Instant Karma

Meyer, Marissa

ISBN 10: 1250618819 ISBN 13: 9781250618818

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends, 2020

Synopsis

In New York Times bestselling author Marissa Meyer's young adult contemporary romance, a girl is suddenly gifted with the ability to cast instant karma on those around her – both good and bad.

Chronic overachiever Prudence Barnett is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her.

Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.

When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals―not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed . . . love and hate… and fate.

About this title

About the Author

Marissa Meyer is the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of the Renegades Trilogy, The Lunar Chronicles series, the Wires and Nerve graphic novels, and The Lunar Chronicles Coloring Book. Her first standalone novel, Heartless, was also a #1 New York Times bestseller. Marissa created and hosts a podcast called The Happy Writer. She lives in Tacoma, Washington, with her husband and their two daughters.

Reviews

Gr 8 Up-Prudence Daniels is facing a C in science. It's the worst failure in her academic career, and it's all thanks to her irresponsible lab partner, Quint Erickson, who rarely does the work and shows up late to their group presentation. Her science teacher allows her to re-do the assignment on the condition that she and Quint work together. Now, she's got to convince Quint to work with her again, and with the power of instant karma in her hands, it just might work. But karma and Quint don't always work the way that Pru expects them to. This enemies-to-lovers contemporary romance has the slightest whiff of magical realism as Prudence mysteriously gains the power to reward or punish, but the mechanic is underutilized, and Prudence's choices always backfire on her, largely telegraphing the twists and turns of the plot. Despite its flaws, however, this is an enjoyable read. The romance is a slow burn, and though Pru initially thinks Quint is lazy and irresponsible, readers will be drawn to his work at the sea animal rescue center in the same way that Pru is. Pru is described as white; Quint is described as having tan skin. Secondary characters are well-drawn, particularly Pru's Latinx friend Ari. A brief mystery subplot near the end of the story amps up tension as the romance coalesces. It is solved a little too easily, but that won't deter readers from this breezy, beachy read. VERDICT Though not as compelling as some of Meyer's other works, this light, airy romance should appeal to fans of Emma Lord's Tweet Cute and Crystal Cestari's The Best Kind of Magic.-Mimi Powell, Lib. Systs. and ­Svcs., Kissimmee, FLα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
• Publication date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1250618819
• ISBN 13: 9781250618818
• Number of pages: 400