Nothing About Today, About Tonight, Went as Planned

~Today Tonight Tomorrow~
By Rachel Lynn Solomon
Amazon ~ Powell's

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.


If you came to my blog and just glanced at the covers I've been reading, you'd think I'm in some sort of blue phase. But anyway, continuing down RivitedLit's 25 Reads of December list, this one promised a cute one-night romance, which sounded great coming off the more serious murder/mystery vibe of my last book. I like rom-coms and I always enjoy the enemies-to-lovers trope, so I was excited to dive into this one for a little lighthearted fun. I was not expecting to love it so much.

Rowan is our narrator and she has a lot on her plate. Giving me (of all things) A Goofy Movie vibes, she plans on making the last day of her senior year one to remember, but rather than craving a date from the boy on her mind, she plans on crushing him. But besting Neil isn't the only thing on her mind—though it is taking up more than she's willing to admit—as she juggles regret, anticipation, disappointment, eagerness, anxiety, shame, confusion and love(?) all at once while trying to claim one last victory in her final quest of high school.

I connected with Rowan on so many levels in this one, from her enthusiasm/ease with academics, her regretting things she missed out on in high school, to her idealizing a certain perfect scenario and fearing the letdown of reality, and especially concerning her love of reading and writing, plus her hesitation to share it. Rowan loves romance books—absolutely and irrevocably—so much so that she's already in process of writing one herself. But since romance books have always carried a stigma (what with those scantily clad hunks and damsels on the covers), she can't bring herself to let her friends or family know. But boy, does she have a lot to say on the subject:

     Here is my dilemma: my passion is, at best, someone else's guilty pleasure. Most of the world takes any opportunity to belittle this thing that centers women in a way most other media doesn't. Romance novels are a punch line, despite being a million-dollar industry. Even my parents can't find respect for them. My mom has called them "trash" more than once, and my dad tried to take a box of them to Goodwill last year, simply because I'd run out of space on my bookshelf and he thought I wouldn't miss them. [6%]

     Over the years, romance novels became both escapist and empowering. Especially as I got older, my heart would race during sex scenes, most of which I read in bed with my door locked, after I'd said good night to my parents and was sure I wouldn't be interrupted. They were thrilling and educational, if occasionally unrealistic. (Can a guy really have five orgasms in a single night? I'm still not sure.) Not all romance novels had sex scenes, but they made me comfortable talking about sex and consent and birth control with my parents and with my friends. I hoped they'd make me confident with my boyfriends, too, but Spencer and I clearly had communication issues, and with Luke, everything was so new that I didn't know how to articulate what I wanted.
     [...] Most movies and shows I watched with my friends showed me that women were sex objects, accessories, plot points. The books I read proved they were wrong.
     It's a comfort knowing each book will end tied up with a neat bow. More than that, the characters burrowed into my heart. I got invested in their stories, followed them across a series as they flirted and fought and fell in love. I swooned when they wound up at a hotel with only one room, which of course contained only one bed. I learned to love love in all its forms, and I wanted it desperately for myself: to write about it, to live it. [26%]

     "Like, I get it, ha ha, sometimes there are shirtless men on the covers. But 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." [37%]

I'll admit, I've thrown my own shade at romance books. I can't remember a time my mom didn't have one nearby as I was growing up. And yes, she did begin to use book jackets, though I can't say for sure if it was because of young me (and my recognizing/giggling at the oily-muscled men and swooning ladies) or the public in general. And I don't even think I sought out my own romance novel to read until I'd nearly graduated college, and even then it had to be the distinction of fantasy romance, or paranormal romance. Not that I hadn't read books with romance/sex before then, but they weren't listed as romance.

So, I'm sorry. I'd like to think I've changed, that I'm much more open to people reading what they like. Hell, I feel the same embarrassment when someone asks what I'm reading and it happens to be something YA. And yet I know I still smirk at the bodice-ripper covers I happen across, and enjoyed poking fun at the romances Dominic Noble has started to review (following his teardown of 50 Shades). I mean, a cis-het man reading bodice-rippers? How scandalous! But, as with any genre, what you like you like, and there shouldn't be any shame in enjoying it. As Rowan said, it's not like someone reading it is hurting anyone else. And considering how much I enjoy watching rom-coms, you'd think I'd be more open to reading them. Needless to say, I definitely took a lot of what she said to heart.

