Meant to Be

Starred review from August 14, 2017
Agatha “Aggy” Abrams, 18, has just received her Meant-to-Be (MTB). An MTB is the name of a person’s true love, which magically shows up above his or her heart. Unlike her best friend Lish, Aggy hates the idea of MTBs (“Fuck fate. Screw destiny. I’m team free will”), and she plans on ditching college and heading to Australia to go backpacking. When Aggy’s longtime crush Luke proposes a summer fling, she jumps at the opportunity, but matters get complicated when it becomes clear that Luke might be more serious about their romance than she is, and Lish rapidly escalates her relationship with her own MTB, Travis. Halpern (The F- It List) tackles questions of soul mates and destiny in this charming and bawdily funny novel. Aggy’s stubborn skepticism gives the story a healthy dose of realism, and Halpern’s setup is a smart allegory for the choices teens are forced to make after high school. Whether these decisions are ours or part of a greater plan is irrelevant, Halpern suggests. What matters, as Aggy discovers, is making a choice to begin with. Ages 14–up. Agent: Rosemary Stimola, Stimola Literary Studio.

October 1, 2017

Gr 9 Up-Imagine a world where your soul mate's name would simply appear as a tattoo on your chest on your 18th birthday. Skeptical high school senior Agatha Adams doesn't believe that true love can be predetermined this way. Despite pressure from her best friend, who is completely absorbed in communicating with her own Meant-To-Be (MTB), Agatha refuses to find out more about the name that just appeared above her heart and instead focuses on her crush on Luke, a coworker at the Halloween-themed amusement park. This novel mines typical YA territory with a slightly sci-fi twist that is particularly compelling in imagining how our familiar landscape of social media sites, reality TV shows, and dating algorithms would be used for this type of phenomenon. Agatha's relationships with her high school peers, those who embrace the MTBs with a passion, and her interactions and relationships with older adults such as her mother, uncle, or her boss, are all intriguing studies in how "the Naming" has impacted social mores and cultural calculations-what happens when your long-term boyfriend discovers that you aren't his soul mate? Can there still be casual relationships? Halpern has a fine ear for authentic teenage conversation and doesn't get bogged down in scientific minutia, even as she addresses it in fascinating ways. Despite Agatha's sarcastic acerbity, the novel takes a turn toward conformity by the end that might leave fans of the teen's rebellion disappointed. VERDICT A great choice for where Ally Condie's "Matched" and Kiera Cass's "Selection" series are popular.-Evelyn Khoo Schwartz, Holton Arms School, Bethesda, MD

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

September 15, 2017
Grades 10-1 Aggie's not a big believer in soul mates. She's even less of a fan since a strange phenomenon swept the world: a name now appears on everyone's skin once they turn 18. Quickly people realized that these names belonged to their soul mates, or MTBs ( meant to be, though Aggie calls them Empties). Aggie, who was dumped midcoitus by her last boyfriend when his MTB appeared, is less than thrilled to wake up on her eighteenth birthday bearing the completely ridiculous name Hendrix Cutter. She's determined to make her own future, and strikes up a flirtation that soon turns physical with Luke, her devastatingly attractive coworker at the local carnival. But is there any sense in fighting fate? The lightly fantastical premise is endlessly intriguing, and while there are missed opportunities and underexplored ideaswhat would MTBs mean for nontraditional couples?Aggie's irreverent narration carries the story. By turns funny, charming, and unapologetically raunchy, this is a playful and addicting read about sexual agency in a world where everything seems predetermined.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)