Member Reviews
This was a fun read. I enjoyed the two main characters and their battle to one up each other. It was pretty obvious that perhaps the battle was one sided and some of the miscommunication was obvious.
My biggest issue was formatting but I assume that will be fixed before the book is published. The text bubbles will probably be a fun addition
Today Tonight Tomorrow read like a like a love letter addressed to many simultaneous recipients: to Seattle (the city I grew up in and loved revisiting through this novel), to optimists, to high achievers, to the novelist herself, or perhaps to any writer of love stories who struggles to embrace the worth of the endeavor. Solomon wisely places her lovers in direct contact for almost the entire novel, allowing them plenty of time to bond and address their assumptions about each other. They're both deeply generous spirits, making them instantly likable, and yet they make mistakes and say the wrong things when they're nervous or angry, fleshing them out as real people. There's some wonderful humor sprinkled throughout and since most readers who pick this up will be lovers of love stories, they'll likely revel in the meta-themes about the genre. It's a book that opens its pages and invites the reader in with a warm heart and a gentle lesson about self-acceptance. I also appreciated the sex-positivity and the questioning of some traditional gender role tropes. It's a book that will make readers smile. In times like these, that seems like a pretty great thing.
(For Netgalley only: there were a lot of problems with the e-ARC download, forcing me to skip several pages when those with graphics--the bench, text bubbles, etc--stalled for up to a minute to appear or automatically skipped to the next page. I won't include this info in reviews on public sites, but it may affect reader response. If an e-ARC is available without graphics, others may reply more positively. It's frustrating to read a romance when you have skip things like the first kiss and you aren't quite sure if the couple had sex or not. And waiting for pages to download while the color wheel spins is distancing and affects engagement with the story.)
Such a fun, feel good story, the characters were electric and I love reading about a good scavenger hunt! This had all the right feels, though a couple times I wanted to shake Rowan, can't you see how Neil feels, but glad it played out the way it did to create such a wonderful story. I appreciate all the real talk about women's oppression and sex and Judaism, thought it was really well done to bring some big themes to light.
Review will be posted on Goodreads and my blog, Reading Recluses.
OKAY, before we start the actual review, can we just take a second to appreciate the premise. I am a sucker for a good enemies to lovers story. It’s one of the more unrealistic tropes I love as I could not imagine falling in love with any of my rivals but I really love it in books! Also there's #ownvoices Jewish representation!
The first chapter opens with the protagonist talking about how her first day in high school was going to be a day of lasts. Which was ridiculously relatable as my last day of high school was spent by me annoying my friends and going “This is the last grade 12 math class we’ll ever be in”, “This is the last high school water fountain we’ll ever drink in” and so on. I feel you Rowan.
Okay literally every page I read, I could think of something that I wanted to talk about in this review because it was that good. I really enjoyed Today Tonight Tomorrow. It’s on par with Fangirl and Simon Vs. The Homosapiens Agenda, but we will have to see how it holds up when I inevitably reread it.
The characters! I was quite fond of the characters. They were well rounded and had flaws but they were all still very likeable. Rowan and Neil are both ridiculous overachievers and natural rivals. Rowan going off about how romance books are just as good as pretentious classic books (looking at you, Moby Dick) was everything. Rowan was super relatable and such a good main character. Rowan’s best friends and their relationship was also super adorable. Everyone from Rowan’s parents to Neil’s little sister had a distinct personality which is really impressive to do in a YA romance book with many characters. Today Tonight Tomorrow was also very diverse and had lots of good representation!
The romance was everything. It was cute, well fleshed out, realistic and all around adorable. Even though the story takes place over the time frame of one day, it didn’t feel like instalove because their feelings gradually ramped up as they got to learn more about each other. The chemistry was great.
The actual plot with the scavenger hunt was really fun. It made for a good competitive setting for the romance to occur and also made me want to participate in a city wide scavenger hunt. It was a little predictable but I am not mad about it at all, because the book was good enough that it didn’t matter.
Final Thoughts:
Today Tonight Tomorrow was an adorable romance book with amazing characters. I can’t wait to see what other books Rachel Lynn Solomon has to offer. 5 stars.
This piece of work had me putting my hands to my chest, screaming, rolling around and literally falling off my bed. Everything, every single part that constitutes this book was perfect.
The story is based on Rowan, a hard-working girl who deeply loves romance novels (same) and who is a writer. She has spent her entire high school years competing with Neil; a quirky, intelligent boy. We are able to witness how their relationship begins with banter and turns into something more, something even better.
The main thing that absolutely destroyed me was the way they learned about each other all over again; things they didn't know surfaced and as they did, feelings did too. Their chemistry was heartwarming; I was giddy, curious, furious; at how at first tried to diminish what they felt over fear and their shyness but sureness on how they treated one another; it was incredibly satisfying to read.
The ending; I was flabbergasted on the writing, the last chapters were filled with emotions that reigned and Rowan realizing her true love has always been in front of her; my heart was pumping out of my chest.
Please, please; the day this book hits the market, do yourself a favour and go read it. It has entered my favourites list and it's never leaving it for a reason.
Special thanks to Simon & Schuster Canada and NetGalley for letting me have access to this astonishing work