Today, Tonight, Tomorrow
By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published Year: 2020
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 384
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. This in no way shape or form influence my opinion of this book.
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): 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.
First Impressions
An enemies to lovers YA romance with a scavenger hunt in Seattle? Sold! The cover is also very cute. I love the shade of blue and that it’s pretty minimal. It drew me in by making me want to know more for sure.
What I thought
I LOVED this book. It’s been a while since I’ve read a young adult novel I have loved this much and it was so nice.
Neil and Rowan have been high school rivals since he beat her in an essay contest freshman year. Since then they have pushed each other and competed in every area. Rowan hates Neil. That is until she decides to work with him to best him one last time during the Senior Howl scavenger hunt.
This book wasn’t missing a thing for me. I loved Rowan. She was smart, loved romance novels, comfortable in her own body/sexuality, Jewish, but yet flawed. I related to a lot of who she was so that did help. Neil was just unlikable enough at the beginning that the more you got to know him, the easier it was to like him. Their banter was on point and I appreciated that sometimes they stumbled over that too.
Also, the Senior Howl? Oh man. Every high schooler that reads this book is gonna be mad their school doesn’t do this. Senior Howl is put on by the Junior class each year. They create a scavenger hunt throughout the city of Seattle and the winner gets a monetary prize made up of fundraisers the senior class has collected throughout the year. In addition to that, you are also given a name of a person you have to “kill” to eliminate them.
One of my favorite parts of this book was how good a job Solomon did making Seattle a character in and of itself. I love Seattle. I have visited twice and I have checked off a bunch of the touristy activities, as well as some more local ones. I was supposed to visit again this year, but wasn’t able to due to COVID. This book made me feel as though I was back there and not missing my trip after all.
Rowan is such a great character. She is driven and confident, but also full of self-doubt in what is going to happen after high school ends. Having grown up in a Jewish family, I do find it to be extra exciting when a main character is Jewish. I appreciated her struggle with being one of a handful of Jews in her high school and how, even though it wasn’t the number one part of her identity, it was still there and she still felt that discomfort at not fitting in. Add in that everyone has made fun of her love of romance novels, she feels like she has to hide a lot of herself to be accepted.
Now, this is everything I loved without even touching on the relationship between Neil and Rowan. Like I mentioned, I am a sucker for the enemies to lovers trope. Neil and Rowan have a history of being competitive which make the switch in their relationship so much more fun. You already know they have a lot in common because otherwise they wouldn’t be competitors. So it’s so satisfying once they realize that could be a good thing and they don’t have to hate each other.
What is there to not love about this book? Great main and secondary characters, wonderful character development, a fast moving storyline, and an amazing setting. If you love contemporary YA I highly recommend this book. I am definitely going to go back a read Solomon’s backlist because I greatly enjoyed her writing in this book.