This is a cute romance, and I love Marissa Meyer. I will continue to buy/read all of her books no matter what she writes. However, I had a few issues with Instant Karma:

(1) In the book, the main character (Prudence) seems to get powers that provide Karma. I don't think that plotline really gets played out; it's a minor piece to the story. I thought she should have faced the consequences for using those powers.

(2) Prudence volunteers at a wildlife rescue foundation, and part of her volunteering feels like a soapbox that the author needs to address.

(3) I want my rom-com protagonists likeable, so this might be a personal issue. I didn't like Prudence for a majority of the book. At one point, she is called, "Self-absorbed. Critical. Judgmental. A hypocrite. Selfish." I agreed with all of the points.

At about 75% of the way through the book, the plot thickens, and I cared a lot more about the conflict. I loved the last 25% of the book. When I got to the end, I thought.. yeah, this is why I like Marissa Meyer's writing.

Instant Karma is the story of Prudence Daniels. After a bump to her head, she seems to have the ability to give instant karma to those around her who have done some injustice. Pru sometimes abuses this newfound power. One person who seems immune to her karma is Quint, a classmate who is her nemesis. After getting a low score on her Science project with Quint, she wants to improve her score by redoing it. In order for that to happen, Quint and Pru need to team up and work together. Pru ends up volunteering at the facility run by Quint's mom. Throughout the summer, Pru learns more about Quint and herself.

I love that Marissa Meyer came out with a contemporary romance book. It's different than other books of hers that I have read. While I was not a huge fan of Prudence at the beginning of the novel, she grew on me by the end. I enjoyed seeing her transformation throughout the book while also reflecting on her beliefs and actions.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for a chance to read and review this title.

Marissa Meyer is one of my favorite authors, so when I heard she was writing a contemporary YA book, I couldn't wait to read it. Instant Karma did start off slow in the beginning, but once the story hit its stride, I was unable to put it down. The main character, Prudence, was flawed and unlikeable from the start, but also incredibly relatable. I loved the representation of a curvy main character in fiction, something I don't get to see as often as I'd like. The twist at the end was somewhat predictable, but satisfying nonetheless. Overall, Instant Karma is the perfect summer read: lighthearted and sweet, with just enough plot to keep me interested.

Instant Karma is not a book in a genre I’d typically read, but I’ve enjoyed Meyer’s past books so I decided to give it a shot. If you are someone who also doesn’t typically read contemporary YA books but are curious about it because of the author’s previous books, I would say definitely give this a shot!

Prudence (named after the Beatles song!) is singing Beatles song Instant Karma when she hits her head and starts to be able to control how people get rewarded and punished when she sees people doing positive or negative things. The book starts out with her mostly punishing people, because Prudence is a perfectionist who is often quick to assume the worst, as shown when she’s completing a group project at the beginning of the book and automatically assumes that her partner, Quint, is a slacker who will do a bad job which ultimately leads to her getting a poor grade. While being able to reward or punish people instantly through powers might make people think this isn’t a true contemporary book, the mystical element of it is never really explored, it is never the point of the book. Instead, it is mostly about Pru learning about herself and giving people more chances because of how complex people can be. It is easy to see something and interpret it wrongly, or to judge without knowing the full picture. Pru at the beginning is a difficult character to root for, but intentionally so. Quint was such a sweetheart.

The best part of this book, however, was the sea life rescue and rehabilitation center, and all of the ocean related things. The love and passion for the center just shone through the book and gave it such a unique spark.

Marissa Meyer always writes such compelling stories it's hard for me to stop. Though it's a long book, I read it in under 24 hours. I enjoyed story quite a bit. However, I wasn't totally sold on the characters. I never really loved Prudence. At fifty percent through, I just barely started to like her. She was a difficult character to like, especially in the beginning. She didn't like her siblings but for her twin, she didn't like animals, I never saw her be a good friend to Ari (though I'm sure she was off page). The only thing she cared about were her grades and she was absolutely annoying about her science grade. Her fear of public speaking wasn't enough for me to feel empathy for her, maybe because even though she feared it, she succeeded at it and was the best presenter in the whole school. I never really fell in love with her in the whole book, which meant I never really fell in love with the romance angle of the book because I never saw what Quint saw in her.

