Throwback

This was such a fun read! It was like an updated Back to the Future revamp, but instead of getting mom and dad back together, it focuses more on healing mother-daughter relationships. Teens will love this too, but as an adult who went to high school in the late 90s, this book was absolutely delightful. I love how Maurene Goo highlighted some really fundamental questions for a modern teen trying to navigate the world back in the 90s. It feels crazy for me to say it was decades ago, but it was, and technology is insanely advanced compared to back then. The story was very wholesome and heartfelt. What teenager didn't wish they could understand their crazy parents? I loved that Sam got to see not just her mom but also her grandmother in newer and deeper ways. This book was funny, sweet, and full of all the great pieces you love from a Maurene Goo novel. I've never read a book by her that I didn't love, and I do believe this cover will look A-MA-ZING next to all my other Goo novels!

Time travel is cool again!

Samantha Kang, high school senior, knows she's not the golden child of her family, and she regularly butts heads with her mother Priscilla, who still wants to fit into that all-American life but hides it behind a cool composure. Sam would rather spend time with her understanding Halmoni, but when Halmoni has a heart attack and ends up in a coma, the tension between Sam and her mom erupt -- over Sam's refusal to run for homecoming queen. Their fight leaves Sam stranded in the rain, and when her rideshare from the Throwback app shows up, she gets a ride to school -- back to 1995 and Priscilla's senior year, so she can fix what went wrong in the past.

This was a fun and heartwarming read with a creative, Back-to-the-Future-ish way of bridging the generation gap between mom and daughter. Sam goes all in to help Priscilla win homecoming queen, believing it will heal the wounds between her mom and her Halmoni, but her experience in the '90s reveals to Sam just how much racism and sexism she doesn't have to deal with in 2025. The story also shines a loving light on how the Korean-American experience can differ between generations and gives Sam insight into how to develop a more understanding relationship with her mother.

Loved the characters, loved the plot (and how the time travel worked), loved the sweet romance, loved the mother-daughter bonding. 4.5 stars rounded up.

Thank you, Zando Young Readers and NetGalley, for providing an eARC of this book. Opinions expressed here are solely my own.

Thank you to Zando and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Throwback by Maurene Goo is an #ownvoices YA book with a time-travel twist. The story revolves around Samantha Kang, who has never gotten along with her mother Priscilla. One day, to her surprise, she finds herself back in the 90's with her teenage mother. Can Samantha figure out how to help her mother and get back to the present?

Here is an atmospheric excerpt from the Prologue:

"My phone battery was at 7 percent and my dress was too small for me.
I resisted the urge to tug at the red sheat that was clinging to my butt and panic about the battery thing. Concentrate at the task at hand.
My eyes skimmed the crowd.
The homecoming dance may have been in the gym, but the dance committee had done it up so that it was pretty dreamy. Metallic streamers were draped across the room, past the basketball hoops and framed jerseys, and silver balloons obscured the bleachers."

Overall, Throwback is an absolutely amazing #ownvoices YA book that will give you all of the feels. It will appeal to fans of To All the Boy I Loved Before and 90's chick flicks. One highlight of this book is the amazing twists. I wasn't sure about how I felt about this book at the beginning, especially because I'm not usually a fan of time travel books. But by the end, I realized it was worth sticking it out.

Another highlight of this book is how cinematic this book is. I could totally see this book being adapted into a Netflix movie! In the end, I am so happy to have read this book. I really enjoyed it, and I am so happy to support an Asian-American author. If you're intrigued by the excerpt above, or if you're a fan of YA books in general, I highly recommend that you check out this book when it comes out in April!

12/19/2022
I loved this book!! I think this is Maureen Goo's best book yet. I loved the mother-daughter relationship and thought the time travel aspects were very well done. Additionally, Sam is such a fun main character to follow.

Another wonderfully humorous and moving book from Maurene Goo!

Sam does not understand her mother. She doesn't get why her mom is so obsessed with Sam having that perfect American high school life. With pouring rain and thunderstorm in the background, Sam gets in a huge fight with her mom. She's stranded and needs a ride to school. But when she enters school, she finds herself thrown back to thirty years ago to 1995. There she meets her mom...as a teenager.

