You know that feeling you get when your body is telling you to close your eyes and go to sleep but your brain is entirely rapt by the book in your hands? This one’s like that.
TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW, by Rachel Lynn Solomon, is a teen romance about Rowan and Neil, two high school rivals whose taunts began with an incident Freshman year and have escalated year after year. In this moment of recognition, who will be named valedictorian and how will the loser cope over the next few days until graduation?
Throughout the novel, whose cover design so perfectly reflects the theme and feel of its contents, Rowan explores her identity as a student, a young woman, and a Jew, as she deals with antisemitism amongst classmates, explores consent and sexuality in a normalized and healthy way, and tries to establish what her academic goals actually are after realizing she didn’t accomplish anything she set out to as a freshman.
Parents, know that there are some drug references and sex, but your teen already hears these things regularly (sorry, it’s true). This book presents the issues in an extremely approachable way that lets kids feel comfortable with their feelings and really provides an example for maintaining an open conversation about sex with a partner or asking questions of a parent.
Adults will like TODAY TONIGHT TOMORROW too, to be honest. I did. Its story of falling in love for the first time is reminiscent of Rainbow Rowell’s ELEANOR & PARK and LANDLINE.
The only reason I didn’t give this book 5 stars on Goodreads was that the Simon Pulse editorial and team let a few too many errors fall through the cracks that distracted me from the story. I hope to see an improvement in this area for future books.
Sara Lesley Arnold 