A clever, charming, and poignant debut novel about a girl who must decide whether to pursue her dreams or preserve her relationships, including a budding romance with her ex-best friend, when an app she created goes viral.
Ro Devereux can predict your future. Or, at least, the app she built for her senior project can.
Working with her neighbor, a retired behavioral scientist, Ro created an app called MASH, designed around the classic game Mansion Apartment Shack House, that can predict a person’s future with 93% accuracy. The app will even match users with their soul mates. Though it was only supposed to be a class project, MASH quickly takes off and gains the attention of tech investors.
Ro’s dream is to work in Silicon Valley, and she’ll do anything to prove to her new backing company—and the world—that the app works. So it’s a huge shock when the app says her soul mate is Miller, her childhood best friend with whom she had a friendship-destroying fight three years ago. Now thrust into a fake dating scenario, Ro and Miller must address the years of pain between them if either of them will have any chance of achieving their dreams.
Fans of Emma Lord and Alex Light will love this stand-alone contemporary novel with a masterful slow-burn romance at its core.
If miss Rachel Lynn Solomon tells me I need to read a book, I will read the book.
~ review:
This was such a great debut! It was so hard to put down and the plot was really well-paced. I loved the MC’s voice. Ro was such a strong character and really showed a lot of growth throughout the book. The romantic plot line was definitely a strong point of this book. Fake dating is one of my favorite tropes and it worked so well in this situation. There was so much tension, it was a very reluctant kind of fake dating. Each character was still benefitting from it but their past made things complicated. This is a stretch of a comparison genre-wise but this book gave me such similar vibes to Catching Fire when Katniss and Peeta were being toured around and had to convince President Snow and the rest of Panem that they were madly in love. To gain financial backing for MASH and college tuition, Ro and Miller have to convince everyone that their relationship is legit and that they couldn’t be happier together. They have to play it up for cameras, interviews and the public and this added so much more tension to the situation. The romantics element was great but there was so much more to this story. It deals with loss, complicated family dynamics and what is actually worth sacrificing to live out your dream. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and I can’t get over that this was a debut! I’ll definitely be checking out more by this author in the future.
Niesamowicie uroczy romans fake dating i old friend z niecodziennym pomysłem na fabułę, którego myślę, że nie spotkaliście jeszcze w żadnej książce i przez który totalnie się płynie, bo pióro jest tak przyjemne dla czytelnika, że to tak naprawdę książka na jedno, góra dwa miłe posiedzenia 🩷 A pastelowa okładka oddaje 1:1 treść, która jak dla mnie idealnie mogłaby być opisana w takich barwach!
Wyobraź sobie aplikację, w której algorytm… na podstawie kilku pytań, jest w stanie przewidzieć Twoją przyszłość i dopasować Cię idealnie do drugiej osoby, z którą powinieneś być. Jak? Na podstawie Twoich odpowiedzi, jak i innych użytkowników. 93% skuteczności? No i jak tu nie skorzystać, kto by się nie chciał tego dowiedzieć? (Chyba ja bym 💩 się w portki hahaha). Jednego dnia, nikt nie zna aplikacji MASH założonej przez Ro, a następnego, staje się ona już DOSŁOWNYM HITEM. Do tego stopnia, że od razu dostaje propozycję inwestycji w aplikację od wielkiej firmy. Jednak żeby to wszystko było wiarygodne, dziewczyna sama na oczach widzów musi się przetestować, odpowiedzieć na pytania i znaleźć idealne dopasowanie… którym okazuje się jej najlepszy przyjaciel z dzieciństwa, z którym przez jedną sytuację nie rozmawia od trzech lat. Niezręcznie? Bardzo. Ale co zrobić? Miller godzi się na udawanie związku na kilku swoich warunkach, ale zarówno między nimi, jak i ludźmi, których aplikacja zaczyna łączyć, ale i różnić… nie obejdzie się bez komplikacji.
