Such a cute story!! I love these sorts of books that I call "reality with a twist." Pru's ability to dole out instant karma is unique and quirky, but not going to put off readers who don't like fantasy/ magic. I LOVE the friendships, relationships, and family in this book. Such a delightful little rom com, and a wonderful read.

Thank you MacMillan's children for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This book was so cute. I love Marissa Meyer and I love a YA contemporary romance. Will make you feel good.

This was a fun, cute contemporary romance with some fantastical elements! I’d never read any Marissa Meyer before, and I enjoy her writing style. Pru and Quint felt like real teens finding first love and going through the ups and downs of growing up. I’m interested to read more by Meyer now and to see what she writes next!

In Meyer’s newest book, Prudence, or Pru, is devastated over a bad grade in her biology class. She’s convinced that it’s her slacker partner Quint’s fault; he is constantly late, and can’t turn things in on time, if he even does it. In order to bring her grade up, she must work with him again over the summer to redo his project. They strike up a deal: he helps her with the do-over project, and she volunteers at his family’s sea animal rescue center, which is what their project is centered around.
One night while doing karaoke and singing the song “Instant Karma”, Pru falls and hits her head. When she wakes up, she finds that she has the ability to bring instant karma down on anyone-good or bad. But no matter how hard she tries, her newfound power will not work on Quint, who she believes deserves it the most. As the summer goes on, Quint and Pru will get to know each other and develop feelings for each other.

I simply adored this read. I really loved how the elements came together to create a prefect summer ron con with a magical element that one might not predict. This book was much longer the i expected but felt like it was paced so well. This book had so many various elements like love to hate romance, a fun job, a cool saving element and al these elements worked so well together. Also the focus on a small sea town and focus on the plight of sea creatures with element of the sea rescue was both adorable but so educational. I also loved all the characters in this book, and felt it was a great read. It had some many elements i adored and really loved this read! If you want adorable summer read with a classic love to hate romance and a fun job:) pick it up!

Review posted on GoodReads (September 27, 2020)
Review Linked Below.

4/5 stars!

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for sending me an E-ARC for an honest review.

This is the first contemporary romance by Marissa Meyer and I had no idea what to expect. This book was so much fun to read and is an emotional rollercoaster. One of my favorite things about this book is watching the main character grow and change throughout the story. Her character development was incredible.

The romance was so adorable! I loved how natural and real the romance felt. Quint's character was so lovable, and I loved reading about the two characters discovering more about each other and ultimately falling for one another.

One of my favorite things about this book was how it was centered around environmentalist themes. I loved all of the information and story that was centered around the animals and the rehabilitation center.

Overall, this is a really cute rom-com and I really recommend picking it up!

Thanks for reading!
Caden

3 stars

This novel starts off with an interesting YA romance premise. Prudence, the m.c., and Quint, her partner in a paired high school project, clearly have different ideas about how to be successful. It's clear from the jump that they do not communicate well and that Prudence doesn't even know how much of the problem she is. Then...there is karaoke, a bump on the head, a sort of magical realism element in which the title of this novel may or may not come in to play, more of that initial project, family financial struggles, criminal activity, a sea life rehabilitation center, side plots with Prudence's twin and best pal, a whole thread with an earring, and so much (too much!) more. In other words, a lot is happening.

While the initial premise seems cute, there is way too much going on in this novel, and its length reflects this. For me, this novel FEELS long. Rather than ALL of the various elements coming together to create a really powerful message/character/plot/etc., I constantly had the feeling that nothing was really quite coalescing. Also, there's a heavy focus on the karma piece for the first quarter, and that section made me dislike Prudence so much that I never really recovered from it. I wanted to see her grow, and I really wanted to see better outcomes for several of the ancillary characters, but I ultimately felt like all of this was muddled by too many side gigs and not enough wrapping up of story lines in meaningful ways.

There are 10 interesting ideas here, but for me, they did not work in the same narrative.

Review also appears on Goodreads.

ARC provided by Fierce Reads in BookConOnline sweepstakes.

This book is the proof I need: Marissa Meyer’s writing is universal, funny, and swoony no matter the genre. I’m not usually a big reader of contemporary, but I couldn’t pass up a Marissa Meyer novel, especially not with a hint of magic in the premise, and I was NOT disappointed.

Instant Karma left me with a deep sense of satisfaction, and not just from watching all-too-relatable Pru enact karmic justice on the common Jerkus humanus. As fun as it was watching careless people get their comeuppance, what I really enjoyed was watching the karmic ripples extend beyond their moments, like waves in a puddle after a sea lion splashes into it (sorry not sorry, just too many darn cute critters in this book to not use a marine mammal simile!). Despite the promise of instant retribution in the title, the book’s real impact comes from Pru’s (and the reader’s) opportunities to examine the consequences of justice after the fact, however small the stage. It’s an excellent (and much needed in 2020) reminder to bring empathy to every interaction—it’s impossible to know what someone else is going through with just a sketch of their story, and a little faith in humanity goes a long way.

