Today Tonight Tomorrow // Review

Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published On: July 28th, 2020
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Genre: YA, Contemporary, Romance
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Synopsis:

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

Not….not an actual book review?

Yes, friends, yes! I have read my first book of 2021! Hooray!!

I’ve had my eye on this YA contemporary for awhile, ever since I saw it going around the blogosphere back this summer during a blog tour. I finally decided to buy it when I saw it for 50% off at Barnes and Noble (for once, B&N comes through for me!) and finished it in 24 hours.

• Enemies-to-lovers perfection! The tension between our main character and her love interest has stemmed for years. They’ve been nemesis since freshman year of high school, and the tension has built. I loved how we started off with some awesome snarky banter and reflection on their four-year-faceoff – it really gave me a sense of what these two had been through and where we were starting off from at the beginning of the book! I could seriously cut the tension with a knife, it was that good.

• The pacing was very well done. Solomon packs a lot into this book – a girl who’s grappling with her postgrad future, reckoning with her high school experience, dealing with changes to her friendships, coming to grips with her passions, AND wrapping up a 4-year battle with her nemesis. However, I didn’t feel that any of the book was rushed or even too slow. We got a lot of little moments that touched on each of these topics individually, but I think Solomon did a great job of tying all of these challenges together to not only give us great growth in our MC, but also a fun and well-moving plot!

• How supportive everyone is of each other! Rowan’s relationships with her parents and her friends definitely go through their rough patches, but it’s always encouraging to see people who love each other overcome their struggles and preserve those bonds that I just so love to read. We stan supportive parents and friends!

• The setting was so much fun! Basically, the seniors each year go on a huge scavenger hunt across Seattle while simultaneously playing a massive game of assassin. The scene was always changing, and the characters weren’t stuck in one place for too long. I thought the whole concept was so much fun!

• Soloman did a great job of avoiding the ever-dreaded instalove trap. Since this book takes place over 24 hours, I was a bit nervous about it being too insta-lovey for me. Definitely not the case!! Because Rowan and Neil have such a long and bitter history (which Solomon does a good job of bringing us into) and the ever-changing setting, I was 100% able to buy into their inevitable romance.

• Neil is actually the cutest. So sweet, so supportive, so sassy, I loved him. Putting him right next to my king Paul on the YA-contemporary boyfriend list ASAP.

• This is a small thing, but the public high school was….unrealistic. As a product of a public high school, some of the things about Rowan and Neil’s school made me go…what? I come from a fairly affluent public school and can say that in no world would my school ever organize a weekend-long, school sponsored scavenger hunt across Chicago with a $5,000 prize at the end. No way. Also, *mild spoiler here*, there’s a scene where Rowan and Neil break into the school to return textbooks to the library. Like, the thought of even attempting to break into my high school late at night just to return books has me imaging what my jail cell would look like. I mean, maybe things are different on the west coast? Let me know.

• A bit predictable at times. But most YA contemporaries are, so no big gripes here.

All in all, this was an adorable, quick-paced, fun YA contemporary that I would for sure recommend. The relationships, the plot, the setting, the snark, I adored it. I can’t wait to read Solomon’s upcoming book, The Ex Talk – I have a feeling she might just become an auto-buy author this year!

My Rating:

Have you read Today Tonight Tomorrow? What did you think? Can you recommend me any similar adorable reads?