Cover Image: Now & When

Now & When

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This was a great read. I enjoyed being in Skyler’s world. I really enjoyed the reunion/future plot line. It was a great twist to a YA rom com. I really like the author’s writing too. I really felt Skyler’s emotions. It made me remember how hard it is to be a teen.

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This was different than I expected. I didn't think the glimpses of the future would be from their 10 year high school reunion! It was kind of a shock the first time I saw that. I didn't love that Skyler and Truman cheated on Skyler's boyfriend Eli, but I wasn't very invested in any relationship so it didn't bother me as much as it could have. I liked that Skyler had an established friendgroup - I really liked Harper, but Jordan did annoy me. Overall, an enjoyable read but not quite what I thought it was going to be.

I received a copy of the book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

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Now & When is a lovely YA contemporary romance with a magical twist. When Skylar's crummy cell phone starts showing her glimpses of her future, a future where she is married to her arch-nemesis, Truman Alexander, instead of her perfect boyfriend, she is naturally freaked out. She starts doing everything she can to stop that from happening, but she soon finds out that every action has consequences, and not just for her own future. I really enjoyed this book. The writing was witty, the characters loveable and real, and it handled a bunch of issues ranging from school and prom to serious mental health struggles. I found Skylar to be a very relatable narrator and her anxiety about her future, enhanced by glimpses of the possibilities, is universal. I really appreciated the friendship she had with her best friends, Harper and Jordan. All three girls had such distinctive personalities and they were supportive of each other, even when things got tough. Truman was a different sort of love interest than you typically see in YA and he was very endearing. Hate to love romances always have a great heat behind them, and while I did like their relationship and chemistry a lot, I could have used a bit more of the build-up. I loved the idea of there being a mystical force at work through Skylar's phone, and it made for a great plot and transformative character arcs. I do wish that the climax and ending were a bit more dramatic and revealing, but overall I was left with my heart warmed and feeling thoroughly entertained. This book was a quick and poignant read that any YA contemporary fans would enjoy.

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Thank you NetGalley and Random House for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I love the concept for this book. A high schooler seeing glimpses of her future. There was so much to enjoy, the original concept, the importance of female friendships. But this book felt short. I just could not connect with the narrator/main character Sky. She was immature and superficial. Her reaction to the mental health needs of her friend Harper and her fixation with being perfect made it difficult to empathize with her.

Overall I did not feel her grow with the story or learn much from her experience. This may also be my own difficulty with love triangle romances.

A cute short read, this one was ultimately about Sky's journey more than a rom com to me.

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This book had everything it needed to be a great “coming-of-age” story. Being given an insight into the thoughts of someone just trying to figure it all out was so refreshing! The main character, Skyler, is true to herself in good and bad situations. She isn’t afraid to admit her faults, apologize, and continue on. Definitely an enjoyable read with characters you can really get behind!

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really enjoyed this book, so much so that I stayed up until 2am to finish it. It was a bit predictable but I

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I found this to be quite the adorable book! Upfront, I will tell you that people have been and will be irked by some cheating. And without going into it too deeply, I'll be quite clear that it didn't bother me. Look, I am not saying that cheating is awesome, or the right thing to do, but humans make mistakes. And I think this book illustrated that it isn't a great plan, the character felt terrible, apologized, and moved on.

Actually, I lied, I am going to delve deeper. Here's my thing: Skylar is a young woman who always wants to be perfect. And she makes a mistake clearly. But I seriously want to find someone who hasn't made a poor choice, or a decision they regretted, or felt bad about. Because we all have. And saying "well she sucks" because of an indiscretion? What message does that send? I will probably post about this more in depth and move along, but those are my two cents.

Beyond that, the book is just plain fun. I mean, an Instagram link on a glitchy phone that shows you your future photos? So clever! And I worried that it could be either adorable or hokey, and luckily it was adorable. And it brings up so many questions! Would you want to know your future? What would you do with this information?

And it isn't only a romance! The book focuses mostly on Skylar and her friends growing and changing and trying to decipher who they want to be. There's also a focus on mental health, as one of Skylar's best friends has been struggling. I liked that the author provides a lot of discussion, and portrays it as a great learning moment for Skylar to understand and support her friend appropriately. Skylar also has to navigate family issues as well as general coming-of-age decisions.

