Past, Present< Future
By: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Published Year: 2004
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 382
Summary (Provided by Goodreads): They fell for each other in just twenty-four hours. Now Rowan and Neil embark on a long-distance relationship during their first year of college in this romantic, dual points of view sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow .
When longtime rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair confessed their feelings on the last day of senior year, they knew they’d only have a couple months together before they left for college. Now summer is over, and they’re determined to make their relationship work as they begin school in different states.
In Boston, Rowan is eager to be among other aspiring novelists, learning from a creative writing professor she adores. She’s just not sure why she suddenly can’t seem to find her voice.
In New York, Neil embraces the chaos of the city, clicking with a new friend group more easily than he anticipated. But when his past refuses to leave him alone, he doesn’t know how to handle his rapidly changing mental health—or how to talk about it with the girl he loves.
Over a year of late-night phone calls, weekend visits, and East Coast adventures, Rowan and Neil fall for each other again and again as they grapple with the uncertainty of their new lives. They’ve spent so many years at odds with each other—now that they’re finally on the same team, what does the future hold for them?
First Impressions
I read Today, Tonight, Tomorrow when it first came out in 2020 and fell in love with Solomon and the characters in this story. I was excited to see she wrote a sequel so we could see where Rowan and Neil were now.
What I thought
This book was so unique. I really enjoyed it and wish that it had existed when I was in college.
Rowan and Neil fell in love at the end of Senior Year during their school’s scavenger hunt. They’ve now spent the whole summer together continuing to fall in love but it’s time for them to go off to college. They will be going to school a couple of hours apart with Rowan in Boston and Neil in New York City. Can their romance live up to all the romance novels that Rowan has known and loved?
Years ago the book world attempted to create a genre called New Adult what was focused more on college age. It never fully took off, but this book is exactly why that genre was needed. I’ve never read a romance that followed a couple navigating their first year of college as well as a long distance romance. Freshman year of college is hard, especially when you’re far away from your family. I feel like Solomon did a fantastic job writing about those feelings and comparing yourself to your friends who are having different college experiences.
Of course, I loved Rowan and Neil. They are a dynamic couple who you can tell truly love and care for each other. I appreciated how Solomon made their difficulties not cliché long distance misunderstandings. The way that Solomon wrote about mental health was fantastic and I wish I could’ve read this in college. Reading about someone dealing with depression and anxiety would’ve been eye opening and I think it’s something every 18-22 year old should read about.
Honestly, I don’t have any criticism of this book. I enjoyed it all and I find it to be rare to find a book that’s so unique. Even though it’s romancey there was so much of it with settings and additional characters that I have not read before. I highly enjoyed this and it continues to cement Solomon as one of my favorite authors.