Twenty-Four Seconds from Now by Jason Reynolds is one of my most anticipated reads of the year. This book is a love story following Neon and the very real emotions surrounding a teenager and their “first time”. The story is also told in reverse. I found that it was written in a way where despite starting from “the end”, I was curious about what led up to it all. We get the story entirely through Neon’s point of view which I love because we rarely get just the guy’s point of view. We also get to see Neon engage with his family/friends and learn about how he and Aria came to be. This book does a great job of discussing issues teen face without sound like a textbook. I’m looking forward to displaying this in my library.

There is a reason Jason Reynolds just won a MacArthur Genius Grant. His voice and prose is so powerful. Centering around the concept of the number 24 (weeks, seconds, days, etc) Neon and Aria discover love and live authentic teen lives. I believe this is Reynold's first step into romance and he handles it in true Jason Reynold's fashion, with the reader in mind.

I feel like this will become the consent manual that we hand to teen boys who need a healthy dose of romance and realism when embarking on their first, true relationship. And goodness, black boys deserve love & healthy relationships and to see such in a book! The story starts when Neon is in the bathroom in his head and about to go all the way with his partner Aria on their 2 year anniversary. While he's trying to get out of his head, he flashes back throughout the past two years and all the conversations he's had with his friends and family about relationships and sex--from his sister's advice to not treat Aria like another body, his mother's frankness about making sure they are emotionally ready while placing Aria's pleasure equal to his own, and his father's admonishing him to not do what he did and "sow his oats" while not prioritizing his relationship. Neon is also dealing with grief from his Grandy's death and enjoys reflecting on his grandparents love and the model they created for him. The writing is lyrical, comical, and so real. I can't wait to get this one into the hands of our teens!

Thank you to Simon & Schuster and NetGalley for the e-ARC! The book is out October 8th!

Twenty-Four Seconds From Now is a remarkable take on new experiences from the male perspective. As a female reader, I was captivated by the idea of such raw emotion in a high school boy because I have never held that perspective before. There were some parts that ran on a little long because the story is meant to feel like the awkward moments leading to romantic intimacies, but it worked well within the story and the intentions. It is a great way to show human emotions and sexuality in mature classroom settings to give female students insight into the psyche and the male students to feel heard or acknowledged. I would not recommend teachers use it in lower-level or immature classes, but there are many aspects that are valuable for students to better understand regarding empathy, vulnerability, and respect.

This is not a Jason Reynolds story style that I am used to. The story was well written with no specific sexual details but innuendos were present in the beginning and end. The main character is very relatable for teens and Jason Reynolds does a wonderful job of including relatable details for teens. The book was short and held my interest well as I waited to see how the back in time jumps related to the current time plot line. I look forward to reading more books like this from Reynolds.

Jason Reynolds takes you inside the mind of a high school senior boy, Neon, who is about to have sex with his long term girlfriend, Aria, for the first time. The ensuing chapters take you back in time to demonstrate how they reached this point. Let’s face it: teens are having sex in middle school. This book is not explicit in any way. It is deep. It is thoughtful. It is needed. Reynolds’ approach will help teens understand that sex really is a big next step in a relationship. It’s important to be thoughtful about it - both for yourself and your partner I love that Neon has parents who have talked to him about sex, about being aware of his partner’s needs, and about staying true to himself. This book is a life lesson. It will definitely be in my high school library. The Jason Reynolds fans will be thrilled.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up this book purely because it was Jason Reynolds, and who doesn't love him? I, unfortunately, have a kind of Love-Hate relationship with this book. I'm not a fan of the topics presented, but I love Reynolds writing. He has such a magical way with words and character development. As a middle school teacher, there is no way this book will go in my classroom. I'm not even sure I would put it in a high school classroom just because if the content. I really wish I could have liked this book more than I did. I might try it again in a few years to see if I liked it better, but this one wasn't for me. I see the possibilities for this book, I understand it, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Like other books by Jason Reynolds, this book is SO good. The narrative structure is an interesting way to have flashbacks to let the reader into who the characters are and what brought them to this pivotal moment in their relationship. This is sure to be a classic in the YA genre and has characters to love and root for.

