Ask Alice and Luke and you’d receive vastly different answers.
Despite her world having been recently dismantled by a messy break-up, Alice would tell you that love is the most important – albeit ineffable – human experiences. But when she once again crosses paths with her old school nemesis, Luke, he challenges this. Luke is a scientist and he’s certain love can be measured and explained – just like everything else.
So the two decide to make a they’ll each venture back into dating and if one of them falls in love, Alice wins, if not, then Luke does.
But can anyone win when you’re playing with emotions?
Comment: No idea anymore of why this book was in the pile, but now that I have read it, I can imagine it was due to its opposites attract premise...
Alice and Luke won a prize while in high school and it felt their future would be amazing, for Luke in science and for Alice in philosophy. However, things didn't quite work out for Alice and after just one year at uni she left to start working as the administrative assistant to Charles, and later on they started dating. Now, Charles has left her, which includes her job, and she is back to live with her parents but once again fate changes things when she randomly is face to face with Luke, now a teacher and investigator at Durham university. After a weird conversation they agree on a bet: if any of them falls in love and is reciprocated in six months, Alice wins, if not Luke wins, but both have to try. While dealing with potential boyfriends, Alice realizes that Luke is actually a great guy but can she go past her previous issues to believe in a future with him?
At first, I wasn't too keen on the author's slightly comedy flavor for this book, namely with all the British commentary, and the fact the story is told by Alice makes some things feel rather one sided. Still, as the story moved along, I started to enjoy things and see the funny side of what was being told, although I cannot say I was that impressed with the big picture.
The plot is a little ridiculous but aims for interesting life lessons. I think the author did a good enough job portraying the difficulties and challenges of living up to one's own expectations, often confused with what we want others to think of us. I also liked how philosophy and science facts were used to get the main characters' point across, and I liked the decent effort of making it seem that Luke and Alice were truly falling in love, something that first person narration often fails to accomplish (I'm so-so about it here).
Alice has always liked philosophy and imagined a life about it, but when she got to university, she realized that what made her feel special in high school wasn't that great there. Oh, how I saw myself in this thought, I also thought university would be amazing for me, that I would perfect what had made me stand out in school and... not. There are countless other people "better" than us there and it can be overwhelming to assume one has what is necessary or not. Thus, I could sympathize with Alice from the start but then she sometimes would have such distracting actions, I sometimes feel the author kind of lost track there.
Luke was a goth in school and now he is an almost stoic professional, so his evolution feels a little odd, and since we don't have his POV, there are times I got the feeling he was more an antithesis to Alice and not a really developed character, but since this book has more woman fiction's vibe than romance, I can go with the flow in this. I think their romance was slow and cute enough, especially if I can ignore some stuff from Alice's journey and think about what it must be for Luke.
I did like all the philosophy and science references, the author really put an effort to bring the importance of these subjects for Alive and Luke, and it was sometimes cute how they engaged in funny arguments over their respective passions. I also think this was done in such a way that a reader who has no interest in either, would still find something interesting to think about. I also liked how Alice seemed to "study" the interests of the guys she goes on a date with too.
The plot is basic, we follow Alice on her dates and as she does this, she starts having personal epiphanies on her life choices and about the relationship with Charles, which we always knew but she had to as well, wasn't healthy. I did like how this was presented to Alice, through experiences with guys who have their issues but were respectful of her...although it is fair to say some situations were a bit cliche and not as funny as I assume the author intended.
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