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!

***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.