This Day Changes Everything by Sarah Underhill is a charming and heartwarming coming-of-age story about two teens who find themselves lost in New York City on Thanksgiving Day.

Abby is a hopeless romantic who believes that today is the day her life will change forever. Leo is a trans teen who is just trying to survive the day without having a meltdown. When they accidentally meet up on the wrong train, they are forced to rely on each other to find their way back home.

Along the way, Abby and Leo learn a lot about themselves and each other. They face their fears, challenge their assumptions, and discover the true meaning of friendship and love.

I really enjoyed the characters in This Day Changes Everything. Abby and Leo are both complex and relatable teenagers. Abby is full of life and optimism, while Leo is more cautious and guarded. But they both have big hearts and a lot to learn about the world.

I also appreciated the diversity of the cast. Abby and Leo are both queer, and there are other LGBTQ+ characters in the story. I also liked that Leo's trans identity is handled in a respectful and authentic way.

The romance between Abby and Leo is sweet and believable. They have great chemistry, and I was rooting for them from the start. I also liked the way the story explored the idea of first love and the challenges of young relationships.

Overall, This Day Changes Everything is a charming and heartwarming coming-of-age story. It's a perfect read for anyone who loves stories about friendship, love, and self-discovery.

I am so sad this book isn’t coming out sooner!! The mood/setting/atmosphere was so well done that after reading this book (all in one sitting!) it took me a few minutes to remember it wasn’t ACTUALLY the holiday season, and I can’t believe I’m not going to get to recommend this to everyone who is already asking for holiday recs!

But that’s okay, because even outside the holiday season this is such a good, warm book. I binged it all in one sitting, going to bed waaay later than I should considering I had work in the morning. Totally worth it for the extreme warm-fuzzies this gave me. I’m not really sure how they got THAT lost in the numbered grid of NYC with working phones and google maps, but I like to think it was some of the Universe Magic.

Please pick up this book as soon as it’s out for the love, acceptance, community, and high value on friendships (not just romantic relationships) as well as the very lovable characters and fun read.

I was immediately intrigued by this cover. The description also made me believe this was going to be a funny story. And I was not disappointed. I was super engaged with this story. I laughed out loud. I loved the characters and cheered them on. Loved it!

I first read Edward's debut novel when it came out, and I was obsessed. Edward is an incredible writer and he writes his characters, settings, and circumstances so uniquely. This book was no exception. I found myself feeling all the emotions while also getting to reminisce on trips I've taken to New York.

I really enjoyed the diversity and stories of each individual character, and the dual POV made it really interesting, too! Now I want to see the characters of this book meet his characters from the last book he wrote. I cannot wait to see what Edward comes up with next!

What I loved most about this story is the being lost-getting lost parallel. Leo feels lost. So many people don’t see him as the boy he is. His extended family doesn’t even know he’s trans, so his parents want to call him a tomboy. Again. Other people misgender him all the time. Abby is lost in her favorite romance book and almost frantically believes in fate and true love. But she’s, um, gay?, and nobody knows. Not even her best friend Kat, who she’s in love with. But everything changes when Leo and Abby get lost on the New York subway.

I loved this book! I enjoyed going on the adventure with them and the stories they came up with! I would definitely recommend this book!

This was such a cutesy and funny Romcom full of laughs and great moments. If you want something to make you laugh and smile this is definitely your book. While it will make you mad at times all in all

Let me tell you, this was such a cutie lil book!!!!! In this queer, coming of age novel, Abby and Leo are our main characters. We follow them around NYC for 24hrs leading up to their marching band’s special appearance in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade. This dual POV goes back and forth between grumpy Leo and sunshine Abby - Abby is more of a half glass full girl and Leo is the opposite. Abby’s still figuring out her queer identity and her ultimate plan for NYC is to profess her love to her long time best friend, Kat. Instead, she has stumbled into the wrong place at the wrong time with Leo and they get stuck together. Doesn’t that just draw you in immediately?!

