Meant to Be Mine
Fiction
Simon and Schuster
June 7, 2022
Advance E-reader copy
288
Free from publisher via NetGalley
What if you knew exactly when you’d meet the love of your life? Edie Meyer knows. When her Grandma Gloria was a young woman, she had a vision of the exact day she would meet her soul mate—and then Grandpa Ray showed up.
Since then, Gloria has accurately predicted the day every single member of the family has met their match. Edie’s day arrives on June 24, 2022, when she’s twenty-nine years old. She has been waiting for it half her life. That morning, she boards an airplane to her twin sister’s surprise engagement, and when a handsome musician sits beside her, she knows it’s meant to be.
But fate comes with more complications than Edie expected and she can’t fight the nagging suspicion that her perfect guy doesn’t have perfect timing. After a tragedy and a shocking revelation rock Edie’s carefully constructed world, she’s forced to consider whether love chooses us, as simple as destiny, or if we choose it ourselves.
My review:
3.5 stars
This book was fun and engaging. The best thing about it was that it really makes you think how would you live your life (or a portion of it) if you knew the exact date something momentous was to happen? I remember this question coming up in a book from a few years ago (The Immortalists) where the date was when each of the siblings would die. This book is not as grim as that, but it still makes you think the same thoughts, would you want to know? How would it effect your choices? Edie knows the date when she will meet her forever love. She has fun with dating, but ultimately breaks up with any guy she really starts to have feelings for, because she knows they did not meet on the specified date. Then she meets "the guy" on the day, and starts her path of happily ever after. Of course she ends up questioning all the past and present relationships in her life, remaining strong in her belief that no one in her family has not found their true love from Grandma Gloria's prophecy. There is no question that I would never personally buy into this whole idea, but this was still a well rounded, well written story that I really enjoyed. And the whole idea does make you think about the possibilities, even if you don't believe in the concept. There is also a side story about a woman running for Congress, the main protagonist is hired as a stylist for her, while her sister's best man is the campaign manager.
I really liked this one. It's a light read, but it still makes you think. The interesting twist near the end is very satisfying, yet muddles the prediction idea even more. This one will make a perfect summer beach/pool read. I have another title on my backlist of books by this author, and I'm excited to give that one a look sooner rather than later.
