36 questions that changed my mind about about you
Vicki Grant
* Rating: 5/5 stars
* Main characters: Hildy Sangster, Paul Bergin
* Genres: Young adult, Romance, Contemporary, Fiction
Two random strangers. Thirty-six questions to make them fall in love.
Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for taking part in the psychology study (in Paul's case it is the $40, in Hildy's the reasons are significantly more complex). The study poses the simple question: Can love be engineered between two random strangers?Hildy and Paul must ask each other 36 questions, ranging from "What is your most terrible memory?" to "When did you last sing to yourself?" By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they've laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back again. They've also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love?
The overall rating for the book on Goodreads was 3.58, with a bunch of people complaining it was too predictable, with too many cliches and weak characters, but, I love cliches and I'm a sucker for hate to love or similar tropes, so I figured it would be a really pleasant read. And it was. I loved it. I loved it so much that i is now one of my favorite books.
The formatting, switching between classic text and a chat log between Hildy and Paul was entertaining and the writing style was overall good. No complaints there. I felt like the author did a great job with the two main characters' banter especially in their chats. It was exciting to try and guess their answers to those questions based on what we know about them. And the romance and overall bond that they formed was awesome, as it didn't go too fast, so it wasn't too sudden but also it wasn't painfully slow. Their characters were fun, with well thought out backstories and Hildy's family problems added a little more to the story rather than the book being focused on only her and Paul.
It was refreshing when their assumptions about each other turned out false, or true, even. Paul's character was very interesting, because of his nonchalant act, all closed up, but just waiting to open up to someone. And Hildy, even if she seemed like a boring girl, with no real problems, was also longing for someone to talk to, conncet to, in a deeper way. They both wanted someone who could understand their problems, their grief, their anger, and surprisingly, thanks to those 36 questions, Hildy and Paul found that person in each other.
Overall, it was a heartwarming story, based on a study, a social experiment, asking whether or not two people can fall in love with just a few (or more) questions. I was truly devoted to the book, not wanting to put it down, excited to continue it, see what was their next question, would they finally meet again?
Due to the specific formatting and the "cliche" story some might enjoy it more than others, some might find it boring. But I would definitely recommend you at least try it and give it a chance. I loved this book so much and I feel like those who enjoy YA romance might find it interesting too.
Thank you for reading this (if you even made it this far) <3
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Have a wonderful day lovelies,
- Masha
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