Gdybym była jajkiem, dalej byście mnie obserwowali? Czekam na emotikonki jajek w komentarzach 🥚
Jejku jak mi się ta książka podobała! Zostawiam jej 4,25/5⭐️! 14+, śmiało sięgajcie! Współpraca reklamowa z @wydawnictwoyoung Dziękuję! 🩷
Thank you to Netgalley and HarperCollins for the eARC of this book!
I am blown away by how much I enjoyed this book.
First, we’re going to talk about the amazing colloquial language. I just felt so connected to this narrative and the way these kids talked. O’Clover’s writing is perfect for YA. It captures the essence of being a teenager.
Next the flashbacks. Yes, this is a friends to enemies to lovers so we have to know about their past friendship and the night that everything changed. Sometimes flashbacks are done sporadically or over a long section of the book (sometimes the whole book) but here was get all of the flashbacks early! And what I loved is that they were all singular narratives and not drawn out over multiple chapters. They also had perfect break points - no “she snapped out of her reverie when XX called her name” - at least not from what I can remember. The flashbacks flowed seamlessly into the present story. AND O’Clover knew that after a certain point, we, the readers, would want the PRESENT instead of the past. And she delivered!!
So let’s talk about the friends to enemies to lovers trope. Outstanding! Ro is the little girl who isn’t quite sure how to feel and Miller is the boy who feels too much. So Ro uses his emotions to figure out how she’s supposed to feel - she not only learns walking and talking from him as a toddler but also emotional cues. The way O’Clover describes all of this is amazing!
Then the night happens and they’re enemies. We see them as enemies for 50% of the book. And I was HERE for it. The tension between them is so palpable that you need a saw to cut through it. I was squealing and going crazy for this entire book, let me tell you!
Ro is delightful in her complexity and I loved some of her lines. How she feels and reacts to certain things. And Miller was one of those characters that just makes you feel so deeply. All of their scenes together were perfection.
I won’t spoil anything but I loved every single second of reading this book from beginning to end. I was waving my hands and pounding the desk in excitement or tearing up and trying not to bawl. I hope others see the same things I saw in this book. Gosh I loved it.
Pretty enjoyable YA read with a cute enemies to lovers trope. The whole premise was a bit OTT and got more so as the story progressed. A solid 3 stars.
I've never understood the act of making friends enemies for YEARS, and then having a big love confession about how they've always 'loved' each other, five interactions later.
Pierwsza książka przeczytana w 2024 💞🌟 Lepszego rozpoczęcia roku pod względem czytelniczym nie mogłam sobie wyobrazić. „7 procent Ro Devereux” otula komfortem i na nowo przynosi radość z czytania. Znajdziecie tutaj motywy friends to strangers to lovers i fake dating! 🫣 Coś przesłodkiego, idealnego na szybką lekturę, która ma odciągnąć Was na moment od rzeczywistości 🥹 Gdybym mogła, to wkleiłabym swoje lego na tył, flawless ✨
3.5⭐️ Bardzo fajna młodzieżówka! Jeżeli szukacie czegoś z wątkiem kodowania, fake dating, friends to lovers to jest to na prawdę przyjemna pozycja. Mamy też wątek romantyczny oraz poruszone temat straty bliskiej osoby i problemów rodzinnych.
_________pełna recenzja: "Trzymam palce Millera tak luźno, jak to tylko możliwe, a on zaskakuje mnie, zaciskając swoje mocniej. Spogląda na mnie z góry, ja patrzę na niego i przez tę sekundę, zanim przypomnę sobie, że on po prostu wykonuje polecenia, myślę: Co?"
"7 procent Ro Devereux" Ellen O'Clover jest historią o popularności aplikacji przewidującej przyszłość i skutkach tej popularności. Główną bohaterką jest twórczynia MASH, Rose Devereux, której drogę ku sławie możemy śledzić na przestrzeni kolejnych rozdziałów. Żeby nie opierać się na samych suchych faktach, dziewczyna również musi poddać się działaniu aplikacji i znaleźć swoją wielką miłość... Jakie jest prawdopodobieństwo, że będzie to jej przyjaciel z dzieciństwa?
