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.

A girl discovers she may be able to make karma happen and has a life-changing summer. Right before school ends, Prudence and Quint are teamed up for a biology project and it doesn't go well at all as neither are good teammates for each other. Quint seemingly shows up to class whenever he feels like it and Prudence ignores the science and goes mostly to business ideas. Their project gets a C, which Quint is satisfied with and she isn't. Meanwhile, after a series of strange incidents, Prudence starts to believe she may be able to control karma, causing accidents to happen when people deserve them. When she decides to volunteer for the summer at the animal rescue facility that Quint mentioned in his part of the project, she soon learns about a different side of Quint. Could they really be friends, or even something more? And will karma get them both?

This is a cute romance with a bit of karma magic in there and readers will enjoy both Prudence and Quint, as well as their life changing summer. It's a rom com for teens and the teen in all of us.

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.

I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book and my students will, too! I cannot wait for it to come out so that I can put it in the library and have it fly off the shelves!

Pru is a definate type A personality. Her family and friends always encourage her to have "fun". When she gets a bad grade on a group project right before school gets out for summer, she is determined to make Quint, her partner, help her get that grade up. But as they didn't collaborate at all on the project, It might take some work. Then to make everything more confusing, its seems as if, just maybe, she is inflicting Karma on those around her. What seems like justice as first, may not be the gift she thinks it is. This is a fun and enjoyable book. I really enjoyed it.

Instant Karma was a delightful book that really addresses the issues of bias and judging others actions without always knowing the reasons for the action. At first I had a hard time relating to the main character Prudence. I felt that she was a little condescending and judgmental towards others. As the story progressed, Prudence starts to learn that sometimes it is important to know the reasons why people act they way they do before judging them. Quint was easy to like and although he frustrated Pru at the beginning, I enjoyed how he helped her to become a better person. Overall, I highly recommend this book to middle school and high school students and libraries.

Prudence does not like Quint at all. And as fate would have it, they’re partners in science class where Prudence basically does all the work, ensuring they’ll get an A. So when the grades come back and a C mars her otherwise perfect record, she loses it. Her teacher agrees to let them have a do-over but only if they work together.

Quint wants no part of it, but after Prudence reluctantly agrees to volunteer her time at a local wildlife rehabilitation his mom runs, the two develop a plan to help the struggling rescue.

As Prudence is learning all about the wildlife and planning a Beach Clean-up fundraiser to help the rescue, she’s also discovering a new secret power that seemed to start after an evening singing karaoke: willing instant karma on those who are doing bad things. At first it seems like an amazing gift, but karma has a way of coming back around.

Just as it seems like Prudence and Quint are finally getting over their animosity toward each other, some money goes missing from their fundraising efforts and the rescue accuses her of stealing it. Determined to clear her name, Prudence sets out to reverse her bad luck and repair the relationships that became so important to her over the summer.

Full of Beatles references and just a tad bit of magic, this is a fun read with a lot of heart too. It’s also a very different book from Marissa Meyer! Even though her usual fantasy takes a back seat in this one, it’s nice to see she can write something in a different genre too.

I also really liked how Meyer took an important topic like environmental conservation, wildlife rescue and rehabilitation and made it the framework for the story. It gives what would otherwise be a typical YA romance something substantial for readers to digest.

The only downfall to the story is that it’s fairly predictable – no real surprises or plot twists that readers won’t see coming, however that doesn’t detract from how enjoyable of a read Instant Karma was.

For fans of Sarah Dessen and Meg Cabot. Four out of five stars.

3.5 stars
I'm not a big fan of YA contemporary, but I am a big fan of Marissa Meyer.

Prudence is kind of an uptight overachiever. She slips after singing Instant Karma at karaoke and seems to have gained the power to dole out.... you got it, instant karma.
This book started out a little meh for me.
Prudence wasn't super likable. But her character growth was great, and I guess that was kind of the point of the story. I loved the relationships in this book and the community. It was interesting to learn about the animal rescue center as well.
This was a fast paced, super cute story.

Marissa Meyer’s writing will easily draw readers into this story. It doesn’t matter what she’s describing—a classroom presentation, a karaoke session at a local restaurant, or the sight and smells of a sea animal rescue center—the book’s full of vivid descriptions that readily capture the reader’s attention.

