Review: Parallel by Lauren Miller

Goodreads Synopsis:

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.

XXXXX

I won this book from Claire Reads

XXXXX

One thing you should probably know about me is I love parallel universes! I cannot get enough of them, I will read and watch anything that has to do with parallel universes because the concept is so fascinating. 


This is one of the few books that I actually read the synopsis before I sat down and read it (It's a bad habit not reading the synopsis of the book that I need to break) and as soon as I read that it was about a parallel universe (which should be obvious from the cover) I was hooked. You got me Lauren Miller! The thing I love the most about Parallel though is that it's about an ordinary girl. Abby Barnes is just trying to fulfill her dream of going to Northwestern and becoming a journalist. Then a weird twist of fate changes her plans, then her world collides with the parallel world and Abby's plans are changed again, drastically. 


I'll admit I had some problems with it, 17 year old Abby in particular, I just wanted to shake her shoulders and yell at her BE MORE CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF! I wasn't as interested in Abby's love life as I was in Caitlin's and Tyler's; I could read a book about those two. I'm just not a fan of quad-angles (any angles really, leave the sharp corners away from the relationships). There were some parts where I had to go back and re-read the date at the top of the chapters but once I was finished and I sat down and thought about the book as a whole it all made sense.

However, there is more good about this book that outweigh the issues I had with it, like Caitlin and Josh, Astronomy Boy is so dreamy! I loved Abby and Josh's relationship, once they clicked into place I was totally on board with them. Lauren Miller's writing is great, her explantion of the colliding parallel worlds was easy to understand and different. I thought it was a well thought out book and I can't wait to read what Lauren Miller writes next. 

4/5