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abbyl819's review against another edition
3.0
Usually I am a fan of enemies to lovers, but the animosity between Prudence and Quint just felt so unnecessary. Prudence was such a judgmental person towards him, and her reason for hating him seemed more petty and self-righteous than anything else, and his reason for hating her seemed completely justified to me because I found her hard to like, too. Prudence is not a likable character at all; she is obnoxious, self-centered, and is way too much of an embodiment of the perfectionist/overachiever trope to be entertaining or believable. She is more annoying than anything. Her reasoning for her academic drive isn't explained at all until 100 pages in, making her seem dumb and over-confident rather than smart. Her desire to study business in college is only mentioned twice, both times briefly, so this whole aspect of the plot seemed unfocused and like it lacks an anchor. It may have made more sense if it was brought in earlier. Her doing a business report for a science assignment and receiving a bad grade is the catalyst for the whole story, and yet her outrage at her grade, is completely unjustified because her teacher was totally right and she deserved what she got. She definitely has a high and mighty mindset and is oblivious to the way the world works. The whole karma gift is completely ignored for a large chunk from the middle to end of the book, and it added nothing. This being the title, I thought it would be more important, but I think the book would've been better without it. The best parts of the book had nothing to do with the karma powers or her overachieving smug behaviors, such as when she discovers the truth about Quint and the animal rescue center and what a great guy he actually is.
lenaoknihach's review against another edition
4.0
M. Meyerová mě po Měsíčních kronikách a Renegátech nezklamala. Četlo se to samo a moc se mi líbilo prostředí záchranného střediska pro mořská zvířata. Postavu Quinta jsem si oblíbila, ale hlavní hrdinka mi občas lezla na nervy. To nic ale nemění na tom, že se mi Instant karma líbila a vám bych ji jako takovou letní a oddechovou romanci doporučila.
books_tea_and_fantasy's review against another edition
3.0
3 ⭐️
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 6
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 6
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 5
Characters: 6
Atmosphere: 6
Writing: 6
Plot: 5
Intrigue: 6
Logic: 5
Enjoyment: 5
melinda_and_her_books's review against another edition
5.0
First of all, I absolutely love Marissa Meyer and that's not just because she is from my home state. Every book I have read of hers has been great.
When I received the audiobook from Netgalley I was super excited. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.
In this story you have Prudence who is an overachiever. She aims for perfection in every thing she does. She quickly judges those that seem lazy and unmotivated. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when she wakes up with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Only every time she tries to cast instant karma on her lab partner Quint it backfires.
After not getting the grade Pru wanted on a group project she resigns herself to working at the rescue center Quint works at for extra credit. She soon realizes that he isn't as lazy as she thought.
She begins to learn about the many things Quint does at the Rescue Center and falls in love with not only the animals but Quint as well.
This was an adorable story that made my heart so happy. It's definitely a must read and the audiobook was great as well.
When I received the audiobook from Netgalley I was super excited. Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for my gifted copy.
In this story you have Prudence who is an overachiever. She aims for perfection in every thing she does. She quickly judges those that seem lazy and unmotivated. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when she wakes up with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her. Only every time she tries to cast instant karma on her lab partner Quint it backfires.
After not getting the grade Pru wanted on a group project she resigns herself to working at the rescue center Quint works at for extra credit. She soon realizes that he isn't as lazy as she thought.
She begins to learn about the many things Quint does at the Rescue Center and falls in love with not only the animals but Quint as well.
This was an adorable story that made my heart so happy. It's definitely a must read and the audiobook was great as well.
mrswhiteinthelibrary's review against another edition
funny
informative
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
A cute summer read overall. I appreciate that Meyer is doing something different here, but while I enjoyed this, I feel that's there's absolutely no reason this book is 400 pages long. And in fact I think it is so long because it feels like two different books entirely.
One is magical realism about a girl getting the ability to exact "instant karma" on people she thinks deserve it. The other one is a straight forward romcom between two high schoolers, one or whom works at a sea animal rescue, and the one who doesn't comes to care about the sea animals as much as the guy. Both are cute and fun but they seem like they could have been explored in different books.
That said, it is a sweet, chaste enemies to lovers that makes sense (they're teenagers so they're enemies in the sense that they didn't work well together as lab partners, which is way better than most examples of the trope) and the town and side characters are fleshed out really, really well. There's also a lot of actual knowledge about sea animals and what wild animal rescues do, which is genuinely very interesting.
So overall, pretty fun and decent and I may even read the sequel. It's certainly better than a lot of this genre. But just... Weirdly long and I think the author was doing too many things in exploring a new genre. But I don't regret the read either, and for a romcom, sometimes that enough.