Comforting moral takeaways aside, I (and most of the supporting cast) shipped Pru and Quint from page one, and who can blame us? I was giddy reading, waiting for things to play out the way we know they will when we see the heart shaped backpack on the cover. Not to be condescending, but I walked away impressed with the characters’ real time introspection. The leads are aware of their mistakes and/or flaws and capable of owning up to them, which is a shocking (but not unbelievable) show of maturity and No Small Thing to find in a partner, lab or otherwise. Pru had the potential to be an off putting character, and I sympathized but cringed through some of her early scenes, watching her cast herself in a bad light. But, a little strategic lamp shading later on saves her from the fate of an unlikeable protagonist, like a sea lion saved from the surf (okay, I’m a little sorry this time—for the melodrama, not the sea lion).

I’m calling this one a must read, and recommending preorders (or at the very least release day pick up on the way to vote). I think everyone’s hoping for good karma on November 3rd, and I’m sure purchasing this book is an excellent way to earn some from the universe, no head trauma necessary.

Thank you, NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC ebook in exchange for an honest review. I do enjoy reading YA novels on occasion and was looking forward to reading Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer. It was not a disappointment, It was a bit lengthy, page-wise, but was still a quick read. It was a light cutesy story, great for popping into your pool/beach bag.

I absolutely adore Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles series, so I was excited to read her newest book which is a contemporary YA romance with some magical realism thrown in.
Prudence is the ultimate over achiever. When she is out with her friends at a karaoke club, and hits her head, she is gifted with the power of instant karma. She is able to immediately give people what they deserve. She is excited to give her slacker lab partner Quint a taste of her new powers. However, every time she tries, the power backfires.
Prudence is really able to grow as a character which I appreciate. She reminds me quite a bit of Mr. Darcy in the beginning of the book. Prudence's friends and family help make the book interesting and fun.

Instant karma was so cute! I almost wish the magical element wasn’t in there, the main character would have been more likable without this element. For the first half of the book I really dislikedPprudence. . But I really loved learning about sea lions and Quint was a great character. It was interesting how much I disliked him at first but then really loved him throughout the rest of the book, he was redeemed which was the point but Prudence was awful through so much of the book it was hard to redeem her. I guessed what happened to the money pretty early on and I'm not sure why Prudence didn't get it as soon as she saw the necklace except that she was so upset for being blamed. Also the word Deadpan was used way too much. Other than that the story was great, the side characters and Quint were great, and learning about the care center was amazing. I would definitely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book. It's about straight As high schooler Prudence who goes out with her friends and gets the ability to cast karma. It works on everyone except her slacker lab partner, Quint, and Prudence begins to discover his secrets but also learning about love and hate. This was a great book and I loved the story plotline. I heard Marissa's other books which are fantasy are great too (which I haven't read) but I loved her contemporary novel. The storyline not only focused on the theme of not judging one another but also helping the wildlife. I love how that was also the main focus and most of my favorite scenes took place at the habitat. I think Marissa Meyer did a wonderful job with the writing, storyline, characters, and setting.

I enjoyed the main character, Prudence even though she annoyed at some points. I loved her development in this book because she grew a lot and started understanding not to judge others. Then there is Quint who you can add to my book boyfriend list. He helps Prudence understand not to judge and that everyone is different. The author did a wonderful job describing and involving Prudene's family because I felt connected with each character. Usually, most books kick out the parents or they aren't very involved in the story.

Now you are probably wondering why this isn't a 5/5 star read. Well, I did have some problems with it. I felt that the karma Prudence had wasn't mainly focused on and sometimes forgotten. I wish there was more to the karma but I guess then it would have turned into a fantasy novel. Also, I felt that the ending was rushed for a book with over 500+ pages. I mean if you read a long book, then you need a good, perfect ending. But overall I did enjoy this book and I recommend it to contemporary romance lovers!

*Review coming on Thindbooks Blog and Instagram @thindbooks*

It pains me to give this book one star. It was one of my highly anticipated books and coming from Marissa Meyer it had the potential to be so much better. I couldn't finish this book unfortunately. It was not capturing my attention in the slightest. I found myself drifting from the book multiple times. I was really excited by the premise, but I ended up hating the characters to the point of just locking my phone when at times out of irritation, Prudence was just so unlikable and unpleasant to everyone around her. Even from the very beginning. She was always annoyed with on everyone, and acted like a selfish brat. I feel like she was just really discontent with her life. I really hated the idea of her of all people deciding who should be affected by 'karma'. The MC was doing her thing when the plot seems to shoot to that of karma. There is only so much I can take from MCs before I want to DNF the book, and Instant Karma surpassed my limit.If you can get past the beginning maybe you may have a different opinion on the books but for me I absolutely didn’t care for it. Marissa has gone from #1 to #2 in my favorite authors list

I enjoyed this book! Fun characters, interesting plot. I'll read anything by Marissa Meyer. This is a great summer YA rom com.

3.5/5 Cute, quick read. The "karma" element I found to be fairly far fetched and not important to the story line. There were stretches in the book where there was no mention of karma. When it was brought up again it kind of startled me because it was so unnecessary and frankly I had forgotten all about it. Other than that the characters were easy to like and the story was pretty good.

