Great story about 2 young people , Hildy and Paul, who agree to participate in a university study (to see if 36 questions will actually make you fall in love with someone) for different reasons.
Paul wants the $40 and Hildy wants a boyfriend. Each has secrets although Hildy's recent discovery about her brother Gabe, is huge and one that threatens to destroy the entire family.
Most of the book is in play-script format which makes it very easy to read. It is at times both hilarious and heartbreaking and it moves at a cracking pace as they ask each other questions, get interrupted, ask online, in person at cafes and in snowstorms. There are tropical fish in bags flung around, drunk parents and the obligatory consoling gay best mate. Girls 14 plus will LOVE this book with the vulnerable and feisty Hildy and the tough but sweet Paul.

Inspired by the real psychological study popularized by the New York Times, this is the story of two strangers who enter a study to see if 36 questions can make them fall in love. Hildy and Paul show up to participate in a PhD student’s experiment and collect $40 for their trouble. All they have to do is ask and answer 36 questions of each other, although making it to the end of the questionnaire will be a challenge for these two volatile characters. By the end of the book, they’ve laughed, cried, lied and discovered each other’s secrets, but have they fallen in love? Using texting, Q &A, IM and Paul’s sketches, the author reels you in and makes you want to answer the questions for yourself.

This book was simple but really enjoyable to read. It follows two complete opposites who, as part of a psychological study, have to answer 36 questions about themselves to see if it results in a relationship of any kind. Both Hildy and Paul are likable characters and aside from the predictable affection that blossoms between the two, there are some pretty interesting twists too.

Overall, a really likeable read.

Great YA novel that is written via a variety of styles that I'm sure young adult readers will enjoy.
It's a romance book but also contains the much lacking humor that is extremely hard to find in YA novels.
A must have for school libraries.

Cute YA novel about two young adults who agree to be part of a psychology study that pairs strangers and gives them 36 questions to answer in order to measure how the questions may lead to closeness and intimacy (relational, not sexual). Cute setup for a quick romantic read.

Question: Can 36 questions make two people fall in love?
Research: Reading the New York Times Modern Love column
Hypothesis: Yes (love is like magic - you have to believe in it for it to work).
Experiment: Randomly selecting two teenagers (each with their own motivations for participating in the study and their own secrets to hide), putting them in a room together, and waiting for sparks to fly (or for blood to be spilled).
Collect data: 72 answers, dozens of instant messages, three phone calls, two letters, and one kiss
Graph/analyze data: (I would draw a graph, but at this point in the book, all pretense of this being an actual research project has been abandoned.)
Conclusion: That’s for you to decide...

So first off, I'm going to say that if you're stuck in a bubble of deep young adult reads, this one won't be for you. Of course, the characters struggle with problems, but you don't really get to feel their angst, not like with other novels. This one focuses on the sweetness and it's very light. The writing is very unique, so if you're up for a change, then maybe 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You could actually be a book of your taste.

Granted, I was confused by the way the story started and how the conversations between Hildy and Paul went - conversation style, like theatre plays and Shakespeare tales. But then I grew to like it and looked forward to these chapters instead of when Hildy met with her friends and the writing got back to the usual style. I wasn't interested in reading about her friends, I wanted more of her and Paul. Maybe I'm being mean here, because of course characters have got to have friends and stuff, but their conversations weren't interesting to me in the least. They went on about a topic for pages and pages and yeah, some lines were pretty funny, but the story was all about Hildy and Paul's romance for me.

Paul is a real douche in the beginning. He seems like this typical skater loner dude that's too cool for anyone, but as always, there's more to him than meets the eye and the same goes for Hildy. Right from the start, you know that her family situation isn't the best and appearance is all about the right acting. I didn't understand some things Hildy mentioned in conversations and you'll probably feel the same way, because everything is only revealed at the end, which is a great trick to keep the reader curious and read until the end. Paul's situation is a bit more predictable, he may not speak as much as Hildy but he's like an open book to the reader. You can figure his life situation out, it's not that hard. But maybe that's what's so interesting - beyond the fact that he's a man of few words, he saying so much without even trying to say something between the lines. No clue if the author striked for that, but I'm sure amazed by it, thinking about it just now.