Sam navigates this new world of antiquated ideas and new friendship with her mother as she tries to get back to her time period. <i>Throwback</i> explores the different experiences of each generation and what it means for them to be Asian American. This story paints the matrilineal relationship beautifully and resonates so much with me. It's something that I've come to understand, to look deeper to find the reasons why our parents act the way they do and to let go of past grievances.

<i>Throwback</i> has the themes of <i>The Joy Luck Club</i> but builds on that so that it resonates more with the younger generation. This was such an enjoyable read.

Have you ever felt like a book was made for you? When I first read the synopsis of Throwback which included the words: “Back to the Future meets The Joy Luck Club” and “Korean American…‘90s…help her teenage mom,” I knew I had found the one. Imagine my delight spending my New Year’s Day 2023 being thrown back to the ‘90s and so immersed in the story that I read the book in one sitting.

After a huge fight with Mom, Samantha Kang finds herself back in the ‘90s. When she meets her mother, Priscilla, in high school, she needs to figure out how to fix things for her family and get back home.

First, let’s talk about the time travel element. My favorite movie? Back to the Future (thanks Mama Park for introducing it to me ❤️). Every Back to the Future reference I spotted put a huge smile on my face. Apparently replacing Marty with a Korean American girl who wants to heal the relationship with her mom instead of helping your parents hook up is something I never thought I would read about, but I’m so glad it exists. I give Sam major props for dealing with the time travel situation with such productivity and motivation (with some teen angst of course). Her level of resourcefulness is an inspiration. Time travel can cause confusion (I question everything—how is this one act influencing their future?), but Maurene Goo wrote the events in a clever way and made it so fun to experience the ‘90s with Sam with all of its different trends and colloquialisms. She also wrote each of the characters with different personalities, strengths, and flaws, so they felt real. I loved witnessing all of the characters help each other grow.

Next, the mother-daughter dynamic. As someone who is immensely close with her Korean immigrant mother, I was very curious to read about Sam and Priscilla’s relationship, especially since I would relate more to Priscilla as a 30+ year old Korean American. I had so much fun seeing their mother-daughter relationship blossom in a unique way. I was impressed with how Goo made me feel and root for every generation from Sam to Priscilla to Halmoni (grandma), and see elements of myself, my umma, and my halmoni in these characters. From the heavier conversations and how each generation experiences life in America differently to their smallest yet meaningful interactions like sharing a home cooked meal—it all felt nostalgic, like a homecoming for me. It meant a lot to see these details conveyed similarly to how I think about and have experienced them.

Goo also manages to incorporate serious themes about racism, misogyny, and the nuances of growing up in the US as a child of immigrants while also infusing lighthearted moments, which made me feel all the emotions (happiness, hurt, anger) along with Sam. I laughed and cried several times throughout the book, and was genuinely surprised at some unexpected twists.

This book is for readers who are in the mood for a heartfelt and entertaining YA contemporary about a mother-daughter relationship with a creative time travel element and a dash of romance.

Thank you to Maurene Goo, Zando, and NetGalley for the digital ARC. All opinions are my own.

In this contemporary YA, Samantha 'Sam' Kang doesn't understand her tight-laced mother. After a fight, a strange ride share ends up taking her back in time where she meets her mother as a teen. Sam ends up thinking she needs to make things right in 1995 by helping her mother win Homecoming queen. Her assumptions about her mother and even her beloved grandmother are put to the test in more ways than one.

What worked: BACK TO THE FUTURE collides in 1995. There are numerous 1990s references throughout this novel from the movie Clueless and even life before texting! Like actually going to a public library's archives! These bring to life the whole Back-to-the-future vibe in this novel. The future slams into the past with some hilarious results. Then there's a cute boy that Sam feels chemistry with. He has his own secrets.

I liked the idea of an Asian protagonist going back in time to help her younger version of her mother. There Sam finds that her mother is labeled a poseur and snob as she hangs with her wealthier white classmates. The big reveal though is she sees another side of the grandmother she adores and finds that maybe her mother had been right.