I genuinely overall enjoyed this book!! But I would have appreciated it much more from a younger perspective. I wish I could go back in time and put this book in high school Lauren’s lap, she would have loved it! Something I don’t normally enjoy in books is the “24hr falling in love” trope BUT it was so well done in this. I think it helped that they were young and it wasn’t an “insta love” trope. The pacing of this story was pretty fast which is also something I always look for in books. There were so many quotes I simply adored and can definitely see myself picking this one back up again with a physical copy when it comes out in February of 2024!!!

This book is more than just a romance and has had SO MUCH depth and dynamic which leaves you with a completely unforgettable story! Amazing, it was utterly amazing!

Abby Akerman believes in true love, big romantic gestures and the power of the universe. See, she has a plan. When her marching band gets selected to play in the Macy’s day parade, she knows this is the sign of the universe to give her big gesture to her best friend, Kat, who she is in love with. Leo Brewer is known by his Face—he feels like the world is crashing down on him, from the interview that will out him to his family as transgender, to the noisy and crowded Macy’s day parade his marching band is going to participate in, he’s not sure he believes in anything.

The universe decides to knock these two together—literally—on a mistaken NYC subway, where Abby loses her romantic gesture for Abby. To make up for it, Leo comes up with another, surprisingly romantic gesture—find souvenirs from places that are mentioned in a book both Abby and Kat love. Set over a course of a day, Leo and Abby realize that maybe, just maybe, the universe is what you make it.

What can’t I say about this book? I legitimately read this in one sitting. This book showcases the power and joy that comes from making friendships with other queer teens—how it showed both Abby and Leo that they are not alone. I saw another reviewer had a problem with how often both Abby’s and Leo’s orientation and gender status was mentioned, and how hard it is, but I think that’s accurate to not only teens, but to people in the LGBTQ community as well. This is a book for teenagers, and I think this struggle with touch on feelings that the reader might be feeling as well. I cried when Abby and Leo met other LGBTQ teenagers at the Strand bookstore.

This book could be a lifesaver for LGBTQ teenagers in Southern states (or anywhere) that feel like they are possibly the only one in their small area. Absolutely recommend not only for Abby and Leo (who are so wonderful and mesh with one another so well,) but for the side characters, the setting (Underhill either really loves New York, because I felt right there on the New York streets, or did a lot of research,) and the ending. I’m not usually one for quick romances, but I completely believe the ending here.

This was a fun and light read that also addressed some heavy issues. Abby and Leo are from different marching bands that are both in New York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. The universe brings them together for a day of adventure, fun, and self discovery.

This book is so cute. Abby is very sweet and focused on confessing to her best friend that she likes her. Leo is hurting and understandably grumpy, but has such a kind heart. They go through a very serendipitous adventure through NYC.

This book gave me heavy 90s rom com and Serendipity vibes. There are just so many adorable moments. I especially loved that they just "happened upon" a queer book club who were exactly two people short for their adorable bookish competition. I didn't care how unlikely it was that they would find that book club. It was just absolutely adorable.

Tropes:
Female/Transgender Romance
Sweet no spice ya romance
LGBTQ+ Representation
Misunderstanding (resolves fairly quickly)
Rom Com
NYC adventure
Marching band musicians
Grumpy x Sunshine
Thanksgiving Parade

Content Warning: Rainbow of curse words

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy. This review is voluntarily written, and the thoughts and opinions it contains are my own.

This book is so cute. Abby is very sweet and focused on confessing to her best friend that she likes her. Leo is hurting and understandably grumpy, but has such a kind heart. They go through a very serendipitous adventure through NYC.

This book gave me heavy 90s rom com and Serendipity vibes. There are just so many adorable moments. I especially loved that they just "happened upon" a queer book club who were exactly two people short for their adorable bookish competition. I didn't care how unlikely it was that they would find that book club. It was just absolutely adorable.

