Parallel by Lauren Miller

Series: Standalone

Genera: Romance/Sci-fi

Subjects: parallel universes, college, actor, love, fate

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 419 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “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.”

My Review: This book is complex and intricately woven. There are things about it I enjoyed and things I didn’t. I mostly wish there was more sci-fi stuff in it. It’s very different from Elizabeth Norris’s Unraveling, but both have parallel universes. It’s very different from Fringe. I kind of wanted to picture Dr. Mann as Walter with a German accent, still.

This book had a lot of drama and crazy situations based on the choices the main character made. It felt contemporary and had some romance. I can totally tell that the author was a TV writer because Parallel would be awesome on the CW or ABC Family. Abby is funny and her friend Caitlin is awesome for helping her with the parallel situation.

I like that there was a college setting in this book. I wasn’t too crazy about the high school drama because I’m kind of sick of high school book clichés. Yale seems like a cool place. I wouldn’t go there, but it’s fun to read about it.

Fun is probably the best word for this book, but the story has deeper meaning. This book made me think about what I would do in this situation. How thing would go differently if I choose a different major or if something happened that caused me to pick something. It made me think about parallel selves.

The parallel world was a year and a day behind Abby’s, which mean that when Abby woke up in a different reality, she has a year gap in her parallel selves reality. She could remember only up to what happen a year ago (and what happened after her birthday). Her parallel joins the crew/rowing team after an injury, and become the coxswain. I had no clue what crew was even till I read this book. Our school never had such a sport. I’m sure crew is part of the summer Olympic or something.

This book gets points for creativity, complexity and fun-ness. I didn’t give it an awesome rating because some part lost my interest. I like sci-fi, and I want my sci-fi with more science and solutions. Caitlin loved science and Dr. Mann was pretty cool. Astronomy is awesome. But it was lacking.

There was romance but it wasn’t really compelling. Josh seemed like a cool guy. There wasn’t insta-love but the love didn’t feel very deep. I feel like the story didn’t get to the really romantic stuff. And Michael (the guy at Yale) sounded like a player. He reminded me of Damon from the Vampire Diaries (minus the killing and bad attitude, and in college). I completely saw it coming, Josh and Michael. The author dropped hint. I am happy to say that I WAS RIGHT.

I recommend this book to people who enjoy contemporary and like their sci-fi lite. Or like lite-paranormal romance. Fans of Cat Patrick and Lauren Oliver will enjoy this. Especially if you loved Before I Fall. I haven’t read it, but I heard go thing about it.

Cover Art Review: I love the pearly stock paper used on this cover, but the design itself is boring and not creative. It fits the book, but it’s the kind of cover that would intrigue me. It’s not sci-fi looking.