Book Review: Today Tonight Tomorrow

Today Tonight Tomorrow is a cute and lovable YA novel, following two teens- Rowan and Neil. Two high schooler seniors, who've competed through all four years of their high school career, Rowan and Neil make a very intriguing pair. The novel begins on the last day of school for Rowan and Neil, and between the two and their constant bickering, Rowan is anxious for her future now that high school is ending. To top it all off, when Rowan learns that she lost her valedictorian spot to Neal, she's desperate for one last chance to upstage him. Thus, Rowan teams up with Neil--her supposed "arch-nemesis," for Howl, a competition their school holds for leaving seniors. Basically an intensified version of a scavenger hunt, one must collect all pictures of locations from the list the school gives them. The catch is, that each senior participating is given a name-- aka their target. The first student who collects all photographs without getting "killed," is ruled the winner. And of course, Rowan is planning to form an alliance with Neil, in hopes that they can both make it to the end, with Rowan of course, showing one last act of victory and making it to the finish line before him. However, this last-ditch effort for success backfires miserably, and as Neil and Rowan spend more time together during Howl, Rowan learns that Neil may not be the same night-marish, stuck up nerd that she'd always that he was. And so, we follow Rowan and Neil as they learn that they may not hate each other as much as they'd thought they did.
Young adult romances, while they may be cheesy and littered with cliches, I found that Today Tonight Tomorrow was the opposite of that. I loved how Rowan and Neil were not your typical love interests, and I also enjoyed that neither of them displayed any signs of toxic or unhealthy romantic behaviors, such as most romance novels tend to portray. I also enjoyed that Rowan was a POC protagonist, and liked how many things in the book broke out of common romance novel stereotypes, such as addressing issues with misogyny, and religious discrimination. Today Tonight Tomorrow, while a wholesome academic rivals to lovers story, also included many valuable lessons and shed light on other, perhaps not as conventionally "romantic" topics. I enjoyed the depth all the characters showed, and by the end of the novel, I found myself wishing the story to never end.