Tropes:
Female/Transgender Romance
Sweet no spice ya romance
LGBTQ+ Representation
Misunderstanding (resolves fairly quickly)
Rom Com
NYC adventure
Marching band musicians
Grumpy x Sunshine
Thanksgiving Parade

Content Warning: Rainbow of curse words

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this advanced reader copy. This review is voluntarily written, and the thoughts and opinions it contains are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have been reading a lot of fantasy recently, and getting into a romance book really brought me back and reminded me why I love them. This was really good! I was pulled in from the very beginning. I couldn't put this down. I love the development of the story and characters. Edward has such a unique voice in his writing and every time I read (or re-read) his books, I find new, cute things that make my heart swell even more. He just does such a great job with pulling you into the story, and Never wanting to let it go. They're emotional, heartfelt, and so important. Everyone should read his books. If you enjoy YA contemporary or romance, definitely grab this one!

So, I loved the premise of this book. All of my friends are in marching band and they literally just went on a trip to NYC to be in the Macy Day parade. So it was such a cute premise but it honestly took me forever to get through.

The whole book for me was an anxiety trip. I wanted to enjoy Abby and Leo's love story, but the anxiety of what would've happened got to me too much. I think it is because my friends just had that experience, and our band director is like scary, so it was a bit too real for me.

Other than that, the writing was amazing, I loved the characters and just the premise was so good.

I finished this one a while ago and i just simply forgot to give feedback on Netgalley, as I've been a little hiatus recently.

I found this title very interesting and fun! I can't remember how I felt about it in a deep way but I do remember loving it! Thank you for the ARC!

I loved the queer representation, and as Ferris Buellers Day Off is one of my favs, this was too!

A light-hearted read featuring two people learning and growing into who they are. I usually don't like books that take place in just one day, but this was a super fun read with moments of seriousness. Also, I 100000% want to someday participate in a book scavenger hunt just like in the book. I am a sucker for books that feature a book that parallels the plot of the main book.

Personally, I am not a fan of people quickly falling in love (in just one day), but I understand it in the context of this book. I would've liked to have seen more of their relationship, especially post-Thanksgiving.

This Day Changes Everything has a fantastic premise: queer fairytale with build-your-own agency. As the book mentions, there’s a plethora of anti-queer legislation throughout the US, and it’s having a deleterious effect on kids (and everyone). The main characters lack representation in their hometowns and in their media. How much representation matters is quite the theme in this book, and the real-world book bans and criminalization of medical care are only making it harder on actual children to believe their lives are possible.

Leo, a trans boy from North Carolina, isn’t out to his extended family because his parents are closeting him, afraid of what their parents and cousins might think. His teachers and chaperones misgender him, and he’s made to feel like a nuisance, a “Logistical Headache.” I felt so strongly for Leo throughout the book. He’s understandably grumpy. He has A Face. He’s coping with figuring out how to be in a world-made-binary while the adults in his life–family, teachers, political leaders–let him down at every turn. Dealing with the mortifying ordeal of being known is a terrible burden, and he’s left feeling liminal.

Abby is full of deliberate, carefully crafted sunshine. She believes in magic and the power of the Universe to guide her. Terrified of what it would mean to be the only gay girl in her town, she’s trying so hard to enjoy life and find some good in it that she forgets that she’s equally capable of making her own good. She starts the novel in love with her best friend Kat and plans an elaborate Promposal-level event to confess her feelings on their band trip to NYC. She and Kat have bonded over a book wherein the main character has to find true love before she can escape a timeloop that takes her all over NYC. Abby finds an autographed copy of the book and annotates it for Kat, hoping that it will serve as a love letter clear enough to overcome her fear of coming out (despite not being sure she even is gay because labels are hard and don’t come with built-in senses of belonging).

And let’s all be honest: who amongst us queers hasn’t had an unfortunate but revelatory crush on a best friend in high school? Points for relatability, Abby.

A series of unfortunate events leads to Abby losing the book, so she and Leo try to piecemeal Plan B: skip band activities to traipse around NYC to find souvenirs from the places in the book. On their 12-hour adventure, they fall in love.

Twelve hours.

In twelve hours, Abby falls out of love with Kat and in love with Leo, a stranger from another state.

In twelve hours, Leo surmounts his justifiable pessimism, sheds his protective shell, and falls in love with Abby, a stranger from another state.