I do wonder though if Sam went back in time wouldn't there have been more of a ripple effect in the present time? There are a few hints of this, but I also wondered if there might have been more.

Sam is spunky and determined to make things right so she can return back to her time. I loved how she didn't back down from the bullies at her mother's high school. It would have been so easy to do that.

Charming, fun story where a teen goes back to 1995 to help her then-teen mother and finds not only herself but her mother in the process.

I loved this! It's the kind of novel that makes me feel bad for the people who write off YA, because this is what they're missing out on. It's ultimately a story about mother-daughter relationships and growing up as first and second generation. My cheap ass would even consider purchasing it to re-read

The story takes place (at least, it starts off taking place) in 2025, so the main character Sam is verrry Gen-Z. She ends up traveling back 30 years in time and meeting her mother as a teenager. Think Back to the Future (minus the incest jokes) meets Freaky Friday (minus the body swap).

Keeping in mind that I was barely cognizant in 1995, I thought the culture shock Sam felt in the past was believable. Goo leans heavily on pointing out the different colloquialisms, but it didn't feel excessive. In fact, I felt Goo was a bit too conservative when it came to depicting the more blatent acts of racism, sexism, and homophobia in 1990s California (although the micro-aggressions experienced by the main characters felt depressingly real).

Goo is very, very funny, and her writing is sensitive and heartfelt, and the story is so fun. I loved the B-plot romance, and presenting a non-binary character's pronouns with no explanation was SO REFRESHING. I hope it gets the attention it deserves.

Thank you to Maurene Goo and NetGalley for the ARC.

Oh GAWD I loved this book so much. I cried so much. I identified so much with the daughter and mother who just had a terrible time trying to understand each other. It makes complete sense that the daughter would have to travel back in time to get to know her teenage mother in order to really see her, and how she became the strict, seemingly uncaring mother of her present day. And the romance in this book is so sweet and supportive. Lastly, I will say that I also really appreciated the grandmother's role in this book. I love an intergenerational Asian story because it feels true to how Asians are raised. Family first, even when things are difficult, and especially when things are difficult. Maurene Goo really understands what it means to be a teenage girl.

5 stars. I LOVED this book! It's such a fun, heartwarming, and engrossing read. As the daughter of Asian immigrants myself, I thought this book captured the nuances of that kind of relationship perfectly. I highly recommend this read to anyone looking for something uplifting and delightful. I usually dislike reading romance, but it was written very well in this story and didn't take over the book. I can't wait to read more from Maurene Goo! Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Projects for this ARC!

Thank you to NetGalley and Zando for providing me with an early copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is a perfect combination of Back to the Future and Everything Everywhere All At Once.

It features Sam, her mom Priscilla, and Priscilla’s mom Halmoni. Sam and Priscilla have a hard time seeing eye to eye when it comes to things that are important to the both of them and not understanding each other. That is a theme that is present in Priscilla’s relationship with her mom.

It looks at the relationships between first generation immigrant parents and their children, who are now growing up in a country very different from the one their parents grew up in, and examines the ways that the past follows you, through the relationships with your family.

This book was emotional, funny, and hopeful. Hopeful for the future where parents and children can understand each other while maybe not always agreeing with each other.

This book releases on April 11, 2023 and I highly recommend you add it to your TBR.

Freaky Friday mixed with back to the future, Throwback was amazing from start to finish. This was so entertaining and fun whilst also broaching more series issues such as racial and social prejudices. I loved Sam as a character and her development throughout the book - she's generally a really fun character but she has a lot of emotional depth and I enjoyed seeing her layers being peeled back along with her mother. I also loved the essence of the 90's it added an extra uniqueness for me and allowed the book to not be just a typical YA but address how much the world has actual evolved with a lot of things.

This was slow to start but I am so glad I stuck with it. Goo recreates a 90s high school with all of its challenges and delights whil offering a sweet multigenerational story about a Korean family and their love for each other. This was a fun and quirky read.