The story itself is very unusual. I mean, two strangers meeting for an experiment in exchange for money (which is Paul's only motivation, really). They have to ask each other these 36 questions that have been given to them and their only task is to answer honestly. Fascinating how many secrets you actually tell a stranger, I think. Well, that goes for Hildy. As mentioned before, Paul's pretty tongue-tied and a douche. Luckily, that changes - he's got 36 questions in order for that to happen. How does anyone even come up with 36 questions? That's a lot. And sometimes, I got the feeling they kind of reappeared in a different shape. But that's okay. And truth be told, I liked the answers the author came up with for her characters. Questions make the characters seem more real. I liked that.

Truth be told, if I was a guy, I'd be annoyed by Hildy. Hell, I was annoyed by her half the time reading 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You. She's blabbering and blabbering, whew. I felt like putting down the book from time to time, only to release a breath and calm down a bit. She's a true piece of art. And I think Paul's her perfect opposite. And that's exactly why I enjoyed this book despite my fear of hating it in the beginning - it's sweet and light and the chemistry between the two characters is beyond cute. They're good for each other, Paul turning out to be something I would have never expected and Hildy being less annoying, too. Oh, and also I'm very glad it will be translated into that many languages. I can't wait to find some German readers to talk about this one.

Totally clichéd, Hildy was incredibly irritating in the beginning with her excessive clumsiness and over the top actions (although I did warm to her), and this might have been my ARC copy on my Kindle but I couldn't actually see the sketches that the description talks about but I did get a sentence saying what it was meant to be. I really liked the idea behind it thoughj with the psychology study made popular by the New York Times, and it was a good holiday read

This book was extremely cute! I'm not one for romance only novels, but I do like psychology- this book is a winner! It was very cute and not too cheesy!

A nice beach type read. No thinking required! Simple and sweet.

This book was an interesting take on a classic boy meets girl love story. The characters were well developed and likeable, and the questions gave a good insight into their personalities and helped the reader develop a connection to them.

I personally would have liked to have had a conclusion to the family issues faced by Hildy throughout the book, as the ending left these open.

Thank you, NetGalley, for such a cute book.
Ever since I read Meg Cabot's <i>Boy</i> series, I'm a huge fan of novels written in creative formats --- emails, receipts, text messages......etc. The cover of <i>36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You</i> was what attracted at the first moment, but I after finish reading the synopsis, I didn't hesitate much before clicking the button to start reading it.

In this book, the two main characters were asked to answer 36 questions together, and the author wrote their conversations in formats of script-style dialogues, online chatroom messages and separated the 36 questions. Their conversations are long and kinda rambling --- I know some other readers felt like they're dragging too long --- but somehow I <strike>endured</strike> enjoyed them. I liked some parts of the humor, and the way they interact was just utterly adorable. What's the saying? Oh yes, <bold>opposites attract</bold>.
I especially like how the author wrote the ending. Thumbs up for that :)

P.S. The parts that read "insert illustration", will there be real illustrations when the book's published?
----------------------------------------
Overall: 4.5/5
Plot: 5/5
Appealing: 5/5
Characters: 4.5/5
Cover:5/5

This was a pretty disappointing reality check for a book I was really excited about. I've heard about the 36 question study where people develop a connection by the end of it and the thought always fascinated me. When I saw a book based on that study, I immediately requested it. I wish I DNFed because it was not nearly as good as I expected. :( For such a great premise, I really did not enjoy this book. I'm all for opposites attracting but I just did not buy these two at all. Paul was primarily an asshole and Hildy was weird and flighty. There was all this drama about secrets built up throughout and the payoff wasn't worth it. I liked the quick, easy format but the POV was weird too. I don't have much to say because there was almost no meat to the story. The characters were cliches and not 3D.

The characters aren't interesting and the dialogue isn't either. So the study is basically ask each other a bunch of questions and you'll fall in love? Isn't that a bit of instalove or whatever the psychology equivalent to it? (though I should know - I just studied for a dev psych rewrite).

All in all - I didn't enjoy the characters or the dialogue. There were also quite a few areas I found problematic - one in particular being a comment that asexuals can't date or fall in love - that just put me off.

I normally hate YA romances, and I think that hate would be an understatement in most cases, but Grant’s upcoming novel had me laughing so much that I barely even noticed the good-girl-falls-for-the-mysterious-bad-boy thing that she had going on. I loved the multimodal approach including traditional writing, internet messaging, texts, passed notes, as well as comics and images. The constant shifting between presentations kept me engaged, the pace fast, and really encapsulated the many ways in which (young) people are communicating with one another. Given that so much of the text was heavily dialogue dependent I found that my imagination was constantly engaged as I had to envision what was happening between the words. And my favourite moment? “Did you just throw your fish at me?” Best opening ever.

