I had such hope for this book when I read the description. It sounded like such a fun and interesting read, but sadly it was not what I thought it would be. I have picked up and put down this book so many times, but I have never actually been able to finish the book. The premise was a good idea, I just feel like it could have been executed/presented better.

I enjoyed this realization of a popular romance trope into novel form. More likely to recommend this book to teen readers who want to become acquainted with how this trope can work.

Reminded me of the same kind of silly dystopia that Bumped by Megan McCafferty wrote. It was an interesting idea, but the light-heartedness and the humor just made it weird for me. I want to be kind of freaked out by a dystopian, but the boob jokes just turned me off. It just felt too young and immature for a YA story. Just meh.

I wanted to like this one--it was nice to see a protagonist who wasn't into the idea of love and obsessed with her mate in a dystopia like typical YA heroines. I was disappointed by how underwhelming it ended up being, a ton of build up..for what? Aggie was difficult to like at times, and her aimlessness made me want to shake her more often than not.

So, the title has to deal with how in this future, all of a sudden everyone had their ideal mate or the person that they were "meant to be" with. One of my first questions was if you were over 18, the age when the name of your MTB appeared like a tattoo on your skin, did you still get one? And the answer was yes, it was retroactive. Everyone over that age had their tattoo just appear. Unfortunately, for those who were already married, it didn't mean that your MTB was the person you were married too. That's what happened to our main character, Agatha's, parents. Agatha doesn't want her MTB, she wants to make her own choice, while her best friend is gung-ho and very excited, a complete believer in the whole process. This was really a fun, quick, and easy read. I loved Agatha for many reasons, she totally was me in so many ways. I mean she loved Chris Evans, Supernatural and Norman Reedus. And then there was the fact that they watched old sit-coms, and I loved the whole line "You got it, dude!" from Full House. In the end, the way it all went for Agatha, well, I loved it. I'm definitely intrigued and going to have to put more of Halpern's books on my TBR.

This started out with an interesting premise. A girl, on her 18th birthday, is waiting for the name of her true love to appear tattooed over her heart. Quickly, she has to decide whether she wants this new future or one where she makes decisions for herself. While some of the fighting for free will over fate was interesting, I'm not sure that this premise held up well throughout the novel. I was disappointed in the ending.

This was a fantastic read. The story line had me all up in my feelings. This book will make a great addition to our library collection.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

When it comes to love, Agatha Abrams is disenchanted. Her parents' relationship didn't survive the MTBs (meant to be), and she firmly believes in free will and choices. Instead of jumping for joy and spending a lot of money to locate her meant to be (or even conducting an online search for him), Aggy rebels against the system. She is determined to fall in love on her own terms - when, where, and with whom she wants. Who more appropriate than Luke, they boy she's been crushing on for the past few years at her summer amusement park job.

Meanwhile, Aggy's best friend Lish has found her meant to be and fallen head over heels in love - and she's moving way too fast for Aggy! Aggy is begins to question the future she planned and wonders if anyone else feels the way she does.

THOUGHTS:
Aggy isn't sure college is for her, and she fights against the norms of society, much like teenagers often do. I really wanted to like this book. I loved the idea of MTBs and a teen girl rebelling against society's new norm of finding one's soul mate; however, I wanted more. How could the "meant to be" phenomenon exist for years without more of an uprising? Many preexisting relationships in the society crumble...did no one fight for the love they had? I wanted more answers. That said, I sometimes loved Aggie and her best friend complemented each other. Without giving too much away, I could have read a whole novel that started with the last few weeks in the book and skipped the whole summer fling. This book is definitely for a more mature audience, as the summer fling had casual, unsatisfying sex, fairly graphically described.

Summary:
Six years ago names started to appear on people's bodies; handwritten names placed over a person's heart that would lead the person to their perfect mate or their "meant to be".  The phenomenon made it easy for people to find their soulmates but it also broke up couples, ended marriages and split up families. Agatha has resisted the idea of soulmates.  She believes in free will not in the name the name that appears on her chest the morning of her eighteenth birthday. Agatha resolves to spend her summer with her longtime crush working at a local amusement park and not worry about her maybe soulmate.

Review:
I really wanted to love this book.  I really tried but I never quite got to love.  I enjoyed so much about this book.  Agatha is character that has her own beleifs and will not cave to what her friends or society wants her to do.  I loved that.  She decides to ignore what is the social norm and try to follow her own path.  That is awesome.  Plus, there is a lot of discussion of sex by characters who are completely comfortable with topic which is something you don't always see in YA books but really should be included more often.  However, I never actually liked Agatha.  Her narrative voice is so unique but I didn't enjoy reading a lot of her musings. There are many secondary characters who just hoover around the edges of the story so that I never really cared about their character resolution.  Plus, once I got to the end of the story I was slightly confused by what was the point.

Bottomline: A fast book that many readers may enjoy however it didn't quite live up to my expectations.

Final Ratings: 3.5 our of 5

I read Julie Halpern’s The F-It List a couple of years ago and adored it. I haven’t picked up anything else by her since, but when I came across Meant To Be, I got curious. Unfortunately, for me, this was one of those books that has an interesting concept that’s just not executed to its full potential.