I really enjoyed this one! This Freaky Friday-esque novel is a great read for both mom's and their teens, to have an inside look at how the other side views and experiences the relationship. Without being a self-help book and actually being a fun fiction read, it reminds us to see things from each other's perspective and try to understand each other. It also does a good job exploring racism and the experience of immigrants

The 90's throwbacks we're so fun for someone having grown up in the 90's.

I received a free ARC from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Once again Maurene Goo writes a cute book that I am happy to read. In the beginning, I felt like it might have only been a three-star book but it just kept getting better and better. The relationship between Priscilla and Sam in the past was so much fun to watch. It is amazing how far we have come for racism in the past but yet we have so much farther to go. Recommend this to anyone looking for a good read, with some depth but also light heartedness. I mean come on it has time travel!

When I caught this book on Netgalley, I found myself intrigued by the premise. A little bit of Back to the Future meets somewhat of a different version of Freaky Friday. The only thing is that there is no body swap but imagine having fought with your mom and being tossed back into her high school years!

Sam and her mother are complete polar opposites. Her mother is a straight-laced lawyer who pushes her daughter to be the best, at least in what she wants her to be. She demands perfection from her daughter and even wants her to start applying to colleges that are prestigious. But Sam does not want to be part of her mother's perfection. She wants her own things and to be her own person.

But a fight with her mother causes Sam to be tossed back into the past. She now has to do something to change her mother's life in high school. Will Sam be able to do so?

This story was funny and sad at times. I loved Sam and her mother, Priscilla. These two could not be two different people. Both stubborn and unyielding to the other person. I also see that Priscilla got most of her thoughts from her mother - be perfect, be Homecoming Queen, be the best, and unfortunately this would carry onto the future.

The storyline is unique and fun. The characters are great along the way, and I think, that generational communication can be complicated along the way. People are expected to act and dress according to what generations believe they should be. Any rebellion is frowned upon. This is what we see from Priscilla and her mother to Priscilla and Sam. I am just glad that the two were able to patch things up in the end. I love stories that add closure between characters and offer both to look at each other in a new light.

I feel every generation that comes and goes that there will always be something neither of them will ever agree on and this discourse could easily carry into other future generations. I think each generation should not put so much on the shoulders of the next and expect them to be able to pick up the pieces that they are left with.

Also, can I say I love Marge? Marge needs her own fanclub. That woman was wonderful! We need more of her in the future!


Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and their publishing company for a chance to read this book and give an honest opinion about its subject.

What’s your favorite 90’s tv show?

For me it was Saturday morning cartoons. Recess anyone? What about Pepper Ann? I can still hear the intro songs in my head when I see the name!

Samantha like many teenagers, butts heads with her mom, Priscilla – a first generation Korean American. Priscilla was an all American girl, complete with being a cheerleader. Samantha on the other wants nothing to do with overly cliched high school aspirations. One night when Samantha and her mom get into a knock out fight, Samantha is left alone at the mall and hails a ride share to take her to school. Little does she know that this particular ride share will take her back in time – to when her mom was in high school. Will Samantha be able to figure out why she’s here before time runs out? Maybe this time will allow her to understand her mom better.

This was a fun YA romance that was really enjoyable for my non YA self. I really loved the movie 13 going on 30 and the like and this one gave off those vibes. This book was a great exploration of teenager/parent relationships. As a mother to a young child – this is something I am reading about now, in hopes to be prepared – but I’m sure there is no preparation lol. This was an engrossing read that I didn’t want to put down and even delayed dinner because I was so caught up in it!

Thank you so much to Zando Projects, Zando Young Readers @zandoprojects), NetGalley (@netgalley), and the author, Maurene Goo (@maurenegood) for this e-arc in exchange for this honest review.

Make sure to grab your copy April 11th!