Sympatię do Ro można zdobyć tak szybko, jak do całej historii. Od pierwszych stron autorka wprowadza nas w świat kodów i początków aplikacji, która miała być jedynie projektem na szkolne zajęcia. Cóż, nie od dziś wiadomo, ile ludzie potrafią dać za poznanie swojej przyszłości. A co się stanie, gdy ta zaczyna wyznaczać im marzenia? Nie powiem, ale ciekawie byłoby spojrzeć w głąb i zobaczyć, co jeszcze nas czeka... Oczywiście z czysto naukowego podejścia! Bardzo lubię sięgać po książki, które poruszają tematykę STEM (akronim słów: nauka, technologia, inżynieria, matematyka) oraz roli kobiet w tej naukowej społeczności. Na przestrzeni lat dużo się zmieniło, jednak nadal pozostało wiele do zrobienia. O'Clover podejmuje się tematu w bardzo przystępny sposób. Ukazuje zarówno siłę w dążeniu do osiągnięcia wyznaczonych celów dla MASH, jak i zmagania Ro w walce o swoje dobro. Wraz z nią czujemy, irytujemy się oraz zatapiamy w wirtualnym świecie do końca. A ten może Was zaskoczyć! Motyw przyjaciół z dzieciństwa jest mi dobrze znany. Co prawda nie jest moim ulubionym, ale jestem pewna, że w dziewięćdziesięciu trzech procentach (93%) zostałam do niego przekonana. Alistair Miller. ALISTAIR MILLER. To jest tak cudownie wykreowany bohater!! Od razu stał się jednym z moich faworytów, zaraz po tacie Ro, który mocno wspierał dziewczynę w jej decyzjach. Jego początkowa obojętność względem Ro zmieniła się w coś, na co wielu z Was czeka. Dodajmy do tego udawany związek... Ahh, no ideał. Nie zdradzam więcej, ale musicie wiedzieć, że ta dwójka dostarczy Wam wielu wrażeń.
Myślę, że młodsza ja byłaby zachwycona tą książką. Starsza ja bawiła się na niej wspaniale, ale nieco przymykała oczy na pewne wątki. Dla czytelników 14+ będzie w sam raz, ale myślę, że jest tak uniwersalna, że każdy znajdzie w niej coś dla siebie. "7 procent Ro Devereux" zachwyci Was istotą aplikacji przewidującej przyszłość, drugoplanowymi postaciami oraz samą Ro Devereux. Sprawi, że będziecie uśmiechać się z uroczych scenek, wzruszać na kilku rozdziałach (24-25 💔) oraz zaskakiwać z rozwiązań fabularnych, które autorka tu umieściła. Zachęceni? Mam nadzieję, że ta historia zdobędzie choć te siedem procent (7%) Waszej uwagi.
"Może wszystkim nam by się lepiej wiodło, gdybyśmy byli jajkami."
Thank you to Netgalley, Ellen O’Clover, and Harper Collins for this advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.
I’ll preface this by saying that I went into this book not expecting to completely fall in love with the characters, but it just so happens that I did, with every single and with every single one of them too. Except maybe Evelyn and Ro’s mom.
Ro Devereux is a high school senior who developed an app that “predicts the future” and based it on the childhood game “MASH”. The app is entirely scientific; and helping Ro with her survey questions is Vera, her retired behavioral scientist neighbor who helped raise her after her mom ran out on Ro and her dad.
Ro created the app to be meant for her senior class committee’s eyes only, only for her influencer cousin and her model close friend to introduce the app to their millions of followers. Effectively turning MASH into an overnight sensation, with the app download count breaking 900k by the next day. This captures the attention of tech firm XLR8 who entice Ro into giving them 50% ownership and in return, they’ll give her all the tools for her app to be a worldwide sensation. What follows next is a series of events and experiences that make us ask ourselves this question, can our behavior now affect our future path? Can our future be predicted by science?