But Rowan isn't the only character on the cover. Neil, her rival in all things academic, has been keeping a few secrets of his own. I don't want to spoil anything, so I'll leave it at that. Still, he was great to follow through his own little growth arc, even if there is a point where I think he needlessly sabotages himself, which I didn't understand. I'm sure some of that comes from not being inside his head narration-wise, but the rest of the picture we get from observation worked well. I especially loved this interaction, which first clues us in on some of his deeper character:

     "Did you know the word 'clue' comes from Greek mythology?" he says. "A clew, C-L-E-W, was a ball of yarn. Ariadne gave Theseus a clew to help him out of the Minotaur's labyrinth. He unraveled it as he went so he could find his way back."
     I vaguely remember the myth from world history. "So it used to be literal, and now we're metaphorically unraveling a ball of yarn when we try to solve something?"
     "Exactly," he says, nodding vigorously.[30%]

I loved this couple. I know I started this review saying how much I love the enemies-to-lovers trope, but this pairing just worked. Neither party had done anything unforgivable to the other that they had to overcome, just general snarky banter and an academic rivalry. I found it both funny and slightly frustrating how their classmates, friends and teachers all assumed they were or would get together, despite their emphatic statements denying it. It's one thing to see these two over four years and notice their similarities, it's another to assume their obvious negative feelings toward each other don't actually matter. Still, there was enough evidence shown through text conversations that they weren't always nasty toward one another, so I won't say their 24-hour turn-around was entirely unbelievable, even taking into account that this was a romance. And I'd much rather two characters with a healthy amount of snark than not.

That was another thing that both impressed and irked me. Throughout this book, at the end of most 'chapters', were inserts of text conversations, lists, notes, etc. There was even a restaurant receipt and an overdue book notice. Some of these obviously worked better visually than audibly (but more on that below), but even then some of the repetitions were grating after a while—like the Howl clue list showed up at least 3 times, showing Rowan & Neil's progress, and the texts from the Howl runners with the leaderboard didn't seem relevant until the very end. Again, not that bad when you can just flip past it, but... Anyway, these served as both a way to break up the text and give some clues that wouldn't necessarily work in the narrative (like past text conversations). It also gave it a scrapbook-like feel, like if the story was a journal, these would be stickynotes or clippings stuck inside as 'proof' or ornamentation to aid in the storytelling, which was a cute touch.

Oh, I almost forgot to talk about the third main character, Seattle! In addition to serving as the general setting for the book, Seattle's quirks serve as many of the answers to the Howl scavenger hunt, which brings our two leads together in the first place. From the touristy spots, like Pike Market or the gum wall, to book signings and open mics, and even a now-closed oddity museum, the story strives to highlight the city and succeeds in serving as a love letter to the author's hometown. I've been to Seattle once (and only for a couple hours to pick up my sick sibling from a con) despite living only a couple hours away, and this book managed to entice me into maybe giving it a more thorough visit once this Covid thing passes.

Overall, there's a lot to love about this love story. With smart and sassy characters, poignant insights on some heartbreaking topics, one heck of a competition, and plenty of nostalgia and romance, all packed in a scrapbook-like package, this is an adorable feel-good story which I fully plan on revisiting again and again. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who likes romance, especially those who are looking for a lighthearted, contemporary YA read. Pick it up today, read it tonight, and I'll expect to see your smile tomorrow!

Read by Rebekkah Ross
Unabridged Length: 9.3 Hours
Listened at 2x Speed

Not much to report on this one. The narrator did a fine job of differentiating between guys and gals, though I'll admit I didn't notice much difference when Rowan and her friends were talking with each other (though, that may have been due to my speed of playback).

I do wish that a little more thought would have gone into editing the inserts. At the end of most chapters there was some sort of text, or list, or note—something that served to further space out the narrative. For the most part these inserts were fine, but there were two that stick out as particularly irksome to listen to. One was a receipt from a restaurant, complete with the restaurant name, date, order number, server name, items & prices, subtotal, tax, total, tip, credit card number and owner—Thank you! The other was the scavenger hunt list, which was repeated at least 3 times through the book, reading all 15 clues every time, and differing only in how many items were followed by, "crossed off". There's being Unabridged, and there's knowing how to properly edit the content for the medium. Mercifully these only took up a couple minutes of the total runtime, so I'd say the book is still listenable.

Overall, this one doesn't do anything to reinvent the wheel, but also fits the idiom of 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' The reading was serviceable and able to be sped up to 2x speed and still be easily discernible. If you have an interest or curiosity in audiobooks, this one will get you through just fine.