I loved this story so much! It is about communication through the generations and within a family. Sam is a Korean-American teen in high school. She and her mother, Priscilla, do not understand each other but Sam and her Grandmother, Halmoni, adore each other. Priscilla really wants Sam to run for Homecoming Queen, but Sam is uninterested. They have a big fight and Sam is transported back to the nineties when her mother is in high school. Because of the two different times, Sam learns so much about her mother. The book is so beautifully written and pulls on the heartstrings.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Best book of 2023 so far!
First, thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of Throwback. I LOVED this book. Sam goes back in time like Back to the future style but it's 1995 and her goal is to get her mom crowned homecoming queen...or so she thinks. I didn't want this book to end...I WANT MORE! This is my first time reading a Maurene Goo book but I loved her style and will definitely be checking out more of her stuff.

I would love to interview Maurene Goo for her book, Throwback on my podcast Raise Your Words. Perfect for fans of Back to the future. I loved seeing Samantha’s relationship with her mom.

This is my favorite YA novel since The Firekeeper's Daughter. Throwback starts in present day but heads back to 1995 as the main character enters her mom's high school era. I loved many things about this novel: the generational differences, family conflict and resolution, racism and stereotypes, how high school has changed, and more. I'll definitely be adding this to my classroom library! Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

Sam has never really understood her mother, Priscilla, or why she doesn’t get along with her own mother, who came to America from Korea. After a huge fight with her mother, Sam magically finds herself in high school in the 1990’s… with her mother.

Books like this remind me to step outside of my usual genre and try something new. This may be my favorite read of 2023 so far! It was so cute, so fun, but also meaningful and highlighted the struggle of children/grandchildren of immigrants. I went to high school in the 90’s, so the setting was perfect and a great nostalgic ride. The best was the mother/daughter relationship and how the entire story worked through that on so many levels. This was a great read that I never wanted to end!

“It wasn’t that different from what my mom did for me in the future. Except she didn’t realize we loved two different high school realities. Completely different worlds. The armor she needed - it was for a battle that didn’t exist for me.”

Throwback comes out 4/11.

Throwback by Maurene Goo is a fun young adult read that captures the feeling of Back to the Future but spins the story into a multi-generational mother-daughter relationship healing adventure instead. I think this book will appeal to teens and adults, as the throwback takes the main character, Samantha, back to the mid-90s.

The writing and voice were appealing and engaging. Samantha is a great main character and her POV is illuminating. She has a voyage of self-discovery as the book progresses, but she learns so much about her mom and grandmother as well, to everyone's benefit.

The author handled the time travel back to the 90s well--it hit quite hard, how much has changed from a time that really doesn't feel all that distant to me! But the technology changes are IMMENSE and the book handles those well.

The story was a very creative way to show us a relationship in crisis and then brings the focus on the individuals and their viewpoints. The book highlights the generational differences but also has a very nuanced and empathetic take on the immigrant experience and the second generation experience as well. I am not Korean but so many moments resonated with my own experience with my immigrant parents back in the day.

It was heartfelt, entertaining, engaging and well written. Definitely sets the scenes well and the dialogue kept the story going.

Great book.

My thanks to net galley and the publisher for this digital ARC. This is my honest opinion.

Another heartwarming, hilarious, charming stunner from Maurene Goo. What a wonderful premise, deep family dynamics, and, of course, heartwarming love.

Goo has written a fun, fast, and fulfilling novel that teens and adults will enjoy. She tackles tough subjects without being preachy, and she adds in fresh elements and twists that keep the book from becoming predictable. This is the perfect novel for my teen Lit Club at school, and I will recommend it to my friends who are parents of teens as well.

Throwback follows Sam as she finds herself stuck back in the ‘90s and her only way home is to help her mom win Homecoming Queen.

This was just so cute and unexpectedly emotional all at once. I loved that Sam had the opportunity to get to know Pricilla as a person and as a friend instead just being her mom. She also got to see the pressure that her mom had been under as a child of a widowed immigrant mother and the racism that she faced.

I don’t want to spoil anything, but I really enjoyed how this all came together to make the most perfect ending!!

Overall, this was a fantastic read and I highly recommend it to teens, moms of teens, and anyone looking for some good old ‘90s nostalgia.

Thank you so much to Zando Young Readers and NetGalley for this arc. All
opinions are my own.

This is an absolute gem of a story, funny and heartfelt and dealing with tough topics in a way that you can contemplate without getting lectured at. Maurene Goo's best book by far!