Pleasantly surprised by what I thought was going to be a fairly predictable book. (Of course, certain things were predictable but they were things you want to be predictable.) Prudence gets a less-than-stellar grade on her year long science project but that is entirely the fault of her flakey lab partner, Quint. Quint has no interest in redoing their project to earn a higher grade. In an attempt to convince him, Pru finds herself volunteering at the sea animal rescue his mom runs. This, combined with a new ability to provide instant karma, helps Pru see that things aren’t always as black and white as she sees them. The instant karma device is a little clunky and sometimes seems like an after thought but it will nonetheless be appreciated by anyone who has wished for a similar ability. Overall, this is a sweet first romance that also takes a look at, well, taking a closer look at the things we see before casting judgement.

Thank to NetGalley for the ARC.

This was cute, but not I was teensy bit disappointed. Marissa Meyers can make me swoon and I love and enemies to lovers story and I'm a big fan of Meyer's Cinder series.. But the whole Instant Karma thing - it just felt unnecessary. I think the book would have been a cute love story without that - especially since it disappears for a bit in the middle.

So let’s start out by addressing the obvious- this book had NO business being this long.

Also, I’m torn on the whole Instant Karma power thing Prudence got. On one hand, it’s really weird that it didn’t play a bigger part in the story. I mean... not only is it part of the pitch... it’s the title... But then again, I see how the whole karma thing played out without much interference and maybe that’s the actual lesson? Is that things are gonna play out right regardless? I don’t know, I don’t think it’s totally ignored, but it also could have had more attention.

Also... all the Beatles and old music stuff. I don’t know... is it actually normal for kids to like the Beatles?? None of the teens I’ve known in the past few years would be interested at all. That’s not to say no teens are into the Beatles but it just feels very heavy handed in this book to be such an obscure reference in the age of TikTok

The romance was cute and there were some pretty funny parts. The sea life rescue and rehabilitation stuff was a great addition. There was obvious character development in our main character and her love interest. But on the other hand, I read 500+ pages of a contemporary. Prudence’s friends and the side characters in general should have felt way more three dimensional than what they did.

And god their names were Quint and Prudence.

Marissa Meyer’s Instant Karma is the perfect summer read! We follow Prudence- a teen perfectionist- who gets thrown together with a boy who is the polar opposite of her, Quint, and they do poorly on their lab report. In order for Prudence to get a better score, she must get her partner to agree to a re-do. Both characters have their own struggles to work through, but can they work together to resolve them? Read and find out!

This review will be posted 20 days before publication to Blog and Goodreads.
It will be posted to Barnes and Noble and Amazon on publication day.


It is 2 A.M. and I am up writing a book review. Why? Because I could NOT stop reading, and now that I have finished, I can NOT stop thinking about these characters and this story!
Instant Karma has been on my radar for awhile because…well…obviously. Marissa Meyer. When an author that has already proven they’ve got crazy sci-fi romance chops announces they’re writing a contemporary romance, you add that sucker to your TBR immediately. I had such high expectations for this book, and honestly, it surpassed them all!
A bit of a heads up, here. There is so much character growth that happens in this book. In the first few chapters, you may not particularly love the narrator. Those chapters are still very entertaining and enjoyable, but you might not really feel like you “click” with Prudence. Believe me when I say this is intentional. I went from being interested in the story but mostly ambivalent about Prudence, to being intrigued and rooting for her, to finally being literally cheering for her successes and nurturing a broken heart over her trials and tribulations. As the story progresses, she grows right along with it. Not only is this growth incredibly satisfying to read, it makes you feel things, and question your own defenses mechanisms and automatic behaviors.
Okay, so you watch the characters grow and you think about your place in humanity as well as in the world at large due to the philanthropic nature of the volunteer job she gets herself into, but lets talk about the part we came here for: the romance!
Quint is adorable. He is so, so adorable. He and his eyebrows, did I mention very adorable. The chemistry between Pru and Quint grows right along with Prudence’s character, and I found myself desperate for them to just give in to it! Enemies to lovers slow burn… I am a sucker for these tropes, and they were done so, so well!
This book will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you cheer, and it will definitely make you swoon!
I give it 5 stars, and I will definitely be rereading this one in the future!

***I received an uncorrected proof of this ebook from netgalley in exchange for an honest review***

This book was monumentally disappointing.

I was so excited to get approved for this book because I'm a huge Lunar Chronicles fan but this book checked none of my boxes.

Was it cute? Technically... Was it romantic?? I think so....?

The writing in this was.. adequate. The plot left a lot to be desired. The characters were flat, unrelatable, and unlikable. I considered DNFing several times... The main character was horrible and, while the plot tried to improve her deeply flawed personality, it failed.

The blurb is incredibly misleading. There is little use of the so-called karmic justice throughout the book. And it ends on an obscured note that leaves the reader wondering if Karma was ever involved at all, or if the bitter self-involved teenage girl was just an entitled, judgemental brat. To those intrigued by the karmic-justice plot, skip this; Meyer did.

