Today Tonight Tomorrow, by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Goodreads ¦ Amazon
Series?: No
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: July 28, 2020
Length: 384 pages
Source: ARC
Format: Paperback
Times Read: 2
Rating: 478,000 howls/5
The Hating Game meets Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist by way of Morgan Matson in this unforgettable romantic comedy about two rival overachievers whose relationship completely transforms over the course of twenty-four hours.
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.
ENEMIES TO LOVERS WHILE PLAYING ASSASSINS/SCAVENGER HUNT ALL IN 24 HOURS BE STILL MY HEART!
♥ Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been academic rivals since the day they met, and Rowan just knows she’s going to be valedictorian and finally have the last word (Is this how some schools work? When I was in school we definitely did not learn class standings the day before graduation). But when Neil is named instead, Rowan shifts her focus to Howl–the assassins/Seattle scavenger hunt the senior class plays the last day of school. And now THIS is her one last chance to beat Neil for good–and of course she’ll need to stick right by his side all day to make sure she wins.
Fun fact: I wanted to play Assassins as a floor game when I was an RA in college, but my proposal was rejected for being “too violent”
♥ I’m not a local and have never actually been to Seattle. The sum total of my knowledge of the city comes from The Real World: Seattle in 1998, and to a lesser extent, Grey’s Anatomy. But Rachel paints a really vivid picture of the city as Rowan and Neil make their way back and forth figuring out clues and gathering photos. She describes so many landmarks, many still existing and a few not. But it’s clear that both Rowan and Neil love their city, and even though they’ll both be leaving for college in a few months, they’ll always be excited to come back.
Will visit, one day
♥ The book love is so, so, lovely. Rowan’s favorite books are romance novels, but she’s been embarrassed to say she reads them for years because everyone makes fun of them. I hate how deeply I relate to this. I think we probably all do. Even if it’s not with books, there’s something you love that you feel you’re shamed for, that you’re not supposed to like. Rowan spends so much time talking about how unfair this is, and recognizing how women are, as usual, targeted for something that no one would say a word to men about.
“What I’ll never understand is why people are so quick to trash this one thing that’s always been for women first. They won’t let us have this one thing that isn’t hurting anyone and makes us happy. Nope, if you like romance novels, you have zero taste or you’re a lonely spinster.”
Rowan to Neil when he starts talking about his favorite old dead white guy authors
♥ The actual romance…it’s gorgeous, guys. From the way Rowan can’t stop saying something just slightly shitty and immediately wanting to take it back, to the way Neil isn’t afraid to prove himself wrong and apologize. There are some lovely moments that evoke the feeling of how sad it can actually be to graduate and leave, what it’s like when you know you’re not going back to school on Monday. What Rachel does so beautifully, though, between Artoo and McNightmare, is gently push them to a place where they can finally see how close hate and love really are.
“My kingdom for the ability to apply a symmetrical face of makeup.”
“It’s hard to admit that you think you’re good at something creative.”
“There’s this word in Japanese: tsundoku,” Neil says suddenly. “It’s my favorite word in any language.”
“What does it mean?”
He grins. “It means acquiring more books than you could ever realistically read.”
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