Instant Karma

Title:  Instant Karma

Author:  Marissa Meyer

Publisher:  Feiwel & Friends

Date Published:  November 3, 2020

Genre:  Young Adult, Contemporary

Rating:  ⭐⭐

My Thoughts:

-    I have been dreading this review. I usually love Marissa Meyer's books, but this one was a big disappointment. 

-    Prudence (a terrible name) is a self-righteous, judgmental, selfish, wound up so tight she should be on blood pressure medication perfectionist. She is constantly complaining about her lab partner slacking off, to the point of obsession. For some reason, the universe grants her the power to inflict karma, good or bad, on random people. After getting a subpar grade on a report, she is determined to redo her project, but she has to work with Quint, her lab partner. Prudence ends up volunteering for a sealife rescue shelter, and guess who's mom runs it? Yup, Quint's mom owns and runs the shelter. Prudence and Quint work together for a few weeks, and you get the picture. You know what happens.

-    Prudence annoyed me from the very beginning, but what really irked me was that there was no character growth. Prudence learns a few lessons throughout the story, but in the end, she is still a selfish, self-righteous, judgmental jerk. The only thing that changes is her opinion of Quint.

-    Quint is a sweet guy. I didn't mind him as much, but I feel like he was pretty dumb to pine after Prudence. He could do SO much better. 

-    I couldn't get behind the story because I didn't like the characters. 400 pages of Prudence is WAY too much Prudence. 

-    The only thing I liked about the story were the cute sea lions and seals. I am all about animal rescue shelters. Sadly, it wasn't enough to change my opinion of the book. 

-    I lied, I also liked the beach town setting. Meyer did an amazing job with the town and ocean. I had no problem visualizing the place. So there were two things I liked about the book.

-    I will continue to read Meyer's books. I still think she is an amazing author. I'm just sad this one was a bummer. 

My Thoughts in a GIF:

Trigger Warnings:    Animal injury, Drinking