Falling in love and being a teen in general is awkward and complicated and joyful and frustrating, and Reynolds, as usual, captures it all with eloquence and empathy. This book will both amuse and comfort teens as they travel backward in a story so creatively crafted to show how Neon’s relationships with his grandparents, father, mother, sister, friends, and girlfriend ebb and flow in the chaos of emotions that come with the different types of love. Tweny-Four Seconds from now.,, is the much-needed story for teen boys that Judy Bloom’s books were for pre-teen girls in the 70s and 80s.

Thank you to Simon and Schuster Children's Publishing, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, Netgalley, and the author for early access to this important work.

I am a huge Jason Reynolds fan and have loved almost all of his books so when I saw his latest, Twenty-Four Seconds from Now... available for review from both NetGalley and LbroFm's Educator ALC program, I requested it immediately. I'm happy to say that I was not disappointed. I inhaled this book in under 24 hours. It is sweet, funny, and oozing with positive Black representation. This is the story of a teenage couple, Neon and Aria, who have reached a milestone in their relationship - deciding to have sex after 2 years together. The story is told by Neon in a unique way. It's told backward from 24 seconds before the big moment, then 24 minutes, hours, days, weeks, and months. Through this format, the readers learn about Neon and Aria's relationship as well as their relationships with their friend group and families. Neon especially has an amazing family and support system that teaches him about consent, respect, and healthy sexual relationships. This is a great book with a great message for older teens.

Huge thanks to Simon and Schuster, Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books, and LibroFM's Educator ALC program for review copies of both the ebook and audiobook editions of Twenty-Four Seconds from Now.

I generally enjoy Jason Reynold's writing style and the themes he addresses in his books for young adults. While this didn't completely wow me, I recognize that I'm not the target audience, and I hope it does wow teen readers. Neon is a vulnerable Black teen, and there's so much value in having characters like him as the center of a YA book. I also loved the examples of Black families and relationships that are presented.

The format of this book, telling the story backwards, is interesting but also risky. I thought the idea was cool, but it ended up making it harder for me to follow and really fall into the story. I was tempted to go to the end and read it "backwards" meaning in order of how it really happened.

I will always read anything Jason Reynolds writes. I think this book is a great book to put in the hands of teenagers. It displays healthy, loving black teenagers in love with all sorts of beautiful friends and family members by their side. As an adult reading, I am very clearly not the audience, so I did not like it as much as I think teenagers would — which is fine!

3⭐️

Neon navigates the awkward, hilarious, and heartwarming moments leading up to a significant milestone in his relationship with Aria. As he grapples with insecurities and expectations surrounding intimacy, each countdown—months, weeks, days, minutes, and seconds—reveals the pressures of young love and growing up.

I loved how this novel was written with the 24 seconds, minutes, hours, days, months. It was so beautiful and I truly enjoyed the ride. Telling the story backwards was perfect because you learn SO much quickly.

Neon is just a good kid with a good head on his shoulders who loves his girlfriend and is nervous and excited to be intimate. I loved his POV and seeing inside his brain.

There are so many moments I snort laughed and so many moments that had me in my feelings. The ending was so well earned and perfect. Fully recommend! Really excited for my preorder 🥰.

*I was provided a digital copy of this book for review, all thoughts are my own.*

I am a huge fan of Jason Reynolds. As a high school librarian, he is one author I consistently recommend to students and one they always like to read. However this book did not work for me due to the format. It starts at present day and goes backwards, which is a creative way to tell a story, but not one that I enjoy, and in this case, the whole story felt flat. When the story doesn’t get told in a linear pattern, it makes it challenging for readers to keep up. The reader doesn’t have time to get invested in the characters, and when you finally get the plot line, it changes in the next chapter. If I am always trying to figure out what is going on, the book is not going to be an enjoyable one. In my opinion, this book would have worked a lot better if it had started with the grandpa’s funeral and moved from there.

Jason Reynolds is just an amazing writer and this book is no exception. The realism and honesty in the writing makes the story one that students/teens will connect with. The relationship that the main character has with his family members and their open discussions are refreshing and something that will hopefully provide teens with the confidence to think through their decisions and talk to others about them.

If you've ever read anything by Jason Reynolds, then you'll instantly recognize his style of writing and his voice the moment that you start reading and living inside of Neon's head.

