Book Reviews

Review: Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O’Clover

I will always support heroines and girls in STEM. So when I heard about Seven Percent of Ro Devereux I knew I had to read it. This YA Debut is a book about ethics, friendship, and (re)connection. Keep reading this book review for my full thoughts.

Summary

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.

Review

(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)

TW: sexual assault

From the very beginning of Seven Percent of Ro Devereux I loved this idea of human nature. Whether we can ever, even 93%, be predictable. While her app, MASH style, is supposed to have a high accuracy, how powerful can unpredictability be? I love that not only is it an issue for Ro throughout the book, but also the story in general. In our lives, there’s this tendency to wonder what would happen if our lives were a movie. If there was a sense of predictability to it. And Ro’s app seems to see inside our souls and let us know what our future holds.

Seven Percent of Ro Devereux is a gripping contemporary grounded in characters. In us figuring out what’s real and what’s not. If there’s something real with Ro and Miller. Something deep within us that the app has seen. If there’s such a thing as second chances. There were some utterly relatable and heartbreaking moments – like when our friendships begin to change – or when the world tries to shrink us down to what they want. What they know. And to squash out differences.

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And while all of this gorgeous character work is happening, Seven Percent of Ro Devereux also examines the ethics of technology. How easily we can give away pieces of ourselves. But also what we would do with that power, with those answers, even if we had them. I was slowly, and steadily, swept away until the last 30% when it all erupted into a landslide. This YA debut balances action and character development which will have your heart in your throat. You won’t be able to put it down. Find Seven Percent of Ro Devereux on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Indiebound, Bookshop.org, & The Book Depository.

Discussion

What’s your favorite second chance romance meets fake dating story?


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