Publisher's Weekly Review
Every morning, Neil McNair awakens Rowan Roth with a text. A taunting text: they're the two top students in the senior class, and sworn rivals. But on the last day of school, there are only two competitions left: who will make valedictorian, and who will win Howl, a citywide senior class event, "part Assassin, part scavenger hunt." Rowan thinks about Neil so much that her friends believe her obsessed, a notion that Rowan finds ridiculous. Until, that is, the long night of Howl, when the two meet each other's families, talk about the last four years, and even share a dance. In Rowan and Neil, Solomon (Our Year of Maybe) has created two complex, believable characters--word lover Neil has his future planned out, but his present is way more complicated than Rowan knows. She's an aspiring writer, but she's afraid to tell anyone--for one thing, her parents are children's book authors; for another, she wants to write romance, a genre that she sees as feminist in its focus on female desire but that is frequently dismissed as "trash." Enemies turned lovers is an old romance trope, but in Solomon's deft hands, this funny, tender, and romantic book is fresh and wholly satisfying. Ages 12--up. Agent: Laura Bradford, Bradford Literary. (July)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 9 Up--It's the last day of senior year and Rowan is awakened by a text from her nerdy nemesis, Neil. Their epic rivalry has spanned all four years of high school and both of them hope to be awarded the coveted title of valedictorian. When Rowan gets salutatorian, she vows to best Neil one last time at Howl, a senior class scavenger hunt. But they team up after overhearing their peers strategizing to take them down. As Rowan and Neil work together, their rivalry begins to give way to friendship and, to no one's surprise but their own, romance. Told from Rowan's perspective and featuring ephemera from her high school journey, this story is equal parts coming of age, tender romance, and a love letter to Seattle. Rowan and Neil's banter is sharp and their clever solutions to the scavenger hunt move the story along at breakneck speed. Featuring a racially diverse cast, the story does a great job of balancing the action with important discussions about how damaging stereotypes can be. Readers bear witness to Rowan's defense, as an aspiring writer, of the romance genre in the face of backlash from her friends, family, and her rival. VERDICT A thoughtful and current story, and a fun summer read.--Samantha Lumetta, Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County
Kirkus Review
Rowan teams up with her academic nemesis to win a citywide scavenger hunt. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been rivals in a never-ending game of one-upmanship since freshman year. Now, on the last day of senior year, Rowan hopes to best Neil once and for all as valedictorian, then win Howl, a scavenger hunt with a $5,000 cash prize. She also hopes to sneak away to her favorite romance author's book signing; no one's ever respected her passion for the genre, not even her children's book author/illustrator parents. But Rowan's named salutatorian, and vengeful classmates plot to end her and Neil's reign. At first their partnership is purely strategic, but as the pair traverse the city, they begin to open up. Rowan learns that Neil is Jewish too and can relate to both significant cultural touchstones and experiences of casual anti-Semitism. As much as Rowan tries to deny it, real feelings begin to bloom. Set against a lovingly evoked Seattle backdrop, Rowan and Neil's relationship develops in an absorbing slow burn, with clever banter and the delicious tension of first love. Issues of class, anti-Semitism, and sex are discussed frankly. Readers will emerge just as obsessed with this love story as Rowan is with her beloved romance novels. Rowan's mother is Russian Jewish and Mexican, and her father is American Jewish and presumably white; most other characters are white. A dizzying, intimate romance. (author's note) (Romance. 13-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