Finishing the last page of this book, I was suddenly struck with the realization; I haven’t pulled an all-nighter to finish a book for a really long time. Not one book was able to capture me like that for a while. O’Clover wrote a masterpiece. I was intrigued when I first read the description and that only intensified when I started reading.
Ro is a very likable character, I found her enthusiasm inspiring and fresh and Miller oh well, I completely fell in love with Miller as I learned more and more about him.
“I read the world through Miller’s reception to it, and he showed me what to do by always doing it first. We heard each other in that language between two people who’ve never known a life without the other in it. He didn’t have to speak to tell me he was upset. I didn’t have to show him my hurt for him to believe it was there. When we fought, there were no teeth to it—
Miller was like air, a given. He’d be there the next day, and the next."
The slow-burn romance between these two was very satisfying; it wasn’t ridiculously dragged out but it also wasn’t an instant thing that only took a couple of chapters to culminate. In fact, it takes about half the book for Miller to properly open up again to Ro and I loved this.
The rest of the characters were extremely well-written and interesting; even the titular character’s mother who’s supposed to take on the role of the villain was interesting to read about. I specifically liked how well the characters were written; each one of them brings something new to the table, and each one of them has enough charm to make you want to know more about them. For instance, even though it was a background love story; I really wanted to learn more about Maren and Autumn’s relationship. I wanted to know more about Ro’s mother, and I wanted more time with these characters.
This book is extremely fun and appropriate enough to be enjoyed by teens and adults alike.
This book reminded me why I loved reading so much. The way that O’Clover described every scene, described things in detail without making it boring and made a slow-burn romance that’s equally meaningful and sweet, proves that writing is an art that not many are talented in.
An easy 5 Star rating and I’m looking forward to reading anything by O’Clover in the future.
4.5 Mam wrażenie że to bardzo subiektywna opinia ale ta ksiazka dala mi wszystko czego na ten moment potrzebowalam czyli mase ciepla, zrozumienia i komfortu. Rozjasnila mi ostatnie szare dni i sprawila ze moj gorszy czas przez jaki ostatnio przechodze byl troszeczke mniej gorszy niz przed jej przeczytaniem i jestem jej za to bardzo wdzieczna
This debut YA romance broke my heart but made me cheer so much!! The main character Ro Devereux is a smart STEM girl who creates a matchmaking app and is courting serious sponsorship - the catch she has to use the app to find her own match and who does it choose? Her ex-best friend of all people.
Forced into a fake dating scenario, these two have a lot of past baggage to resolve but the chemistry is still undeniable. I loved what a strong character Ro was (she gave me a lot of Veronica Mars vibes minus the amateur detective). This book deals with rape and parental abandonment so readers should take care!
Recommended for fans of My mechanical romance or Love, decoded (other YA romances featuring STEM girls). Great on audio narrated by Alexandra Hunter!
Ta książka pochłonęła mnie w 100%. Rzuciłam wszystko bo nie mogłam przestać jej czytać! Zdecydowanie trafia do moich ulubieńców, jest wrażliwa, pełna ciepła ale też trudniejszej tematyki. Nie pamiętam kiedy tak płakałam na książce, a były to łzy smutku, radości, wzruszenia. Bardzo wyjątkowa pozycja, którą naprawdę warto znać, będę ją polecać od teraz wszystkim bez wyjątku także strzeżcie się!
“7 procent…” to dla mnie książka idealna w każdym calu. Już na samym początku zachwycił mnie niesamowity humor i oryginalny pomysł na fabułę, ale tego co działo się dalej zupełnie się nie spodziewałam!
To ile emocji wywołała we mnie ta książka wciąż mnie zadziwia. Wylałam na niej mnóstwo łez, śmiałam się w głos i naprawdę szczerze pokochałam bohaterów (Miller to mój nowy książkowy mąż). Motyw fake dating jest jednym z moich ulubionych, a tutaj użyty został w bardzo wyjątkowy sposób. Do tego aplikacja pozwalająca na znalezienie miłości życia? Idealne połączenie!
