Reading in Wonderland

I received this book for free from Reviewer Purchase in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Today, she hates him.

It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time.

Tonight, she puts up with him.

When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at victory: Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other.

As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams.

Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

Short and Sweet

Rowan and Neil have been rivals since freshman year of high school. They’ve clashed when it comes to test scores, elections, and while being lab partners they started a fire. Now it’s the last day of senior year and Neil is named the valedictorian and Rowan thinks that the last way she can beat Neil is to won Howl. Howl is a game the senior class plays that takes them all over Seattle and the group has a list of objectives and the first one to finish wins a grand prize. Rowan is in it to win it, but after she overhears a group of seniors wanting to take down her and Neil, she realizes that she has to team up with Neil to be able to make it to the end. The more time Rowan spends with Neil the more she realizes that there’s more to him then the boy who’s been her biggest competition, he might just be the boy of her dreams. 

There’s just something about Rachel Lynn Solomon’s writing that makes me fall in love with her characters and keeps my interest until the very end. Rowan and Neil are very competitive and now they’re forced to work together. Over the course of the day they both learn a lot about each other and because we’re only reading from Rowan’s POV we see that she learns a lot about herself. The romance was cute and I think they both had under lying feelings for each other its just been masked with the fact that they’re trying to be better than the other one. I loved following these two around Seattle and reading their dialogue. Neil really does care about Rowan and tries to get her to see her potential and realize that she can always change her plans if she’s not happy. Rowan helps Neil come out of his shell and he even discusses his family life with her. It was great seeing how the characters’ Jewish heritage is important to both of them.

The dynamic between these two is great and opposites attract. Rowan isn’t afraid to express herself and I loved that about her and also seeing her character development made me happy. This was such a fun book seeing the Seattle through these characters eyes and seeing their relationship on a deeper level was great. I’ll definitely be reading more from this author!