Review: Love and Other Unknown Variables by Shannon Lee Alexander

Title: Love and Other Unknown Variables
Author: Shannon Lee Alexander
Publisher: Entangled: Teen
Release date: October 7th 2014
Source: Publisher
Format: eARC

Rating: 3.5/5

Buy on: Amazon | B&N | BookDepository

Charlie Hanson has a clear vision of his future. A senior at Brighton School of Mathematics and Science, he knows he’ll graduate, go to MIT, and inevitably discover solutions to the universe’s greatest unanswered questions. He’s that smart. But Charlie’s future blurs the moment he reaches out to touch the tattoo on a beautiful girl’s neck.

The future has never seemed very kind to Charlotte Finch, so she’s counting on the present. She’s not impressed by the strange boy at the donut shop—until she learns he’s a student at Brighton where her sister has just taken a job as the English teacher. With her encouragement, Charlie orchestrates the most effective prank campaign in Brighton history. But, in doing so, he puts his own future in jeopardy.

By the time he learns she's ill—and that the pranks were a way to distract Ms. Finch from Charlotte’s illness—Charlotte’s gravitational pull is too great to overcome. Soon he must choose between the familiar formulas he’s always relied on or the girl he’s falling for (at far more than 32 feet per second squared).

Although Love and Other Unknown Variables wasn´t what I expected, I enjoyed it and what I liked the most was the main character - Charlie mainly because he reminded me of Sheldon Cooper mixed a bit with Leonard (The Big Bang Theory - TV series).

Charlie is a senior at Brighton school math and science, which is a school for very smart kids and he´s is among the top in his class. He´s very intelligent and his specialty is mathematics, so when he´s bored he spends doing mental exercises or counting things, he´s very literal, direct and not very good with sarcasm and lack of social skills except for his best friend Greta and her boyfriend James with whom he spends most of the time. He has his whole future planned, that is until he meets Charlotte.

Charlotte meanwhile is Charlie´s sister best friend, new in town and attends another high school and becomes very interested in Charlie when she discovers that he attends the same school where her sister teaches English, a class not very popular in Brighton and where students usually make pranks to the teacher, that´s why she ask for Charlies help because she wants her big sister - Ms Finch distracted and not always aware of everything she does, Charlie decides help her and do the pranks, just to help her but this gets him in some trouble.

The story is told from the point of view of Charlie, so we're always inside of his head and see the attraction he feels towards Charlotte, but I never felt the attraction of her to him, I felt more like acquaintances-friends, than a romance.

When its revealed that Charlotte is ill, I felt bad for her, but I didn´t connect with her. What I enjoyed most of the story, it was Charlie's friendship with Greta and James, their interactions at school and some of the jokes/pranks and I liked the character of James and it amused me to be in Charlie's head.