Bottom Line: While it's packaged as a enemies-to-lovers romance (and that is accurate), it's also so much more. It's a story about a young woman figuring out who she is and who she wants to become, with an enjoyable romance in the mix.

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This book had a good premise. The characters were cute but overall the story didn't work for me. The writing style wasn't quite strong enough to carry this book.

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First, thanks to Netgalley for providing me an e-ARC of this book.

Secondly, it was fine. The concept was promising, a girl gets notifications on her phone about her 10 year reunion and finds out her life is very different than she expected...in that she's married to a boy she hates. So she decides to do everything she can to avoid that future, except she falls in love with him. It's all so predictable and meh. It's not even hate-to-love because the "love" comes out of nowhere and is so abrupt in the story, there's no slow burn, which is the key to that trope.

One thing I really disliked is the using of "the debate team" to indicate nerdiness. It makes me absolutely bonkers when YA authors are like...so I have a nerd character and they need a passion...I know, debate team! And then they "debate stuff" and "go to practice to argue" and give no real look at what high school forensics looks like today. Listen, I get it, explaining the difference between LD and PF debate isn't sexy, but there are thousands of kids out there in the forensics world who would like a novel to actually portray the experience they live every weekday and weekend for 8 months a year in a real way, not as a stereotype of "debate nerd". I REALLY REALLY hate this.

Overall, this book just didn't do it for me. I didn't get invested in any of the characters, and the seeing the future plotline never went anywhere substantial, no one learned anything substantial from it. I'd definitely read more from this author to see what else she can do, but this one just wasn't for me.

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I have somewhat of a love / hate relationship with Sara Bennett Wealer's <em>Now & When, </em>which is incredibly ironic considering the fact that the book is about a hate to love romance. I took one look at the premise for this novel and just <em>knew</em> that I had to read it. The truth is that I can be a bit of a sucker for books like this. For me, <em>Now & When</em> hit some great markers that would make me absolutely fall in love with it. The unfortunate piece is that this book also hit some markers for things that I would hate.

Skylar pretty much has everything figured out, right down to the community college she is planning to attend in order to stay near her long-time boyfriend when they graduate.  With prom around the corner also comes the will they, won't they question of their first time. But everything in Skylar's perfect life is thrown into chaos when a strange app on her phone reveals that, ten years from now, she will be happily married to the one boy in school she just can't stand, her academic rival Truman Alexander.

<b>Everything bad about this book...</b>

...is all Skylar's fault.

The main plot? I love it. I'm so here for love / hate stories with futuristic themes. I love the idea of a character freaking out because she finds out that somewhere later on in her life she somehow falls for someone she hates. I'm definitely here for her trying to change it and bungling that all up entirely.

Truman? He's an amazing character. He's realistically driven, incredibly smart, and just the right amount of stuck up that it's perfectly understandable why he and Skylar have such a hard time getting along. And he's actually very genuinely nice, which is something I was not expecting. That alone made me fall in love with his character incredibly quickly, a breath of fresh air among the cynical bad boy types we typically get in similar scenarios.

The other characters? Amazing. Every one. They felt so much like real people. And the fact that Wealer has a character who is dealing with some very serious mental health issues was amazing to me. The subject was handled incredibly well, in my opinion, and felt very real. The character never felt like a caricature of depression or a plot device, either. And for that I truly do find this book impressive.

<b>But Skylar.</b>

Skylar is basically just an awful person. She was snooty and stuck up in the worst possible way. Every time she complained about Truman, a genuinely nice and likable character, I just got annoyed with her. And sure, I get that they were supposed to have a rivalry, but I never truly felt like her reasons for hating him were reasonable. She just kind of felt like an ass who couldn't get over minor slights. She's a teenager, so fine, I can cut her some slack here.

But even then, Skylar is regularly awful to everyone around her. The funny thing is that everyone ends up calling her on her shit and she still continues to screw up all over the place. The most egregious of which involves some good old cheating for absolutely no reason whatsoever. I'm sorry, but the cheating plot was so unnecessary. It created a ridiculous bit of drama that the book did not need and ultimately hurt my ability to like Skylar as a character at all.

