Book Review: Soulmates by Holly Bourne

Title: Soulmates

Author: Holly Bourne
Series: Standalone
Pages: 527
Publisher: Usborne Children's Books
Date of Publication: 1st September, 2013
Source: Publisher*
Synopsis from Goodreads: Every so often, two people are born who are the perfect matches for each other. Soulmates. But while the odds of this happening are about as likely as being struck by lightning, when these people do meet and fall in love…thunderstorms, lightning strikes and lashings of rain are only the beginning of their problems.

Enter Poppy, the 17-year-old cynic with a serious addiction to banana milk, and Noah, the heart-throb guitarist; residents of mediocre Middletown, sometime students, and…soulmates.

After a chance meeting at a local band night, Poppy and Noah find themselves swept up in a whirlwind romance unlike anything they’ve ever experienced before. But with a secret international agency preparing to separate them, a trail of destruction rumbling in their wake, (and a looming psychology coursework deadline), they are left with an impossible choice between the end of the world, or a life without love…

My Thoughts:
Soulmates was a really great read. I devoured it in just one day despite it being 500 pages, and I'm happy to report I enjoyed every one of those pages! It was frustrating and even a little bit painful at times, but it was so, so good and I can't wait for you guys all to read it too.

I really liked the concept of this book. Don't get me wrong, I do love a good YA romance, but it's always nice to read something with a twist that's a little bit different. The idea of two people being soulmates, yet they cannot be together as even being physically near each other is dangerous to the whole world, not just the couple, was new and intriguing. Sure, I've read forbidden romances and things like that, but never a relationship that quite had the effect that Poppy and Noah's had in this book.

The way in which Poppy and Noah's relationship grew just seemed so right, so real (up until a point). If you ignore the supernatural and just look at their courtship, it was so great. I mean, Noah took her to the ballet. In London. THE BALLET. He is such a good boyfriend :P Poppy was great too and I liked that even though obviously Noah was great she had good morals and put her friends first, and it was important to her that she didn't ditch them for a boy.

Throughout the book there are little snippets that hint that something supernatural is going on, but we're not quite sure what until the end. This was really intriguing and I enjoyed those few pages every couple of chapters that were all about the organisation that prevents soulmates from getting together and destroying the world. I would have loved a little bit more of this, just so we could find out the history of such an organisation and how they came to find out about soulmates and the effect they had on the world, but that's just me being picky and wanting to know more!

This leads me on to the science that is used to reveal the twist at the end. I won't say too much, but Holly Bourne obviously did her research! It all seemed so real and so plausible, that even though I know that it's fiction and can't happen in real life (although Holly has said that most of the science in Soulmates is true), I honestly got so caught up in their story, as if it were happening in real life. I imagine it'd be quite hard to make something supernatural seem real in books, and I've definitely read some that made a laughable attempt, but Holly Bourne's Soulmates is definitely not one to laugh at. It's brilliantly done.

Overall, Soulmates was an awesome read that I cannot recommend enough! Don't be intimidated by the length - it's perfectly paced so that it while it flies by super quickly it isn't rushed, nor is it dragged out over too many pages. With a perfect mix of contemporary YA romance and the supernatural, it's definitely not one to be missed.

*Huge thanks to Usborne for sending me this in exchange for an honest review! In no way has this affected my opinion of the book. 

Have you read Soulmates? What did you think?