e-Audio, 12:50:25
Narrated by: Emily Lawrence
Release Date: May 17, 2022
Published by: Penguin Audio
Read from: April 28-April 28 & May 23-25, 2022
Stand-alone
Source: Library’s Libby
TW: Former drug abuse mention, Drug abuse recovery, Body shaming, “Fatal” Car Accident, Panic Attack/Disorders
For Readers Interested In: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Romance, Contemporary, YABarrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.
The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.
When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?
*MY THOUGHTS*
Seeing that Rachel Lynn Solomon has a new book coming out always makes me excited. Even if it’s something that I don’t really read. And this one is definitely one I had to work on. I had to revert to two separate formats, but I finished and enjoyed it all the same.
The main thing about this that I had issues with was obviously the freaking science fiction/time travel. And it wasn’t because I didn’t understand it. It was just mainly because the same thing kept happening. And I know it takes me 365 days to finish a physical book now, so I worried that I would get bored quick with it. And sure enough, I did. I was glad I decided to call it when I did and just listen to it instead. I was able to speed it up and get through it better. I want to make it clear this had nothing to do with Solomon as an author, but everything to do with me as a reader. I know I’m not a science fiction reader, but I am a Solomon reader and I will give all her books a shot.
The romance aspect was cute tho. I also liked that the main character was a plus size girl. I’ve been having some body image issues since I’ve had my son and it was definitely a welcome sight to read a romance of someone who more resembles me. And the love interest was pretty great also. I didn’t like that he was so rude to her at first, but again, I know that’s a me thing. I am pretty sure I’m the only person on this whole planet that’s not a fan of enemies to lovers and is actually pretty turned off on the idea of the main character having a relationship with the person who was so terrible to them lol But I digress. The one thing I liked most about this relationship tho was how real it was. I really liked towards the end where he got a bit of, let’s say, last minute jitters. It felt real to see that he was nervous about what could happen and I really felt that. Definitely a real thing to be afraid of. Especially after so much time where they were.
The sciencey part of this is what I thought I’d have a problem with. I HATE reading science fiction where the person is explaining things all at once. The info dumps are THE WORST. But when it did go more into detail about it, it was more in like a Q&A with another character where they were trying to find out more info. It wasn’t like a professor talking at you all at once. It was further in the back than I would have thought it would be, but still. And it wasn’t the big sciencey words that they normally use, so that was a plus also. It wasn’t bad, just repetitve (as time travel books are) but I still wanted to give it a go.
Although I knew this book was out of my comfort zone, I knew how I could make it better. I listened to it instead of continuing on in a format I knew would make me not enjoy it as much. This really shows how I’ve grown as a reader. Normally I would just say forget it and DNF it, but I love Rachel’s books too much to miss one. (Especially after Weather Girl!) With that being said, if you enjoy science fiction, or clearly, even if you don’t, give this book a shot. I’m sure you’ll find something about it that you’ll like!
Overall, I give this
