Meant to Be by Julie Halpern

"Fuck fate. Screw destiny. I'm team free will..."

Meant to Be offers an interesting future. A worldwide event known as the Naming resulted in every adult having a name suddenly appear on their chest. Now, the Names appear at some point after everyone turns 18. The Names, also known as Meant to Be's, or MTB's, belong to your soul mate. The Naming brings up lots of questions. Where did the Names come from? What if they leave as suddenly as they came? Most importantly of all, what about free will?

Agatha, better known as Aggie, is incredibly cynical about the Names, which she refers to as MTs (Empties). This is largely because her father ran off to be with his Empty, leaving Aggie and her mother alone. Thankfully, Uncle Jim moves in and helps with money and housework. He's a delightful man who writes romance novels under the name Savannah Merlot, none of which involve MTBs. Aggie's best friend Lish, however, is all about MTB's. She paid a lot of money to have her name scanned to find her MTB, Travis. He is coming to stay with her family for the summer, and she sees their relationship as leading to marriage, children, etc.

When the name Hendrix Cutter appears on Aggie's chest, she has every intention of ignoring it. Her goals are to hook up with her hot co-worker, Luke, at Haunted Hollow, the Halloween-themed amusement park where she works, and to visit Australia after graduation so she can pursue a job at their famous amusement parks. Everything seems to be going according to her plans, not destiny. She hooks up with Luke, and they start a semi-casual relationship. Still, Aggie finds that she can't stop thinking about one Hendrix Cutter. Who, as it turns out, lives in Australia...

This was a pretty fun story. Aggie was delightfully snarky. If I had to complain, I might say that there's a little too much focus on her large breasts. Also, there are a couple of fairly detailed sex scenes. So, proceed with caution on that front. In spite of those small quibbles, I really loved Meant to Be and its imaginative what-if scenario.

I received my copy of Meant to Be from Edelweiss, courtesy of Feiwel & Friends. It's available October 24th.