Ta książka to cudowna rozrywka, pozwoliła mi w 100% oderwać się od rzeczywistości. Mimo wielu obowiązków, po prostu rzuciłam wszystko bo nie mogłam przestać czytać. Z drugiej strony nie brakuje w niej też poważnych tematów, pojawiły się łzy smutku i szczęścia (a rzadko płaczę na książkach).
Jest to przykład świetnego pomysłu, który został naprawdę dobrze wykorzystany! Czułam, że to idealna książka w idealnym momencie, zupełnie przerosła moje oczekiwania.
Znajdziecie w niej motywy: 💕 przyjaźń od dziecka; 💕 slow burn; 💕 friends to enemies to lovers; 💕 fake dating; 💕 girl in STEM;
“7 procent…” jest jak definicja “mojej” książki. Wyjątkowa, urocza młodzieżówka w której nie brakuje elementów skłaniających do refleksji. Daje zdecydowanie więcej niż moglibyśmy oczekiwać, to książka, która przypomniała mi za co kocham czytanie!
Jeżeli chcecie zanurzyć się w tej niesamowitej historii, to nie zwlekajcie już dłużej bo jestem przekonana, że się zakochacie!
First of all, I have no idea if the main character Ro was named after the incomparable Rose Nylund and Blanche Devereaux of Golden Girls fame, but... she has to be, yeah? Especially since the rest of the book slayed so hard, I have to imagine that the author is a GG fan.
I cannot even find the proper words to explain how hard I fell for this book, because in fact some of it is simply.... je ne sais quoi, frankly. It just is great, if that makes sense? It had that special "it factor" that some books, especially contemporary, seem to have that make you love it. But I'll try to be more detailed, for the sake of you reading this immediately.
►I love Ro. Even if, by chance, she isn't named after some Golden Girls, I still love her. She is struggling so much with what comes after high school for her. She doesn't want to attend college, and her dad really wants her to. I have had a similar experience, and wow, did I feel seen. Seventeen year old me would have benefitted so much from this story, but forty year old me felt really validated too.
►This book is about MASH. Like, that was my jam for far, far too long. Heck, I'd probably still play it let's be real. So the fact that an old favorite is modernized into an app? Yes please. It is a genius concept! Especially when you go down the rabbit hole of the potential pitfalls, which this book absolutely does. The whole plot point about the app, and the positives and the downsides was really entertaining. I also really loved how Ro got to see just how predatory companies can be, too. Talk about life lessons!
►Friends-To-Enemies-To-??? Yeah, here for that messiness too! I loved the relationship between Ro and Miller- especially considering that they used to be absolute besties until they both made some iffy choices and ended up having a major falling out. What will happen when they are forced back together for their own future benefit? 😈
►It is just utterly charming. There was just not a thing about this story I didn't like, and a whole lot that I did. It made me feel happy, and that is worth five stars to me, yeah?
Bottom Line:
Loved Ro, the story, the side characters... absolutely fabulous debut, I will be looking for the author's next book!
I appreciate the complexity of the app, particularly on the discussion of compromise. MASH maps out an individualistic future, not an interdependent one. Perhaps it’s too complex for an algorithm, or perhaps Ro just didn’t figure out the right code. It made for interesting thought experiments with the remaining 7% of human behavior.
I also like the familial relationships. The author did a good job of capturing the parental love between Ro’s dad and her.
Somehow, though, the relationship fell flat between Miller and Ro. A lot of the potential scenes in their fake dating were skimmed over, and we didn’t feel that tension. We didn’t see the uncomfortable conflict that would complicate their relationship. We saw the resolution and the aftermath, but not the buildup. And that makes it really hard to connect with them. When the romance comes, it’s cute. I mean, you have ”’You will become people you can’t even fathom yet,’ Vera told me. But every version of myself, I know, belongs with him.” Come on! But I just didn’t care. I didn’t have that passion for them. They did nothing to convince me. They went from feuding to flirting in like one page. It was just lazy execution.