Nevermind that the cheating also expedited Skylar realizing she <em>might </em>have feelings for Truman in an unrealistic way that utterly messed with the pacing of the story. I didn't feel like this was the slow burn romance it was supposed to be entirely because Skylar had this weird moment of lust that she couldn't reign in. And for what reason? Ugh, I honestly don't know. Then comes a whole slew of more moments for Skylar to be an awful human being because she has to figure out what to do about the cheating.

Yay?

I feel like a lot of this could've been solved by not giving her an unnecessary boyfriend in the first place. Especially since his involvement in the story was basically nill. The boyfriend, ultimately, actually was used as a plot device. And a horrible one, at that. He all but disappears after they break up, which I guess makes sense in the grand scheme of things but it also just led to Skylar seeming like an awful human being...again.

<b>Here's the thing.</b>

Despite having one of the worst leading main characters that I've ever read, I did thoroughly enjoy reading this book. It's for that fact alone that I've rated it as high as I have. Chauk it up to Truman being wonderful, my love of Skylar's friend, Harper, or just the general plot and writing from the book but I had a good time reading this. It was a book that was hard to put down.

Do I still hate Skylar? You bet.

But yeah, the book isn't bad. It was a fun read in the end.

<em>I was provided a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</em>

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Thank you so much to Netgalley for the eARC of this engrossing YA romance with a bit of a sci-fi twist! When I read the synopsis, I was immediately put in mind of some of my favorite stories using a more modern form of time travel. We probably use our phones now more than we ever have, but the idea of a future-telling communication device has been used even back in our landline days; like one of Stephen King's best short stories and a holiday-based novel by Rainbow Rowell. Sara, however, gave me something I have never seen before. She gives Skyler a cell phone on its last legs that somehow has a link to her future. Whereas other narratives might weave in calls or texts messages to get this point across, but what our protagonist ends up having access to is Future Skyler's Instagram page, in which is sent a link to her high school's ten year reunion. This discovery leaves her reeling as is she discovers she may wind up married to her nemesis.

When we meet Skyler, she seems to have everything going for her. A popular boyfriend, two good friends, a mostly stable family, and a future that feels too far off to worry too much about. The only thing, before the phone, that causes her any distress is Truman. He ruffles her feathers, and as the story goes on it becomes more and more apparent that this torture may be on purpose, and against all odds, she finds herself drawn to him as they work together to save a landmark that has a special place in their hearts and appears to be crucial to the happy lives of those around her. Skyler becomes obsessed with trying to keep up her distaste for Truman, checking in on the mental health of her quietest friend, but above all, making decisions based on the changes the reunion site makes. Her present plummets as she allows herself to get lost in the future, and she sees the same focus on the yet-to-come from Truman, and they end up teaching each other a lot about living in the now.

I think this is a really sweet romance that not only reminds you to be kind to those around you, but also to remember to experience each day as fully as you can, even as you look toward whatever endgame we're all searching for. It's a double-edged sword in that you want to have a healthy mix of both; Skyler struggles with not planning for the days ahead as Truman can't seem to do anything but, and the two of them harbor animosity for each other because they're unable to see eye to eye. This enemies to lovers story is one full of heart and honesty, and I love how well it played out. In addition to the romance, however, there were intertwining themes of depression, loss, parental pressure, sibling rivalry, and most of all, that feeling of weightlessness that hits right as high school ends. Although this novel ends with us not knowing exactly what the future holds for these characters, they don't either, and for once-- they're happy about it. It's a very uplifting and heartwarming read that the hopeless romantic in me can't help but recommend!

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Recently I've discovered a new (and very specific) romance trope that I absolutely adore: hyper-competitive AP students that start as enemies and eventually fall in love (think Ben Gross and Devi in Never Have I Ever). Sara Bennett Wealer takes this trope, makes it her own with a magical phone that shows the future, and absolutely nails the chemistry between Skyler and Truman.