As well, readers may find the basic theme of Meyer’s story worthwhile: A girl seeking extra credit for a school project learns more about herself, the importance of teamwork, and her local environment.

However, some readers might be disappointed by the supernatural, title-inspired elements that are interwoven throughout. The instant karma idea takes away from the more serious themes that the story tries to develop and inadvertently leads to a rushed and campy resolution that lacks practicality. This is a story that wants readers to see the protagonist grow and mature, but the reliance on the supernatural impacts her character development.

While many readers will enjoy Meyer’s visual writing, some might hope for a more grounded story.

Instant karma

You may know her from “Cinder” and The Lunar Chronicles, the “Renegades” trilogy, or the heartbreaking “Heartless”. Author Marissa Meyer has another success on her hands with her new book “Instant Karma”, her first contemporary novel, due to be published in January 2021.

Instant Karma follows the enemies-to-lovers trope with Type-A Prudence and supposedly lazy and laid back Quint as lab partners in Marine Biology. This story follows how they work together for a school project but manage to salvage much more than that.

Thank you to Fierce Reads for a gifted copy of #InstantKarma from their giveaway. Can’t wait for you all to meet Prudence and Quint (and their human and marine animal friends!)

I've read Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles and was not the biggest fan of the latter books, so I was definitely hoping for something different. I thought that Instant Karma was fun, albeit very predictable with regards to the main romance. Ultimately, I thought it was just too long and it was hard to get through.

Instant Karma is a clean, sweet YA romance starring a controlling perfectionist, aptly named Prudence, and her lab partner, Quint. It's the enemies to lovers trope and Meyer does a great job of weaving their misunderstandings and fate together in a way that makes it believable and sweet. The setting of fictional Fortuna Beach is well crafted and the Marine Animal Rescue Center is almost a character unto itself, full of life and purpose, though in desperate need of rehabilitation. I found this book to be lovely, easy to read but hard to put down, and I can't wait to have it for our library.
While this is a stand alone, Meyer develops the supporting cast well and I would love to find out if Ari and Ezra get together or if Jude finds love with Maya or someone else on the boardwalk, and of course, I am rooting for their parents' Venture Vinyl to have a renaissance story line as well.

This was one of the cutest YA romance reads that I've picked up and a while, and wow, now that I finished it, I just can't stop smiling because, like, that was beyond adorable. Here, Quint and prudence are lab partners in their biology class and she's so annoyed with him over his lateness and unwillingness to contribute to their final project, so initially, I'm thinking we're about to get a delish enemies to lovers novel right here. And boy did this book deliver! Quint is cocky, relaxed, and very attractive, so it's evident he'll be her love interest, and bingo! But, it's a slow burn love story that makes you savor those early flirty moments. So, after a bump on her head, prudence now has the power to enact karma on people, both good and bad. She can magically give off instant karma when people do something as an immediate reaction. All in all, it makes for a precious YA book and it's so easy to get sucked in and just keep reading. So, the book continues on during summer break. She's determined to get Quint and redo their project for a better grade, and he only agrees if she'll volunteer at his mom's marine life rescue center and actually split the work with him. All this karmic justice gives her such a power trip, but spending more time with Quint at the center teaches her about his world and other perspectives in this book about the power of fate. It's a quick, easy, and fun YA romance read. The romance part is quite the slow burn, where you wonder if either of them will actually make a move but in a cutesy teen love story way. Then, that ending was like beyond f*ing cute, and like awww, my heart is most definitely melting from that HEA. So sweet.

Super cute rom-com!!I love how it’s a book about having good and bad karma. I’ve been a huge fan of Marissa Meyer’s books for years and this was a fun read.

Loved this! It might be a predictable type of story, but there were unexpected elements throughout. The characters are so relatable and genuine that I just got sucked into their story. Prudence really has to step outside her comfort zone in so many ways and examine her own motives and habits, but I loved learning about a sea animal rescue center alongside her. This will definitely be a book that I'll buy for our high school library and recommend to students, and it will work great for a middle school library as well!

This book was just what I needed right now. Full of the Beatles, adorable sea creatures, and just the right amount of cheesy cliches and magic to make this a delightful read that you won't want to put down.