Seven Percent of Ro Devereux. Ellen O'Clover. 2023. [January] 320 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: The only time I see Miller that summer, he's walking straight at me in a tuxedo. "Code red," Maren says, and tugs me sideways into the math hallway. School is quiet--a little over a week before the start of classes, only open this afternoon for senior presentations.
Premise/plot: Ro Devereux, the protagonist, has invented an app for her senior project/senior presentation. This app was designed to predict--or "predict" your future based on your answers to a lengthy questionnaire. The app is aptly named MASH. A nostalgic throwback to the game "Mansion Apartment Shack House." It's meant as a school project--a way to show what she is capable of as programmer/designer. She never meant it to be downloaded and used by a wider, broader base. Just a few classmates, a few friends. This app more of a hobby--plaything--than anything else. But when this app goes viral within a day or two...well...she's got millions of users and love-matches are beginning to pop up. Ro herself is matched...
A big company has interest in financing this trendy-viral social app...their condition is that Ro must be a spokesperson and show off how the app has matched her with her one true love.
The problem? Ro's match is her closest, dearest best, best, best friend from childhood. Someone she hasn't spoken to in several years--not since their BIG and oh-so-public fight at a party. Miller. Part of her regrets that they didn't make up after their big blow up--she was horrible to him. But she can't make him talk to her or text her back.
Will Miller agree to this super-fake relationship? A relationship that will put him in the spotlight and make him a social-media "celebrity"???
My thoughts: This YA romance is mostly light and fluffy. I did like Miller's character, for the most part. I liked him more than Ro if I'm honest. Ro seems a bit naive and silly. But then again, characters can only do so much with the plot they're given. A school project that goes viral within twenty-four to forty-four hours? Sudden celebrity? Being in high demand with all the major magazines, television programs, etc. It all seems a bit ridiculous. Ridiculous and predictable. Such is the stuff of movies and YA.
There's not anything wrong with predictable and formulaic...so long as readers know exactly what they're getting and are all in for it. Friends to enemies to friends to lovers. That's what you're getting.
This one offers some complexity in that it has a variety of side characters--including Miller's mom, Willow. Ro has MAJOR mom issues of her own so Willow has always been special to her.
© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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