Title: Parallel
Author: Lauren Miller
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Contemporary
Format: Hardcover, 432 pages
Release Date: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Harper Teen
Source: eARC received from Publisher for honest review

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Abby Barnes had a plan. The Plan. She'd go to Northwestern, major in journalism, and land a job at a national newspaper, all before she turned twenty-two. But one tiny choice—taking a drama class her senior year of high school—changed all that. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Abby is stuck on a Hollywood movie set, miles from where she wants to be, wishing she could rewind her life. The next morning, she's in a dorm room at Yale, with no memory of how she got there. Overnight, it's as if her past has been rewritten.

With the help of Caitlin, her science-savvy BFF, Abby discovers that this new reality is the result of a cosmic collision of parallel universes that has Abby living an alternate version of her life. And not only that: Abby's life changes every time her parallel self makes a new choice. Meanwhile, her parallel is living out Abby's senior year of high school and falling for someone Abby's never even met.

As she struggles to navigate her ever-shifting existence, forced to live out the consequences of a path she didn't choose, Abby must let go of the Plan and learn to focus on the present, without losing sight of who she is, the boy who might just be her soul mate, and the destiny that's finally within reach.
This book took me entirely by surprise. When you read a synopsis about Parallel Universes that last thing you would expect would be a contemporary style book. But that is exactly what this was. As I read it I found myself engrossed and invested in the story before I realized what was happening. I loved that I found myself in a completely different story thank what I expected, and it was fantastic.

When dealing with parallel universes you have the potential to get too complicated and too scientific, and I am happy to say that in this instance, that was not the case. Like I said earlier, this felt more like a contemporary read than anything else. I loved Abby from the very beginning because she was a lot like me when I was in high school. She had a plan, she knew what was going to happen and she liked it that way. But all of that changed when an earthquake shakes the earth and her two parallel universes collide.

What I think I loved most about this book was the switch between the two universes-the past and the present-and how it ultimately effects Abby's life. I loved that we, as readers, were in the same boat as Abby where we really have no idea how her actions in one universe will effect the other. We never knew what was going to happen from one chapter to the next.

Overall this book surpassed any expectations I had going in, and put a twist on a genre that I thought couldn't evolve. The end of this book was spectacular because it was filled with disappointment and eventually, hope. And it wasn't tied in a neat little bow. Please pick up this book you will not be disappointed.