In Halpern’s world, on your 18th birthday, your soulmate’s name becomes etched onto your skin, a phenomenon that’s gone unexplained. Isn’t that such an interesting story line to explore? Anyways, our protagonist, Agatha, wants nothing to do with this soulmate. She wants to make her own choice on her own terms. Agatha wasn’t the easiest character for me to get behind. She has a very dry sense of humor, and is also very sarcastic. Typically, I enjoy these sorts of heroines, but I don’t know, Agatha rubbed me the wrong way. Maybe, because I felt like she tried too hard at times? She mentioned her farts, her giant breasts frequently throughout the story, and it was done in an obnoxious way. I also feel like she thought of herself as above everyone else because she didn’t want to give in to the idea of her soulmate. Her relationship with her best friend was a perfect example of that. She constantly judges her friend for going after her soulmate and falling in love with him, and doesn’t particularly make an effort to understand her friend’s point of view.

Even though Agatha was kind of annoying, I pushed through the story because I wanted to know more about her MTB (soulmate). Unfortunately, that never happens. In fact, we don’t find out much about him until the very end. Most of the book involves Agatha’s relationship with one of her co-workers at the amusement she works at. That relationship didn’t work for me. Though Agatha claims to be very much attracted to him, I just couldn’t feel the connection. I really wish the book had focused more on Hendrix, Agatha’s soulmate because from the glimpses we see of him, he sounded like a far more interesting character.

I did finish the book, but by the end I was left with an overwhelming feeling of “what was the point?”. Unfortunately, I’m just not sure I can recommend this one. :/

Along of the lines of the Matched series.
I like Julie Halpern's writing style a lot.
I enjoyed the book, I had quite a few questions in regards to this process of your Meant To Be's name appearing on your chest...so, so many questions. BUT. All-in-all, I enjoyed the book. Honest rating is a solid 3.5 stars.

I met Julie Halpern at ALA in Chicago this year and she was hilarious and her humor comes through in Meant To Be. Six years ago something strange started happening to people 18 and older. Names starred to appear above people hearts which turned out to be the name of their soul mate AKA their Meant To Be. Eighteen year old Agatha Abrams doesn't want to have anything to do with her MTB. Ever since her father abandon her and her mother after his MTB showed Up at their house, Agatha decides to screw destiny she'll find love elsewhere. Enter Luke her crush for the last few years newly single they decided to have a summer romance. But Agatha realizes it's hard to fall in love when the name of your soul mate is staring at you every time you look in the mirror.
I have to say I loved this book I was rooting for Agatha to find her MTB. With a collection of great characters Meant To Be is a definite read for anyone who roots for love.

Received an Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for a fair review from MacMillian Children’s Publishing Group via NetGalley.

The premise of this book is very intriguing about discovering your soulmate or “meant to be”. At 18, a name appears and that person is the person you are supposed to be with forever. This is thought provoking, because 18 is very young to know the person you are supposed to be with for the rest of your life. Part of the fun of being 18 is dating, discovering what you like in your partner, and determining what you do not want in someone. When Agatha turns 18 she is not really interested in meeting her “meant to be”, but that doesn’t stop her from thinking about him on occasion. She does want to travel the world before college and is very interested in her cute co-worker. Agatha is very head-strong and independent, she doesn’t just go along with what society expects of her and I really liked that about her. She questions whether this “meant to be” business is legit because it is a fairly new occurrence.

I really wanted to like this book because the idea of it was so good. However, the romance in this book left a lot to be desired. I didn’t really have any feelings one way or another towards the romantic interests which was disappointing since that was a large part of the book. In the end, I just felt like it needed more. With that being said, Agatha was a very realistic teenager. She was dealing with finding love, self-discovery, and what she wanted out of life even if that may not be the most conventional route.

On your 18th birthday, the name of your soul mate appears as a tattoo over your heart and is know as your MTB (Meant To Be).

Agatha is not sure what to think about this and she believes in free will and doesn't want her mate decided for her. After her tattoo appears, she ends up having a summer fling with a co-worker as a way to defy the tattoo, but everything comes back to the tattoo and should she search for her soul mate.

This had the potential to be an awesome story, but 90% of it is her fling with the co-worker and it just left me disappointed. No one knows why the tattoos appeared and there is not explanation. Agatha's best friend was so excited to meet her MTB... I guess I wanted more of a conflict or more of a romance with the MTB.

Thanks for the ARC

YA romance readers will fall head over heels for Agatha and her wit; a hilarious and fun YA!

When the names of people’s soul mates or “meant to be’s” began to appear as tattoos on teens’ chests when they turn eighteen, people react in different ways. Agatha isn’t sure she embraces the phenomena, whereas her best friend Lish is thrilled. Aggy decides to take matters into her own hands and pursues a relationship with a coworker at the Haunted Hollow amusement park, where she works. But the more time she spends with him, the more her MTB’s name taunts her. With Lish head-over-heels with her MTB, Aggy begins to wonder is she should explore her MTB option. Aggy's hilariously snarky attitude and very real angst over making her own choices in life make her a heroine you want to root for.