They’re seventeen, and this is a fairytale, but I found my credulity strained.

But I do think that approaching this book from the lens of “what makes logical sense” is an incorrect framework. This is bordering on metafiction with how it discusses The Book and The Author of The Book, Abby’s relationship to The Book, and Abby’s overall removal of The Book from its context. After all, books belong to their readers, and Abby’s made The Book her own. Her love for the queer fanfic of The Book is integral to her love of The Book. To me, it feels like a commentary on “you can’t be what you can’t see” while proposing that we can make our own pockets of fairytale joy in a very real world.

Abby’s growth as a person throughout her one adventure was cool to follow, especially the part at the Strand. Same with Leo. Part of why, even outside of this fairytale context, I would buy that they’re in like (but not in love) is that they do spend concentrated time together, exhilarated at the possibilities available outside a stifling, queerphobic context. Living their one wild and precious life. And there were moments throughout their adventure that felt so visceral, so emotionally real, that I was ready to forgive the logistical headaches inherent with mistaking fairytale for typical fiction.

It’s easy to mock Abby for believing in the Universe and agree with Leo’s cynicism about what the Universe is capable of, but really they’ve both been abdicating their agency to the Universe in different ways. There’s a certain queerphobia-induced learned helplessness in both of them, and realizing the depth of their similarities despite their different surface reactions goes a long way with making their whirlwind romance sparkle.

I’d hope that this story reminds queer kids that they’re not alone in the world, that “coupledom [isn’t] the only way to escape . . . purgatory,” and that being a liminal person doesn’t erase your existence.

For me, there are pacing issues, which may be natural for a book that takes place over the course of roughly one day. And there are times where the story feels unfocused with plot threads disregarded. But there are so many amazing things that this story does so well.

Once the characters’ solipsistic isolation crumbled when confronted with multitudinous diversity, I believed in magic too.

“The universe is what you make it.”

After reading Always the Almost and loving it, I was really excited to read this book. I grew up close to New York City and definitely visited all the time around the holidays so this book gave me all the nostalgic feels. I could even vividly imagine some of the places Abby and Leo visited. I absolutely loved how both main characters explored and discovered their queerness. Kay’s revelation was everything too - I related so much even though I didn’t come to my realization until I was in my 30s. Edward Underhill did a great job showing each character’s mindset in existing as queer teenagers in today’s society. And I usually don’t always enjoy quick romances, but I love seeing Abby and Leo’s relationship form and then see the open possibilities for their relationship.

The only negative to me was a bit about the pacing. The ending did feel a bit rushed and I would have loved to see more.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in exchange for an honest re

This is such a love letter to NYC and I love visiting NYC. In addition, it was compared to Ferris Bueller and I love Ferris Bueller :)

Two teenagers find themselves together in NYC. Both are very much trying to figure out their place in the world and who they are.
Abby has realized recently that she’s in love with her best friend Kat. She has written out love notes to Kat in their mutual favorite book and plans to come out and spill her love for Kat during their marching band’s trip to NYC. But she looses the book on the subway shortly after she gets separated from the rest of her group.
Leo is dealing with the fact that he’s about to be outed as trans on tv. His parents know and his sister knows. But his whole extended family is going to find out when they see him on a pre-parade segment as Leo. His parents have just been telling the family he’s a tomboy and he knows they aren’t going to be happy when everything comes out during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.

Abby and Leo meet after Leo is also separated from his school group. At first they plan to meet back up with their group as quickly as possible. But after Abby loses her book, they mutually come up with the idea of finding little tokens around NYC that represent the book so Abby can give those to Kat instead.

And then they start having a lot of fun on their big NYC adventure. It takes them to all kinds of noteworthy NYC spots. They mentioned Strand books, Chelsea Piers and a number of places I have enjoyed on my own trips to NYC. It really made me smile.

As these two start to bond and to understand themselves better in NYC, it makes them wonder about the other one’s place in their lives.

This day really could change everything.

I got to read an early ebook edition on NetGalley and really enjoyed it.