This was a really good and fast read. I loved the concept of having the power to inflict instant karma on someone while either good or bad depending on the situation using your judgement when it affects you or from how you perceive the situation from your outside perspective while it affects an outside party. The main character Prudence, who is the recipient of the power of instant karma, uses it frequently during the first half of the book judging people and feeling vindicated by the punishments that are given. She eventually starts to realize that this power is a double edged sword and you don’t know the whole situation when the bad karma is inflicted and that some people didn’t deserve what the bad karma did to them. In the midst of this is we have Quint who was Prudence’s lab partner for Biology who was habitually late and let her down with the last project about ecotourism that they did for class before the year was out. Summer just started and Prudence is trying to get her grade for that project changed by redoing the project but she can’t without Quint’s help since it was a group project and they didn’t do very well with teamwork the first time around. She finds the Fortuna Beach Sea Animal Rescue Center where Quint has been working since he was a kid since his mom founded it. So she makes a deal with Quint to volunteer there for 6 weeks and that if she stays they will resubmit their project so they can get a better grade. While there she starts trying some fundraising ideas and they seem to be working, Prue and Quint keep getting closer and sparks start flying.

This was a really cute story and I love reading about the animal rescue center and how they rehabilitated and released the sea animals when they could and found homes for them in sanctuaries or zoos if they couldn’t be released.

Thanks to Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan Children’s and Netgalley for the complimentary copy of this book in e-book form. All opinions in this review are my own.

While I couldn't put this down, the magical "instant karma" component seemed completely unnecessary. As the book progressed I started to wonder when it was going to become a key plot point. It never did. It doesn’t advance the plot and the whole story would be exactly the same if that element had been removed. I think the book would have been just as good, perhaps better, without it. I would've given this four stars if not for this strange choice.

I’ll admit I started off hating Pru while also identifying with her a bit (which has me somewhat concerned, because what does that say about me????). But her growth in this book as she comes to understand the impact judging people from a simple observance can have (especially which karmic powers!) says a lot about her as a character. It was a sweet romance and an easy read, which was exactly what I needed!

Thank you to Morgan Rath and the many others at Macmillan Children's/Fierce Reads for welcoming me and giving me the opportunity to be on their YA Blogger List. If it wasn't for that happening, I wouldn't have been able to read this book early or any of the others I'm excited to read next.

INSTANT KARMA by MARISSA MEYER is Meyer's first young adult contemporary romance after publishing numerous fantasies and sci-fi novels. Prudence Daniels, an over-achiever, a girl with high expectations, and always on time has suddenly been gifted the ability to cast judgment on others. She can cast karma on those around her. She begins casting karma on anyone around her: someone at the beach for saying things she didn't like, a loiter, a disrespectful man, and even someone adding graffiti to a sign. However, the one person she really wants to give some karma just can't get it. For some reason, Quint just isn't getting any karma his way. No matter what she does, the guy she believes deserves it the most isn't being touched. He is either getting good luck or the karma bounces off of him to someone else. After nearly a year of Quint showing up late, showing no care in the world, and putting in minimal effort, the universe continues to grant him good things.

I was in a bit of a slump when it comes to anything book related so it did take me some time to get into this. However, when my internet went out yesterday and I saw I was still able to read this without needing anything... IT WAS ON. I went from 22% to 64% and I am now absolutely CONVINCED Quint is the BEST human ever whether he tries to be or not. Something I believe Marissa Meyer has always done well with her writing is her characters. She always manages to write complex characters with qualities that differ and match a little with one another. Reading INSTANT KARMA, I wanted to see if that would hold up as well as it does in her fantasies and series, it did. There's always one character that I fall in love with and this time, I think it was Quint. Quint does have his flaws and makes mistakes but he owns up to it and tries his best. Prudence is an interesting character as well. It may seem like she's an awful person throughout the story, she's really not, at least she doesn't intend to be. I was invited to participate in a Zoom call with Meyer and others and it was brought up how the main characters embody small pieces of everyone. I couldn't agree more. I can see myself in Prudence whenever she is holding up expectations and disappointed when someone doesn't meet them but I also see myself in Quint when he's trying his best to balance the different things in his life. They're both complex characters that I couldn't get enough of and hope that there is more to come.

Another thing I really enjoyed was the story and the gradual development/changes between Prudence and Quint as they learned more about each other and were exposed to things they might not have paid much attention to before. Even the characters around them showed some slight changes or growth in their storylines, even if they were barely on the 50 pages.

Overall, I really enjoyed this and I'm still absolutely in love with anything Marissa Meyer writes.

I am a huge fan of Marissa Meyer. I gave this book 4 stars because it was a good book, but I didn’t love it as much as her other stories. The way that she takes classic fairytales and spin them into a new view is just amazing. I had kind of hoped that the main characters “superpower” would have been more pronounced like in Meyer’s book “Renegades”, not to mention that Prudence wasn’t my favorite character but to see her evolve through the book helped. It was a nice sweet book and I know this is her first book of this kind and even though I did enjoy it I would really like to see more fantasy style books from Meyer.