4.5

AGHHHHHH
funny hopeful lighthearted slow-paced

This book has my whole heart.

I think the fact that I have just graduated high school meant that I related on a much deeper level to all of Rowan’s thoughts and fears. Plus, Neil was absolutely adorable and I am devastated that I don’t have my own Neil in my life. This was the purest and most adorable enemies to lovers that I have read, and that is not an understatement. There was a smile on my face the entire time I was reading. This is the most deserving five stars I have given in a while.

This was such a perfectly done enemies-to-friends-to-lovers that I almost cried a few times. I always think I'm too old for YA/teen books and then I read one like this and it completely proves me wrong.

This is such a great story of growth - learning of your flaws or failings (ignoring your friends, focusing on a rivalry, focusing only on "being the best", etc) and actually doing something to apologise and learn from them, having hard conversations with your friends (Admitting you're upset by a choice they've made, realising you contributed to issues, etc), and having mature conversations about feelings (& I won't lie that I did physicall recoil when a certain someone made a certain comment about someone's father to them... Not to spoil anything, but wow, harsh).

Even as someone in my 30s, I feel like I've taken important things away from this book. Hard conversations are hard (Obviously), but they're essential and sometimes it's nice to be reminded why we have those hard conversations with the people we love.

I’m guessing I’m a little too old for this kind of book and therefore found it a little slow and sort of boring. Cute story, though, would probably not recommend it to someone older than 16 years.

it took me a really long time to get behind rowan, but i absolutely adored neil + the premise of this one. reading about rowan & neil's howl adventures instantly transported me back to high school and our own grad night party, which also featured the great wheel & other places mentioned in this book. honestly, today tonight tomorrow just made me really miss seattle. major thanks to quinn & clara for reccing this one to me!

another v sweet young love story - similar concept to lynn painter’s better than the movies 

loved the seattle backdrop and nostalgia of high school moments 
adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

Cute

High school rivals get together 

Look, this book was really cute and I loved the concept, but I just think YA isn't for me any more sadly :(

I didn't mind Rowan as a main character. She felt nicely balanced and I liked her storyline of writing a romance novel and how she had to fight with others for its validity. This felt quite nice and realistic and was something I could definitely relate to. She had a bit of depth which was nice, but not enough to where I actually felt like I knew her. Like whilst writing this review, I'm struggling to actually remember anything about her