Well-written, with engaging characters and a compelling storyline that keeps you hooked from beginning to end. Goo's prose is witty, sharp, and infused with humor, making the book an enjoyable read.

I absolutely adored this book! It is funny, moving, heartfelt and will bring a smile to your face, as well as a possible tear to your eye. Throwback tells the story of what happens when a girl goes back in time to help her mother and ends up finding out who she really is, as well as how culture helps to shape a family. It is a story of identity, love, family, and mother/daughter relationships. Sam is a spunky, out-spoken, liberal, Korean daughter who learns how her mother's youth shaped her in to the mother she is today. Read this, you will not be disappointed. This was my first book by Maurene Goo, but will not be my last!

This was a lot of fun! I think if you were going to look too closely at the time travel mechanics etc you might find some big coincidences/flaws but like who cares we're here to have a GOOD TIME with NINETIES HIJINKS, I'm not a cop!!

I really loved Sam's ~journey~ of understanding where her mom was coming from, and as a millennial myself I really felt her mom Priscilla'ss pain. Also as a white millennial I don't personally know what Priscilla was going through but I've heard accounts from other Asian Americans how frustrating/conflicting it can feel to see K-pop and Japanese pop culture etc being super mainstream and popular now when it was stuff they got teased about as kids. So I thought having all of that in this book was really sharp and added a lot to the Back to the Future of it all.

A really fun read for millenials but I think teens who are intrigued by the 90s (and aren't they all now?!) will love it too, with added bonus for Korean American teens but also anyone who might relate to the kind of generational/cultural differences between Sam and Priscilla.

Omggg, Maureen Goo never fails to bring smile to my face. I love her works and I am thankful that I was approved with the eARC. I love this book Throwback, but I don't want to spoil any further. Just read it, okay. Lol. I loved how Samantha lived and learned about her mother's and Halmoni's past and how she applies it in her future plus the short romance aaa I want more.

I absolutely loved this book! Throwback is a fun, heartfelt story with a totally fresh take on the time-travel trope. Samantha Kang has always struggled to get along with her mom, Priscilla, and is much closer to her grandmother, whereas Priscilla is not. Priscilla, who was a popular cheerleader in high school, wants Sam to run for homecoming queen, but Sam wants nothing to do with the typical cliched high school experience. When the two get into a huge fight, Sam is desperate to escape and uses a rideshare app to get to school. But when she gets there, she finds that she's arrived at her high school...back in 1995, where her mom is currently a student. Can Sam help Priscilla win homecoming queen—and heal her mother and grandmother's fractured relationship?

Throwback is a true joy to read from start to finish! I could not put it down. It brought out so many different emotions—I was laughing out loud one page and tearing up the next. Maurene Goo's writing style is packed with humor and heart, and Sam is such a great main character. I loved following her on her journey to finding herself and understanding more about her family—I never wanted it to end. I especially appreciated how Sam got to know Priscilla not only as her mother, but also as her friend and someone she could relate to in unexpected ways. The story also covers so many important topics—mother-daughter relationships, generational differences, racism, misogyny, the unique struggles children/grandchildren of immigrants experience, navigating the high school social scene in both 1995 and 2025 (and how things have evolved over the years), and love in its many different forms. This is my first Maurene Goo book, and I can't wait to read more from her! I would certainly highly recommend this one. Thank you to NetGalley and Zando Young Readers for the ARC.

It's so much fun and enjoyable to read Throwback by Maurene Goo. It revolves around Sam, a Korean-American who frequently quarrels with her mother. Sam uses a ride-share app to get to her school following a fight with her mother. She unexpectedly finds herself with her teenage mother back in the 1990s.

This book is AMAZING! This book is both enjoyable and emotional. Sam can relate to anyone, especially those who frequently disagree with their mothers. Sam's development in her mother's understanding and their friendship with her teenage mother in the 1990s was sweet and heartwarming. I adored the characters, the time-travel plot, and the 90s references.

Huge thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange of my honest review.

I had so much fun reading this book! The humor was great and the dynamic between the grandmother, mother, and daughter was very relatable.