Parallel

by Lauren Miller

"A collision of parallel universes leaves 18-year-old Abby Barnes living in a new version of her life every day, and she must race to control her destiny without losing the future she planned and the boy she loves"--

• ISBN10: 0062199781
• ISBN13: 9780062199782
• Publish Date: 8 April 2014 (first published 14 May 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 448
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I loved Parallel. It is the perfect mix of science and romance, and I just loved it. Actually, I thought I was going to be annoyed once the romance started to take over the story, but by that point I was completely invested in Abby's life and had to know how this was going to turn out for her. In short, Abby's not living the life she expected. Some things went wrong with her schedule and she ended up on a movie set in L.A. rather than in a classroom at Northwestern. Then her universe collides with an alternate universe and gets tangled. Now, Abby finds herself at Yale with no memory of how she got there. Soon she finds out about the parallel universe and is determined to get her life back on track, or at least embrace the life she wants.

The two worlds of Parallel are one year and one day apart. Any big changes made by 2008 Abby have the potential of changing the present for 2009 Abby (our present day Abby). But technically, didn't this entire year already happen, so all of 2008 Abby's decisions are made, and 2009 Abby wouldn't be experiencing changes, she'd just be living 2008 Abby's life but a year in advance? Or has 2008 technically not happened yet, since the past timeline is suppose to be the dominant one now, so the decisions are still in process which is why 2009 Abby can have her life jolted at any moment? Meanwhile, as the 2008 world continues along, 2009 Abby gains new memories of those past events, as they rewrite her memories as should have happened during the collision like everyone else. Luckily, the way parallel universes work wasn't overly complicated, but it still made my head hurt to think about it too deeply. I loved the deeper sciencey parts though! Hooray for eccentric professors!

The romance...I loved it! It was a love triangle...or maybe a love square...but not really. Present day Abby starts dating a guy named Michael once she's at Yale. Things are going great, but then she starts getting memories of a guy name Josh. 2008 Abby meets Josh when she takes Astronomy instead of Drama, and things click with him. Present day Abby has technically never met Josh, so she shouldn't have lingering feelings about him, especially since she's into Michael. But eventually present day Abby and present day Josh cross paths and things...get weird. There's a twist and I was like NOOO! I was genuinely shocked. And then this is where it seems like Abby's "destiny" is tangled up in her love life, but I was still loving Parallel so I couldn't even care that her choice of boyfriend became more important than her college and career decisions.

Then Parallel shocked me again! That last page is what bumped my rating up to a full 5★. What in the world?! I suffered a bit of brain explosion, because that was perfect. No other ending could have worked. At first it seems a bit open, but it's not really. Abby ends up exactly where she was meant to be, and now it's up to her to go after the life she wants.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Amber]

Fuck that ending. I'm just sitting here crying. Send help.

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This book distressed me greatly *sobs* Especially the ending

I'm not sure if you know this, but I'm telling you now anyway: I adore parallel universe/multi-verse/time travel stuff. Much like Christina from A Reader of Fictions. It all really intrigues me, and I love thinking that it's a possibility with our own universe and not just in fiction. How cool would it be to discover a parallel universe? Of course, it wouldn't be cool if that universe declared war on us, or if it collides with ours and changes our lives like the parallel universe did in Parallel.

Full review on Books of Amber.

[Suz @ Bookish Revelations]

Parallel is one of the years best young adult science fiction reads, without a doubt! You will definitely not want to miss out on the awesomeness of this book. Amazingly compelling, the story Lauren Miller pens is extraordinary in so many wibbley-wobbley-timey-whimey ways. It is intensely rich with atmospheric chemistry and bursting to life with incredible amounts of excitement. Such a brilliant saucy little read, I was entranced from the beginning.

The characters are truly engaging and wonderfully developed. It is super easy to fall in love with them and to connect with them. In many ways, they are the heart of the story, what makes it tick and work for me, personally. The creativity put into dividing the parallel worlds and distinctly telling them apart is just absolutely fantastic in so many ways! Miller has definitely hit out of the park with this one.

From the moment that I picked it up, I never wanted to put it down. It was that engaging and filled with awesomely unexpected twists and turns around every corner. If you're a fan of sci-fi and fantasy, then this is definitely a thrillingly epic young adult novel that you definitely will not want to miss out. Trust me, the excitement and buzz about this one, is rightly just. I would definitely urge you to pick this one up!

[Ashley]

BookNook — Young Adult book reviews

Let me paint a picture for you. You're crying yourself to sleep at night because you just finished reading Pivot Point and you're afraid that nothing will ever live up to the awesomeness that is that book. Well, allow me to introduce PARALLEL! This book is the perfect follow-up to Pivot Point; they're very similar in nature, but also vastly different. And I promise you that Parallel will rock your universe (the parallel ones too!).