I knew we were in trouble when sh*t hit the fan with only 45 minutes left (kindle)... I KNEW I was going to be dissatisfied. And I was.

This book truly lacked the cute kitsch books in this genre NEED to grab my interest.

This combines a moral lesson, saving marine wildlife, and a cute romance all wrapped in one. The one thing that surprised me was the twist at the end. While I thought it was enjoyably predictable, I appreciated the bit of suspense and twist that the author added. I would recommend to my teenage students in need of a book that they will want to read with aspects that they can care about.

This book definitely grows on you. There was a lot of character building of the main character at the beginning, and honesty, she isn't very likable. If you need to like a character, this book is going to be hard for you at first. She judges, she is downright mean sometimes, and she is very controlling. That's not to say that she is unrealistic--Meyer makes her so believable that it's hard to spend too much time with Prudence. Once Prudence starts to grow and change, you want to care about her more. If you stick it through, the book will grow on you. The highlights are the descriptions of the sea life in California. The town is cute. The love interest is funny and kind and a good contrast to the main character. I am not sure that I needed to "magic" of the karma trick, but it ended up being an interesting plot device. It was very scary to think about how the main character could have used her karma to inflict harmful events on others. It really makes you not like her. Still, I found myself wanting to keep reading. There was just enough character development to make you hang on. And the ending does improve. Be patient with this book like you are with people in real life, and it will pay off.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Children's Publishing Group for providing me with an ARC!

This is not a typical Marissa Meyer book but I loved it anyway. Contemporary romance has become my guilty pleasure lately and this reminded me more of a Julie Murphy or Becky Albertalli book...only there's no LGBTQ+ representation. Which really kind of bothered me. While the majority of the story is the slow burn hate-turned to crush-turned to love relationship of Prudence and Quint, there were several side characters who could have been LGBTQ+. Meyer usually does a great job with diversity of ethnicities in her work, but (besides Simon and Hugh in Renegades) there is little LGBTQ+ representation. I think either Pru's brother or Ari, the best friend, could have very easily been written as an LGBTQ+ and literally nothing would have had to change.

That aside, I really enjoyed this story. Prudence is a flawed but likable character whose growth over the course of the story is meaningful and believable. I guess in some way, Quint is Pru's Manic Pixie Dream Boy, but I don't even care, I love him so much. Quint is hilarious and lovable and I can't wait to see adorable fan art of him with baby sea otters and sea lions. The secondary characters took a backseat to the Pru and Quint romance (Pruint!) and I really wanted more of them. I would totally read a sequel with Ari or Jude as the MC.

Music is a huge factor in this story. Prudence's family owns a record store, her and her siblings are all named after Beatles songs, Ari is a songwriter, and there are three karaoke scenes! I love karaoke, am a huge Beatles fan, and was familiar with the songs referenced, but I could see a teenage reader losing interest because they lack the background knowledge. Either way, I loved all the music references and created a Spotify playlist inspired by songs or artists mentioned in the book.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3LYGt2Tibx62xh7HnyAzDw?si=n20DdIXTTo-48wrhPhFZ9A

So if you enjoy contemporary romance, love adorable sea creatures, and don't mind a lack of LGBTQ+ rep, I highly recommend this one. But you should listen to some Beatles and probably watch Jaws beforehand.

I will always read anything Marissa Meyer writes and was thrilled to read an arc of her new contemporary ya novel. It was adorable and fun to read. Quirky and enjoyable characters, one of my favorite tropes and discussed real world problems in a powerful way. I look forward to seeing what Meyer does in the future with contemporary lit and I wouldn't mind a revisit to Ari? Or Jude? Thank you netgalley for this arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

I got to hear Marissa Meyer talk about her first realistic fiction YA novel at Librarypalooza and I couldn’t wait to read it and I’M OBSESSED!
Prudence is an overachiever who has a lazy, tardy science partner that causes her to get her first ever C. After a fall Pru gets the ability to enact instant karma (both good and bad) on those around her. The power definitely goes to her head, but also allows her to grow more, finding her moral compass and realizing things aren’t always as they seem. I am DYING for Ari and Jude’s stories so I hope that’s a thing. 😉 This book also deal with ocean and animal wildlife and conservation that I hope sparks a conversation and change. I would read books like this everyday if I could. 100% amazing all around. Thank you Netgalley for an ARC. All opinions are my own.

Started slow but so happy I stuck with this book. Enjoyed how the main character progressed from using her "powers" for bad at first but then started using them for good. Really enjoyed the animal rescue storyline.