly made me smile. Maya’s relationship with her father was also heartwarmingly sweet and I really enjoyed all their scenes together. The ending was great and I loved how it just brought the whole story together and left me feeling happy.
Maya was a great lead and I really liked her a lot. She was smart, passionate and incredibly determined. However, I wasn’t really in favor of her trying to get her ex-boyfriend back and being a little bit inconsiderate about other people’s feelings while she conducted the experiment. I didn’t always agree with her choices and found her frustrating at times, but she’s also someone teenage me can easily relate to… and honestly, I’ve probably been her at one point or another.
I thought the supporting characters were realistic enough that any reader can most likely relate to one of them. They were annoying at times, but they acted their age and had a sense of genuine realness that made them really likable. However, no one really stood out to me except maybe Bryan. I thought his friendship with Maya was absolutely endearing. Not to mention he’s sweet, funny, and just an awesome best friend. Kyle wasn’t so bad either and he was quite adorable and charming at times, but I just didn’t swoon over him like crazy. Maybe I’m still hung over my other book boyfriends that Kyle just didn’t personally meet my standards right now. Totally not the book’s fault, so I’m sure others will find him cute and swoon-worthy.
Overall, this book was a very light, fun and cute read. It wasn’t spectacularly mind-blowing or anything, but it had a nice mixture of light drama, heartbreak, great friendships, self-discovery, and first loves. It’s charming in its own way and definitely a perfect summer YA contemporary read! Oh and I really enjoyed the “whiff walks.”
I picked up a physical advance reader copy of this book from HMH during Yallwest this year and I also voluntarily signed up to review this book and be part of a Blog Tour hosted by Rock Star Book Tours. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe. Her first novel “The Singles,” was released by Penguin/Plume on April 24, 2012.
In March of 2016, Grand Central Publishing acquired a memoir based on her column, Love Letters. It is scheduled to be released by Spring of 2018.
Meredith was born in New Jersey, raised in Maryland, went to Syracuse University, and now lives in Roxbury, Massachusetts with a carnival-size cotton candy machine that she bought for herself on her 30th birthday.
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3 winners will receive a finished copy of CHEMISTRY LESSONS, US Only.
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Hope you enjoyed reading this post and don’t forget to join the giveaway! Have a lovely day everyone!
Sincerely Karen Jo 