Parallel is so much more rooted in science than I ever imagined. I have no idea how much the science aspects of Parallel are actually connected to real scientific theories/speculation, but I don't care, because Lauren Miller makes it sound 100% believable. This book isn't just about the fantastical idea of parallel universes. Lauren Miller creates an entire scientific reason behind them. You won't sit there thinking, "Oh, what a cool fantasy idea!" Instead, you will imagine this actually happening happening in the world! It's both fascinating and terrifying at the same time.

LIfe can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.

At first, Parallel might be a bit of a mindfuck. I had to re-read the parallel world explanation like 3 times before I finally got it. Basically, there are two parallel worlds, but they're not running at the same time. One (the 'main' one) takes place in 2009, and the other one takes place exactly a year earlier in 2008. When the Abby in the earlier parallel world makes course-altering decisions, they affect the other Abby a year later. So you can see how teeny tiny decisions, choices, lies, exaggerations of the truth, and mistakes affect Abby's path and course of life an entire year later. It's absolutely insane to see how such tiny things can have such huge impacts in the long run!

Abby basically has no control over her life because the decisions that her parallel makes ultimately affect where she ends up. For example, maybe in the 'normal' world, Abby is currently in university. In the 'earlier' parallel world, Abby is still in high school. But maybe, today, the earlier Abby drops out of high school for whatever reason. Then, when the 'normal' Abby wakes up tomorrow, she will no longer be at university because the decisions the 'earlier' Abby made suddenly set the 'normal' Abby on a different path. I know, it's a little confusing at first, but when it makes sense (which it will as you read the book, I promise!) it becomes this huge fantastical scientifical web of awesomeness.

Who knew fate was so fragile?

Parallel deals with a lot of ideas like fate and destiny. Because of the nature of the book, the 'normal' Abby feels powerless. It's as if the 'earlier' parallel Abby is controlling everything, and the 'normal' Abby has no say! This raises a lot of questions like: can we control our destiny? Are our lives predetermined? These questions are addressed by an awesome scientist character, Dr. Mann. He's a really interesting character, because he's a scientist who has written theories about parallel worlds and how they might collide.

The characters in Parallel are just as awesome as the plot! You will love every single one of them for different reasons. Abby is a perfect main character. She's interesting, she's smart, but sometimes she does make stupid decisions, and you can see how those decisions affect her long-term. And I LOVE her best friend Caitlin! Caitlin is a total science nerd, but she's also awesome, gorgeous, and an amazing best friend! I love her relationship with Abby and it completely broke my heart when they had a fight about halfway through. I don't think I'd ever actually cried over a best friend type relationship before reading Parallel, but that moment actually got me teary-eyed!

We're all just a decision or two away from destroying the relationships that are most important to us and to the people we love. And most of the time, we never even know it.

Even the side characters are amazing and hilarious. This one—Fiona—is only in the book for like two seconds, but I don't care, because she's amazing.

"Fiona!" a male voice calls. A hulk of a guy in a shirt that could double as a bedsheet is waving from across the courtyard. His forearm is the size of my thigh.
"Be right there!" Fiona sh outs. "My boyfriend," she explains. "And yes, the size thing is an issue in bed. I once tried to straddle him and pulled my hamstring.

There is a romance in Parallel and it's actually quite similar to Pivot Point in its approach. There are two different love interests: one for each parallel world. So yes, there is a bit of a love triangle, but it's so interesting how it's done! We have Josh in the 'earlier' parallel world, and Michael in the 'normal' world. At first, I actually wasn't crazy about either of the guys. I think I felt the same way about Michael that Abby's parents do. If you asked me to describe him, I'd use words like "Confident". And I don't mean that in the best way. He's so confident that he comes off as cocky. He's also just not my type at all. He's a party guy, a little closed off, and I just didn't click with him. And then there's Josh. I thought Josh was a little too corny for me, and for the longest time I had no idea where their relationship was going, if anywhere. But by the end of the book, Josh definitely did grow on me!

"I invited Josh to go with us Ilana's party."
"Who's Josh?"
"Josh Wagner. Astronomy Boy."
"You invited Astronomy Boy to go with us to a party we're not actually attending. Interesting strategy. Shall I bring the boyfriend I don't actually have?"

To be honest, I'm not completely sure how I feel about the end of the book. I loved it, up until the very last second. It's still good, but it almost had me wanting more! Josh and Abby make up and finally get together! I loved how that turned out and I was so happy that she chose him! But then the worlds like.. un-collide, and Abby and Josh have to basically start over from scratch because they don't even know each other yet. And then it ends. I guess the ending totally does make sense, because the worlds un-colliding will allow Abby to finally live independently. And it is definitely implied that Abby starts pursuing Josh.. but the fact that we don't actually see that happening left me a little unsatisfied!

Ultimately, this is a fabulous book. It's hilarious, it's fun, and it's so freaking interesting. The ideas in this book and the way they are presented are genius! This book is so carefully crafted and I loved seeing how tiny things can have huge ripples in Abby's life. I can't recommend this book enough!