I really loved the don’t judge a book by it’s cover messaging that was prevalent throughout, as you never know what is going on in someone’s life. I grew to really love Hildy and Paul, but wish that some of the depth that was invested in the two main characters had extended to Hildy’s friends Max and Xiu. Although I really enjoyed Max because he pulled through when needed, I found myself wanting to punch Xiu through the pages. If that was the intent, then it was exceptionally well done. But, back to our main characters, I really enjoyed Paul’s insistence that certain facts about his person and his life weren’t sad. Acceptance and understanding without pity and derision can be hard to come by, and too many people don’t take the time to see past the events in someone’s life and actually take the time to get to know them. Using the experiment to explore this was a masterful idea, and I think that the story that came out of it was absolutely spot on.

I really could go on and on about this book, but I would inevitably end up giving something away. Would I recommend it? Yessiree Bob! Not only is it a fun read for lovers of YA romance, but it would also be an interesting read for parents whose daughters are starting to date or whose families are going through some ‘stuff’. Fun, engaging, and endlessly humorous despite the heavier subject matter 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You is one that shouldn’t be overlooked.

There is something delightful about reading other people's conversations that made me so thrilled that I could not put this book down.
I should probably mind my own business, but when you have two teens; one broods and the other is sunny with a hint of clumsiness, then you know that you are in for quite a ride. Hildy signs up for the experiment looking to see if she can form a meaning relationship and not push people away like she feels she is doing with her family and friends. Paul on the other hand is in it for the forty bucks. He wants the money, so he'll answer a few questions and then walk out, but once they are paired together, they realize that the test could actually take a longer time. Paul's not happy about it and he constantly shuts Hildy down and when she can't take it anymore, she throws a fish at him. Yes, a fish! (Trust me, I would have gone the Bush way and thrown a shoe, or better yet, she could have swung her satchel bag at him).
I loved the dynamic between the two.
I wish the formatting was better but I do understand that I received the uncorrected proof- but still some effort would have gone towards aligning the dialogues between the two better. It could have made for easier reading.
All in all, I loved reading the book and I am grateful to the publisher and NetGalley for approving my request to read it. I was a mix of emotions after reading it.

Took me a few chapters to get drawn in but ended up absolutely loving it!

This is one book that I am indifferent to write a review about. The author's writing is good but the story is not compelling. Worse, I did not have any feelings for the main characters other than pity and dislike. The book revolves around the death of 17 year old Reba which had occurred ten years earlier. Julie, Reba's best friend, is the main character and is very hard to fathom. I don't feel like I know her and would not care to know her in real life. The other characters are just as self absorbed and shallow. Julie, also known as "Jules" when she was growing up, has the maturity of a 12 year old and her cousin Toby acts even more childishly. Another character named August is a boy that loved Reba as a teenager and is still obsessed with her death. He shows up in New York in the present day to recruit Julie to go back to the town where Reba died and investigate her supposed suicide. He is a one dimensional character for most of the book. I am sorry I could not recommend "Secrets of Southern Girls"-the premise could have made for a decent read but instead it had some odd twists that did not add to the meat of the plot and made it even more unbelievable.
Thank you to Netgalley for the chance to read this book and give an honest review.

I love the concept behind this book. I didn't love the characters right away, and was actually quite annoyed by all of them at one point or another, but they grew on me as they shared more about themselves. I appreciated that most of the story was told through dialogue - a combination of in person conversations and online chats.

This modern love story is about two people who decide to take place in a university study based on 36 questions. These 36 questions are meant to get to know the stranger you are paired up with and supposedly make you fall in love with them.

I had already heard about this study before reading this book, and I did think it was quite interesting, so upon seeing this book, I was very excited to see how everything would play out.

Hildy is an eccentric, loud and sweet character, Paul on the other hand is sarcastic, uninterested and can't wait to be done with the study so he can just get paid. They get paired up and chaos happens.

I adored this fun read, it was witty, and it had an unusual writing style. I also liked the secondary characters, and the backstory.
Although it was somewhat predictable, I did enjoy it.