One is magical realism about a girl getting the ability to exact "instant karma" on people she thinks deserve it. The other one is a straight forward romcom between two high schoolers, one or whom works at a sea animal rescue, and the one who doesn't comes to care about the sea animals as much as the guy. Both are cute and fun but they seem like they could have been explored in different books.
That said, it is a sweet, chaste enemies to lovers that makes sense (they're teenagers so they're enemies in the sense that they didn't work well together as lab partners, which is way better than most examples of the trope) and the town and side characters are fleshed out really, really well. There's also a lot of actual knowledge about sea animals and what wild animal rescues do, which is genuinely very interesting.
So overall, pretty fun and decent and I may even read the sequel. It's certainly better than a lot of this genre. But just... Weirdly long and I think the author was doing too many things in exploring a new genre. But I don't regret the read either, and for a romcom, sometimes that enough.
mrspotts's review against another edition
2.0
The main character was so insufferable for the first 70% of this book and then the love interest who I had liked the entire time, made a really weird choice so I didn't like another 10% of the book when that misunderstanding was being untangled...so I like the 20% left over, the setting, and the fact that the friend who let me use her audible account to listen to this really liked it so we got to talk about it. Having a friend to read a book with covers a multitude of annoyances.
natalieyanka's review against another edition
funny
hopeful
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
5.0
jess_mango's review against another edition
4.0
A new YA romance from the author of the [b:Cinder|36381037|Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles, #1)|Marissa Meyer|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1507557775l/36381037._SY75_.jpg|15545385] series! Instant Karma is more realistic than the Cinder series but still has a touch of the fantastical.
Pru is a type A go-getter high school Sophomore. She's been paired up with the laid back Quint for her marine biology project. When the project doesn't go quite as she expects and she gets a C, Pru is determined to do the project over for a better grade. The teacher agrees, but only if Pru and Quint work together to prove that they CAN work as a team. Pru thinks that Quint is lazy and unmotivated and that it is his fault that they didn't get an A. She wishes that things were more fair and that people would get what they desrve. Pru's wishes for karmic justice come true when after a night of karaoke she wakes up with the ability to give karma payback, whether good or bad. She can't control what happens but she can make whatever will happen, happen. In the meantime, she volunteers at the sea life rescue center that Quint's mom runs with the goal of working with them to get a better grade on her project.
This was a fun, sweet read. It was a nice read to decompress with after this CRAZY news week. I listened to it on audio, so it made it easy to sit back, close my eyes and listen/read.
While Pru starts out as not being very likable (to me at least), I learned to like her by the end of the book as she learned more about herself and how to interact better with others. I loved that Pru and her siblings are all named after Beatles songs (thanks to their record store owning parents). The book had a nice message about being nice to the environment, animals AND our fellow humans.
What to listen to while reading...
Instant Karma! by John Lennon
Come Dancing by The Kinks
Wouldn't it Be Nice by The Beach Boys
Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles
The Beach by The NEighborhood
Daniel by Elton John
Someone to You by BANNERS
Ocean by Elsa and Emilie
Dear Prudence by The Beatles
Electric Love by B0RNS
Thank you to the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!
Pru is a type A go-getter high school Sophomore. She's been paired up with the laid back Quint for her marine biology project. When the project doesn't go quite as she expects and she gets a C, Pru is determined to do the project over for a better grade. The teacher agrees, but only if Pru and Quint work together to prove that they CAN work as a team. Pru thinks that Quint is lazy and unmotivated and that it is his fault that they didn't get an A. She wishes that things were more fair and that people would get what they desrve. Pru's wishes for karmic justice come true when after a night of karaoke she wakes up with the ability to give karma payback, whether good or bad. She can't control what happens but she can make whatever will happen, happen. In the meantime, she volunteers at the sea life rescue center that Quint's mom runs with the goal of working with them to get a better grade on her project.
This was a fun, sweet read. It was a nice read to decompress with after this CRAZY news week. I listened to it on audio, so it made it easy to sit back, close my eyes and listen/read.
While Pru starts out as not being very likable (to me at least), I learned to like her by the end of the book as she learned more about herself and how to interact better with others. I loved that Pru and her siblings are all named after Beatles songs (thanks to their record store owning parents). The book had a nice message about being nice to the environment, animals AND our fellow humans.
What to listen to while reading...
Instant Karma! by John Lennon
Come Dancing by The Kinks
Wouldn't it Be Nice by The Beach Boys
Good Day Sunshine by The Beatles
The Beach by The NEighborhood
Daniel by Elton John
Someone to You by BANNERS
Ocean by Elsa and Emilie
Dear Prudence by The Beatles
Electric Love by B0RNS
Thank you to the publisher for the audiobook in exchange for an honest review!