Today Tonight Tomorrow. Rachel Lynn Solomon. 2020. 364 pages. [Source: Library]
First sentence: The text jolts me from sleep a minute before my 5:55 alarm, three quick pulses to let me know my least favorite person is already awake. Neil McNair--"McNightmare" in my phone--is annoyingly punctual. It's one of his only good traits. We've been text-taunting since we were sophomores, after a series of morning threats made both of us late for homeroom.
Premise/plot: Rowan Roth and Neil McNair are fierce (and feisty) competitors (and classmates). Only one can be valedictorian, both desperately want it. Today Tonight Tomorrow is the story of their last day of high school. (Or perhaps their last weekend before graduation on Sunday.) They'll spend much of this day together...
The jacket copy reads, "Today, she hates him. Tonight, she puts up with him. Tomorrow...maybe she's already fallen for him." The premise is 100% predictable. Competitive classmates turned love interests.
My thoughts: I enjoyed this one mostly. I think Rowan and Neil make a cute-and-compatible couple, for the most part. I think they are capable of bringing out the best in each other. Granted, they haven't always been thoughtful or kind. This is definitely a YA romance. It would make a fun rom-com as well.
One of Rowan's big things is her obsession with romance novels and her desire to write (and publish) romance novels herself. So much of the text of Today Tonight Tomorrow is a defense of--an argument for--romance novels. She asserts that romance novels are essentially feminist and empowering. In a world where women are objectified so often, so blatantly there are romance novels where women are never objectified. I'm not sure I completely buy her argument. [Though you could argue that they are more balanced perhaps--men are objectified too.] Perhaps it's an author by author, book by book, series by series, publisher by publisher, decade by decade thing. I can certainly think of plenty of examples of UNhealthy relationships--abusive, manipulative, etc--depicted in romance novels. There were decades were it was okay--more than okay--for the "hero" of a romance novel to VIOLENTLY assault the heroine of the novel only to have her swooning over him and falling head over heels in love with him a few encounters later. I've certainly encountered romance books where women are objectified. Though perhaps the romance novel was calling out objectifying behavior without condoning it. For examples, books where heroines are saved by heroes from dangerous situations. Rowan, however, seems to have grown up reading different kinds of romance novels--or perhaps she has a blind spot or two. She loves how reading romance novels makes her super-comfortable and honest with all the sex-talk and sex itself.
I should have been suspicious of all this romance novel talk to see where this one would eventually end up. So much of the novel is on the "light" side. Not clean exactly. But more on the sweet-and-flirty side and not the steamy side. But. By the end of the day my giddy-making, sweet rom-com had turned graphic--very.
Again, I'll mention for the millionth time that I know I am completely in the minority. So don't let this dissuade you from reading the book itself. For those looking for a sex-positive YA rom-com with well-developed characters...then this one may prove a great fit.
© 2023 Becky Laney of Becky's Book Reviews
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