Score: 5/5 Bookmarks

Steam Rating: 🍆/5

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for gifting me a review audiobook copy of Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer.

Mix some ridiculously cute sea animals, with lovable characters, an adorable little town, and add a touch of magic and you’ve got yourself one absolutely delightful YA book.

Pru is a serial overachiever, and let’s be honest, a little judgy of others she deems to be slacking off, rude or disrespectful. After singing Instant Karma by The Beatles at karaoke with her friends Pru slips and hits her head. After coming to, she discovers that she has the ability to doll out karmic justice to those who are deserving. A giant bird poop to the man who parks in a disabled car space, a fall off a ladder to a girl who is defacing a local business’ sign etc.

But it seems the fates have some plans for Prudence too. She’s going to be forced to get a new perspective, but it might just be good for her.

I really enjoyed both the main and supporting characters in this story, and the descriptions of the town made me swear I could hear the ocean, and almost smell the fish they were feeding those rescued seals. Plus, ya’ll know how much I love a good enemies to lovers trope!

If you’re looking for a sweet, fun, YA romance with heart, you’ll definitely want to pick this one up. The audiobook was fantastic too, and came in at just over 14 hours long and was beautifully narrated by Rebecca Soler (who you might recognize from Sadie, The Night Country, The New Husband and more). You can grab the audiobook via the button below, or get a physical copy here.

Synopsis:

Chronic overachiever Prudence Daniels is always quick to cast judgment on the lazy, rude, and arrogant residents of her coastal town. Her dreams of karmic justice are fulfilled when, after a night out with her friends, she wakes up with the sudden ability to cast instant karma on those around her.

Pru giddily makes use of the power, punishing everyone from public vandals to mean gossips, but there is one person on whom her powers consistently backfire: Quint Erickson, her slacker of a lab partner. Quint is annoyingly cute and impressively noble, especially when it comes to his work with the rescue center for local sea animals.

When Pru resigns herself to working at the rescue center for extra credit, she begins to uncover truths about baby otters, environmental upheaval, and romantic crossed signals—not necessarily in that order. Her newfound karmic insights reveal how thin the line is between virtue and vanity, generosity and greed, love and hate . . . and fate.