"𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑰 𝒘𝒓𝒐𝒕𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒎𝒂𝒅𝒆 𝒓𝒐𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒇𝒆𝒆𝒍 𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍, 𝒎𝒐𝒏𝒖𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍. 𝑩𝒖𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑵𝒆𝒊𝒍, 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒂𝒍𝒘𝒂𝒚𝒔 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝒉𝒖𝒈𝒆 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔. 𝑰𝒕’𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒚 𝒅𝒆𝒕𝒂𝒊𝒍𝒔, 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒆𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒊𝒔 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝒆𝒗𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝒚𝒐𝒖’𝒓𝒆 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒕 𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒍𝒇."
- Past Present Future by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Genre: NA romance
Overall rating: 5/5 stars
# books in series: 2
Song: "Grow As We Go" by Ben Platt ft. Sara Bareilles
Review: "I have been enamored with words for much of my life, and yet no matter how deeply I root through my mental vocabulary, I cannot find the precise language to describe this feeling."
I'm sitting here trying to form coherent thoughts, and marveling at how well this quote from Neil explains me trying to write a review for Past Present Future. This book was everything I could have hoped for in a T3 sequel and more. Furthermore, it could hardly have come to me at a more perfect time – I was pretty much the exact target audience of nervous prospective college freshman moving thousands of miles from home to embark on completely new experiences. (The only difference is that I don't have to worry about maintaining a long distance relationship.)
"𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒈𝒊𝒓𝒍. 𝑺𝒉𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒑𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒕 𝒊𝒕 𝒃𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒍𝒅."
Starting out strong, I love the technique of spending a chapter or two with Rowan and Neil physically together, then a couple apart in their separate POVs, then back together, etc. The book started like this at the end of their senior year summer, and continued throughout the whole novel. I feel like so many romance stories – whether contemporary, fantasy, dystopian, whatever genre – make the first book in the series amazing because the love story is newly developing, then in the second book the love interests are physically in different places with no contact for more than 70% of the book, because of plot/conflict reasons, and it's disappointing to read about. PPF does not fall into that trap of having the romance "there but not really there." It's alive, changing, developing, blossoming, and dynamic. Rowan and Neil prove that they weren't just infatuated due to Howl at the end of T3, but truly were made for each other, and made to last. I love them with my whole heart.
"𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆’𝒔 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒆𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒚 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒊𝒏 𝒑𝒔𝒚𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒐𝒈𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒔 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒔𝒂𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒊𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒔 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒕𝒉 𝒄𝒓𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒔. 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒖𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝒃𝒓𝒂𝒊𝒏 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒑𝒆𝒂𝒄𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒊𝒕."
Rachel Lynn Solomon has never been shy about her depictions of mental health (or lack thereof) in her characters' lives, but PPF brings it to another level. I wanted to hug Neil so badly – but it was also so beautiful to watch him work through the things he was dealing with and come to a place of healing. And also take it a step further, and decide to go into a different field than the originally planned one that was so closely entwined with his identity in order to help people through their own struggles. If you can feel proud of a fictional character, I definitely am of him. Although I will say, make sure you're in the right headspace before picking this up. I appreciated reading about characters going through similar experiences to myself, but sometimes the very realistic portrayal of their college anxieties hit a little too close to home for comfort, bringing to the surface things I try not to worry about on a daily basis.
"𝑰’𝒎 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒈𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒊𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒖𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒓𝒐𝒐𝒎 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒐 𝒂 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝒔𝒌𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒌."
I also really enjoyed gaining insight into Neil and Natalie's relationship the way there wasn't time to do in T3. She's an important part of Neil's struggle with his dad, but also just watching them tease and have fun with each other. Texting each other from across the country. Having deep and meaningful conversations. I want a Natalie spinoff book with Neil and Rowan cheering her on from afar. Please?
It was so beautiful to watch both Neil and Rowan growing into their new environments and forming connections outside each other as well. I especially loved their relationships with Skyler and Miranda. Watching them give and receive encouragement freely and the impact that it had on them made my heart so happy.
This book was the perfect end to Neil and Rowan's story – and like Neil says, "the very best parts [of a romance novel] happen after the book is over. And that's where we begin." So with that, I'm going to let them enjoy their happily ever after, and go cry about how happy I am this duology exists.
A few notes:
While Today Tonight Tomorrow is still on the young adult end, this book is strongly toes the line between YA and NA (if I had to pick one, I'd go with NA). If you want to read without spice, please reach out to me on my socials and I'll go through and find where the parts to skip are (I didn't write it down while I was reading the first time, oops).
This book was an ARC from the publisher, so a major thank you to Netgalley, Simon & Schuster, and Rachel's very kind marketing agent! Also, this means all quotes used in the review are not final and may be changed before the book gets published.
For some unhinged Kindle notes I made while reading, visit my bookstagram post!