Now & When by Sara Bennett Wealer- Review

Now & When, by Sara Bennett Wealer
Goodreads ¦ Amazon
Series?: No
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Release Date: July 14, 2020
Length: 304 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: Once
Rating: 3.75/5

For fans of Jenny Han and Christine Riccio comes a romantic dramedy about a teen girl who stumbles upon a mysterious website that tells her everything she doesn’t want to know about her future.

There’s something about Truman Alexander that Skyler Finch finds incredibly annoying. Actually, several things: his voice (grating), his arrogance (total know-it-all), his debate-team obsession (eyeroll), and his preppy vibe (does he iron his shorts?). She does her best to avoid him and focus on the important stuff: friends, school, and her boyfriend, Eli. His promposal was perfect–just like he is–and the future is looking bright. Or is it?

For some unexplainable reason, Skylar’s phone is sending her notifications from the future . . . a future in which, to her horror, she appears to be with Truman. As in, romantically. As in, Skyler cannot let that happen.

But trying to change the future means messing up the present, and what Skyler sees keeps shifting. Classmates disappear and reappear, swap partners and futures. Turns out there are no actions without reactions, and life doesn’t come with a road map. But sometimes the wandering leads you exactly where you need to be, and people–like glitchy phones–are full of surprises.

It’s the age-old question–if you can see your future, do you look?!

♥ Skyler absolutely looks, and at first I thought “wow, she really believes this is real AWFULLY quick,” but like…wouldn’t you? The website changes based on things that are happening in her life right now. There is one instance where she can very literally see it. So I’d believe it, too.

♥ And once you know it’s there, how do you not look at it all the time? When you know every decision you’re making in real time is changing the future of you and your friends and you can see it, how do you not want to figure out what moves to make and what you need to undo? Skyler’s best friends, Jordan and Harper, have differing views on this. One of them wants to see how her own life turns out and thinks it’s fun, but the other wants nothing to do with it.

But when Skyler becomes obsessed with checking the website and getting herself a very specific future, her friends can both agree: it’s gotta stop. It causes a lot of tension between them.

♥ But look, this is a rom-com, so the bulk of Skyler’s story is focused on her nemesis, Truman. I’ll mention that there is some cheating, because I know that’s a deal-breaker for some people, but it isn’t a love triangle, and it isn’t the point of the story.

When Skyler shows Truman their future selves linked together, he panics a little. It’s not the future that he has planned for himself, that he’s been working for. And even though Skyler doesn’t want to be with Truman, she finds it super insulting that he isn’t stoked about a future with her. But it’s fine, because she isn’t into Truman now and she won’t ever be.