Review: Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer

Have you ever done a group project with someone you’ve found insufferable? Prudence from Instant Karma has. An interesting take on the enemies to lovers trope, Marissa Meyer’s foray into contemporary doesn’t disappoint!

Prudence, named after the Beatles song (as is the title and many other Easter eggs in the book that you’ll notice if you’re a Beatles fan like me), is a perfectionist, and everything has to be done her way or the highway. She quickly learns that this isn’t the way her biology teacher works, when she has to work with Quint. Quint appears lazy and slack-offish, but something told me from the get go that he wasn’t your classic The Fonz character either.

I absolutely LOVED the dynamics between Prudence and Quint at the start, even though she was a little hard to gel with initially, as she is stand-offish and unlikeable; but I like that in some characters. I also love how the dynamics between Rosa (Quint’s mum) and Quint also worked in its own little way. Speaking of characters, I wanted more of Ari and Jude in the story - both play a role in shaping Prudence’s life, but we don’t get much page time with them. Perhaps there’s a sequel or a spin off that can be done? Even a spin off centred on the record shop?! (okay, I’ll quit my wishful thinking haha).

What really hit it for me is that the basic premise of the story is centred around eco-tourism, which is rarely spoken about in contemporary YA literature. It’s also a super important one because it gives some teenage power (yes I’m calling it that) about important environmental issues, it shows that even a know-it-all girl can make a change, even if it is little. The character development from Prudence around this is all-important and it warms my cold heart to see a swift change over time! I felt so heartbroken about reading about some of the creatures that get harmed, and I want to cuddle them all (but cuddling is bad because then they get used to people, and won’t be able to fend for themselves in the wild again.) This side of the story was definitely somewhat awakening for me, in an environmental perspective, as most of the knowledge in this book are stuff I learnt in the book (although some of it is fiction, I did do some research afterwards). 

The karma aspect of the book was kind of super entertaining, as Prudence had the ability to give bad karma to those she saw doing the wrong thing. Unfortunately, this gets one of Quint’s friends hurt, which hurt the sea rescue centre when they were short-handed at the time. I loved that there was a cause-effect to the karma, and not just cause, otherwise it wouldn’t be as realistic to me. I did feel like the concussion part of this made no sense though, so I might have to go back and read that part of it again. I also love how Prudence questions this karma at first, because she’s so confused. That really made me giggle. 

If you’re looking for a book that is a little lighter on the sad, but big on the enemies to lovers, and is full of Beatles song references, this is definitely the book for you. I really liked this one, and I hope others pick it up, despite Prudence being the biggest off-putting character ever at the start. I’d love to read more contemporary Marissa Meyer books in the future!

Rating: 3.5/5

I originally reviewed this title for The Nerd Daily, thanks to The Nerd Daily and the publisher for a physical copy!