Review: The Probability of Miracles

The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

Grade: 5 stars out of 5

This is a very early review (about 6 months too early) but I have to gush about this book. It was bittersweet, beautiful, and aspiring. It hits you so hard. (The book hasn’t even been released yet and I’m already hoping for more books from Wendy Wunder.) The Probability of Miracles surprised just as I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan did last year. Both novels give the reader the chance to believe in coincidence and miracles and the need to live for what is perfect now.

Snarky Cam is hard on the outside but soft on the inside. Cam has a rare cancer that's slowly destroying her body that is if the treatments and trials don't kill her first. On a last ditch effort to live her life, Cam and her mother and sister move to Promise, Maine where rumor has it the place is full of miracles. After living and working in Disney World Cam is far from being a full believer. But from purple dandelions to flocks of flamingos to a unicorn in her back yard*, Cam may have to reevaluate her opinion.

With a mix of 13 Little Blue Envelopes and I'll Be There and something all its own, The Probability of Miracles will break your heart, glue it back together, and shatter it all over again. 

Hi Buddy!

Cam was the perfect heroine for me. She was a genuine sister and daughter who fights with her younger sister and mother, but ultimately loves and cares deeply about them. Cam wasn't a romantic or a dreamer. She was sarcastic, she was real. Can breathed life with all of its ups and downs into the novel.

Life isn't prefect, but it can be pretty darn good sometimes when you let people in and the negativity out. That was what Cam learned and we as readers learned with her. Promise was just one more hoax that Cam scoffed at, but the small town with its motley crew of people melted the ice around Cam. She became a softer version of herself and started to be the giver of miracles.

The Probability of Miracles had an array of characters, which gave the book an explosion of voices and personalities. And yet it remained harmonious because at its center was Cam. She brought them in together from the perky sister, to the ever-fighting mother, to the sassy Nana, to the boy who taught Cam how to love, to the best friend who gave Cam a purpose when she felt like giving it all up. They were a perfect cast of supporters to the perfect heroine of an amazing and profound book.

It was slow in the beginning, but worth it in the end. Oh, the end. The last line literally made me fall in love with the book all over again and again. There’s wickedness to the humor, but lightness to the romance.

Savor this book.

*The Probability of Miracles is a contemporary novel and not a fantasy one. So the unicorn was my attempt to throw a little curve ball to you, but it is in the novel, just not what you might expect.

Cover A-

Initially the pink made me flinch but after reading the book, I love the pink. And the feather. And the long luscious hair, which is a big symbol in the book.

Source: ARC from Razorbill

Published: 2011, December 8

Amazon: order

Read the first 5 chapters!
The Probability of Miracles - Chapters 1 - 5