When I first read the synopsis of Twenty-Four Seconds from Now..., I thought, "Do we really need an entire book dedicated to these few minutes?" But, much like his work in Long Way Down, Reynolds has a way of instilling a lifetime of memories and information into those short minutes, and it packed an emotional and heartwarming punch. Well done!

Reynolds has written a love story that high school boys might actually read and enjoy which is an impressive accomplishment. The couple is pretty wholesome and they come from supportive families and communities. There is a sex-positive message in this book but sex isn't taken lightly.

In this young adult novel, Neon and his girlfriend Aria are seniors in high school and have been dating for two years. They are ready to become intimate, but are also feeling the nerves associated with such a big decision. The novel begins right before the big moment, and then moves backward in time as we learn more about their relationship and about Neon’s friends and family.

This book does an amazing job at speaking to what many teenagers care about - friends, family, and intimacy. Neon’s and inner thoughts are well fleshed out, and his parents talk to him about sex in a way that is refreshing and helpful for teenage readers to hear. Neon’s friendships ring true and while his sister is perhaps preternaturally wise, she is also a fully realized character with her own interests and desires. Not being a teenager myself, this book was not overly interesting but I would recommend it to those who enjoy YA or to those who have teenagers themselves and want a glimpse of some of what might be going on in their heads. My main quibble is that everyone in this book was kind, open, and respectful which is likely not representative of the realities of most teenage friendships and family relationships.

Reynolds has done it again. I don't know if there is a subject matter he cannot tackle with the humor and nuance he displays in all of his books. Twenty-Four Seconds from Now is the story of Neon and his girlfriend Aria, who have been in a relationship for a while decide to take it to the next step. The novel opens with Neon in the bathroom (24 seconds before the deed) panicking about the step they are about to make - from does he have b. o. to are they ready - but the story is so much more than that - from the time Neon first meets Aria, to the frank discussions about sex he has with his older sister, mother and father and the strong relationship he has with his Gamma and friends. This novel belongs alongside Forever by Judy Blume and I would recommend to all teens (and perhaps even parents) as it is just phenomenal. This might just be my favorite book of the year.

I loved everything about this. And I literally mean everything. Jason Reynolds has a way of trapping me with his words. Because as soon as I turned this on, I wanted to stay up and finish it. (If I didn’t work the next day, I would have…) And this was no different. I loved it.

Before I got a copy of this book I listened to a webinar where Jason Reynolds spoke. I hadn’t read the synopsis (because I never do lol) but I knew I was going to read it anyway. Reynolds started talking about what it was about and why it was so important. And I can truthfully say I hadn’t read anything like it before. So of course I got more excited about it. To have a REAL book about a Black teen learning about smex and how to keep it safe just seems unheard of. (Y’all like to pretend they’re not doing it…) So if nothing else, I wanted to read this to get the message so I know how to tell my librarians about it just in case. And the way this book is told is so light-hearted, so non-preachy, and just all around good. This book does teach you things, but it also will make you laugh and say “Awwwww” because of the way their love story shines.

This book is indeed a romance. Someone said, that Jason said, (that should tell you how true this is? lol) he didn’t see himself writing a romance. But the way this story is told is probably his way of sticking to it. It’s a romance, but its told backward, where they’re already in love. It starts right before they try, where he is freaking out lol It ends twenty four months ago when they meet at his grandfather’s funeral. This man is really the GOAT. The way everything was so in order and so well thought out? This man had to have written it regular first and then went back and flipped it because the details that were in each piece is UNMATCHED. I don’t want to go too into detail because I don’t want to give spoilers, but it was so good.

The way I laughed at this book too. Listen this is a serious topic that you don’t think should be filled with so much humor, but Reynolds gets it. He’s always said he doesn’t want to write boring books, so I’m not surprised he wrote this the way he did. That breakfast scene? My Gawd I was laughing so hard I almost woke up my husband who was sleeping next to me. This book takes a topic that is usually so uncomfortable for teens and makes it into something they’d actually like to read about. And I can’t thank Reynolds enough for giving this to teens who feel uncomfortable asking.

I don’t think I’ve given Jason Reynolds a 3 star rating on any of his books ever. And I’m not going to start now. This book was amazing and I can’t wait for you all to read it too. This book was seriously fun and addressed a topic we don’t usually see from the boy’s POV. This is going to resonate with a lot of teens.