The whole timeline with MASH was ridiculous too. It rose to fame overnight and fell in its demise overnight. There were no developments, no build up to it. We’re told to be Omg MASH, Ro is such a genius, all hail and then we’re supposed to hate it and think it’s toxic and psychologically damaging. I get the thematic point of the 7%, and I appreciate it, but the lead up to it fell flat.
Also it’s really weird that adults were forcing them to be in a fake relationship. I mean, I know that it’s like PR and that people do that all the time, but they were high schoolers. No one called out the exploitive nature? And the adults acted like children. Evelyn and the mom were cartoon villains. And I don’t buy Felix and Jazzy being their friends…..they’re in a different life stage than them. There’s a difference between being friendly and being friends.
This was also so white. Like, so white. Dancing to Sweet Caroline in the mall white. My fault for not looking for a diverse story; I need some after this.
And of course, the whole app itself is over the top. You have to suspend a lot of belief to buy into the premise, or do what I did and just ignore it. It’s very unlikely that a high school senior would do this. If you read this, you’re going to have to choose to let go plausibility. It is a lighthearted read though.
3,5 ⭐ W końcu znalazłam przyjemny hetero romans, który nie jest napisany przez Jane Austen. Bardzo podoba mi się pomysł na fabułę i bohaterowie. Na prawdę potrzeba na tym świecie więcej facetów jak Miller. Jednak nie można zaprzeczyć, że niektóre zabiegi fabularne są na meh. Pomimo tego polecam serdecznie. Idealna na zrelaksowanie się.
3,5/5⭐️ Mega cute historia, która jest super komfortowa idealna na zimowy wieczór. Główna bohaterka jest ciekawa postacią i w wielu kwestiach ją rozumiem! Miałam moment że popłakałam się na tej książce ale to bardziej z prywatnej sytuacji która skojarzyła mi się z wydarzeniem z tej książki. Wątek romantyczny był przeuroczy ale dla mnie było go ociupinkę za mało! Bardzo fajny motał płynie z tej książki co bardzo doceniam w młodzieżówkach. Ogólnikowo bardzo przyjemna ale czasami mnie nudziła! Pierwsze 100 stron i ostatnie 100 stron najlepsze!
Wow. The fact that this was a debut novel? Crazy. This was such a quick and enjoyable read. Understanding what the title means and how it connects to the story was fun. This book brought out all emotions in me. Definitely looking forward to future books of Ellen’s because wow. This was everything I never knew I needed.
୨୧Ro Devereux is a regular 18 year old girl who wants to be independent and not go to college. Suddenly, it feels like that dream came true! She creates an app for her senior project, called M.A.S.H (modeled after the childrens game Mansion, Apartment, Shack, House) and overnight it goes viral. Her app seemingly can tell the future of your who your spouse is, what your job is, and where you live. Unfortunately, she matches with her ex-best friend (Miller) who she hates. Will she be able to keep up with MASH, AND deal with Miller?୨୧ ୨୧Okay, so that was a long winded description of the book, so lets get into my thoughts.୨୧ ୨୧Romance~5/5 Miller and Ro in the beginning I was like, yah no. But they became adorable!! Ex."𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦"୨୧ ୨୧Action~4/5 There were some moments I was like, W H A T I S G O I N G T O H A P P E N??୨୧ ୨୧Drama~4/5 I'm not even going to go into all of that, lol୨୧ ୨୧Horror~0/5 There was none, obvi because this book isn't horror...୨୧ ୨୧Sad parts 5/5 I legit cried because of... ୨୧All In all great book!!୨୧
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
HOLY HELL THIS WAS SO GOOD. O'Clover's writing truly blew me away, and the plot was so compelling (& the romance so swoony). Loved loved loved, can't wait to see what O'Clover writes next!