Meant To Be

Gr 9 Up—Imagine a world where your soul mate's name would simply appear as a tattoo on your chest on your 18th birthday. Skeptical high school senior Agatha Adams doesn't believe that true love can be predetermined this way. Despite pressure from her best friend, who is completely absorbed in communicating with her own Meant-To-Be (MTB), Agatha refuses to find out more about the name that just appeared above her heart and instead focuses on her crush on Luke, a coworker at the Halloween-themed amusement park. This novel mines typical YA territory with a slightly sci-fi twist that is particularly compelling in imagining how our familiar landscape of social media sites, reality TV shows, and dating algorithms would be used for this type of phenomenon. Agatha's relationships with her high school peers, those who embrace the MTBs with a passion, and her interactions and relationships with older adults such as her mother, uncle, or her boss, are all intriguing studies in how "the Naming" has impacted social mores and cultural calculations—what happens when your long-term boyfriend discovers that you aren't his soul mate? Can there still be casual relationships? Halpern has a fine ear for authentic teenage conversation and doesn't get bogged down in scientific minutia, even as she addresses it in fascinating ways. Despite Agatha's sarcastic acerbity, the novel takes a turn toward conformity by the end that might leave fans of the teen's rebellion disappointed.