Skyler's world is rocked when she discovers that her phone has begun sending her notifications from ten years in the future. She is even more surprised to see that she is married to her nemesis Truman, the school's resident know-it-all. As Skyler tries to alter her present, she ends up changing the future with disastrous results for her and her friends. Now & When has such an interesting premise with even more interesting characters! This book quickly hooked me and I was excited to see how the story would play out. Highly recommend for those looking for a fun, YA romance.

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Now & when was an interesting read which I enjoyed for the most part.

The cover is beautiful!!! Truman and Skyler look beautiful in the cover and it helps us imagine the Characters better. The beginning was the best!! I loved how it opened with an argument between them, showing how complex their relationship was already, and the ending was also sweet, even if it left me with a lot of questions.

As for the plot, it was a good plot with the constantly changing instagram site that made Skyler panic all the time! I do admit I had issues with Skyler because of her indecisive nature and for, in a way playing with Truman's feelings. It was hard to relate to her sometimes because she hated him, yet she enjoyed kissing him and then she wanted to go back to hating him, which left him awfully confused.
I also hated that she gave up easily and never tried hard enough to do better, even though Truman saw her potential, I felt like at times, she never tried her best.

For Truman, I feel for him because honestly, his struggle throughout the book isn't just on his future possibly changing, but also grappling his feelings for Skyler and with his love of sculpting. Although at times his attitude made you want to hate him like Skyler did, he also did things that easily made him more likable than her actual boyfriend, Eli.

The best developed character was Harper, due to her issues with depression, mental health and the tough issues in her life were nicely portrayed here in this book. Jordan, on the other hand was a character I didn't like because she seemed too shallow at times.

I think, once truman admits that by now, Skyler had to have realized he liked her... It fell a bit flat because honestly, I expected for him to have an actual confession where he could've been nervous and saying big words... Just being Truman and all, but I'm glad they ended up together.

Last but not least, the end.... It was okay? I have so many questions at the end... Like how did the future play out for them? Will his parents approve of her? How do all her classmates end up and most importantly... WHY DIDN'T WE GET TO SEE MORE OF TRUMAN'S PERSPECTIVE??? I would've loved to see more of how he thought and how he dealt with his issues. Honestly, I would like a book on Truman's perspective focused on his feelings for skyler, on what he chooses for his future and how it all ended up. Maybe if it was called before & after?

Overall, I enjoyed the book, most of the characters and it was an intereting read that was good at pulling your heart strings with some of the characters and I thino the author did a great job and should definitely consider a sequel in Truman's perspective.

* Thank you Netgalley and Sara Bennett Wealer for letting me read this book. This is an honest review in exchange for being able to read this book.

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Thank you Netgalley for providing an ARC of this book for an honest review.

The concept seemed so original in the book description that I was excited to read all about it. Although, I liked some aspects of this book, I could not find myself to care much about the main characters, specially when they made such irrational decisions that do not sit well with me.

The author portrayed the complications of high school and how it can affect every person differently, so that was the main reason why I became somewhat interested in the ending and how each character would develop. There are some heavy topics described in this book, that were not taken lightly and I liked that Skylar, the main character, gave it the importance that it deserves.

There was definitely chemistry between Skylar and Truman, her supposed archenemy, even when they were hating on each other. Something that I particularly think about is the fact that Skylar started feeling love for Truman only for the mere reason that the website gave her a glimpse of her future with him. I was truly cheering for this couple, up until the point where they decided to start their relationship by cheating, and I hated the fact that it was normalized as a not big deal.

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Thank you to NetGalley and Random House Children's/Delacorte Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

I'm a sucker for YA romances and for magical realism—and especially for social media being incorporated into a story. And so as soon as I read that this book is about a main character who gets a glimpse into her future via Instagram, I considered it a must-read. And of course for Skyler, that look reveals that she's going to marry her arch-nemesis, Truman. I ended up liking most of the book. While Skyler and Truman's dynamic didn't grab my attention the entire time—I found myself more interested in Skyler's relationships with her friends and I would have liked to find out more about the "magical" elements of it and been told more about what she saw from the future—I did enjoy how the enemies-to-lovers relationship was handled.

I will say that it was a quick and easy read, and while there were parts of it that didn't hook me, I did find I wanted to finish it to find out what happened. I always consider that a plus.

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I really tried, and in theory I thought this concept would work. I've seen it work in other formats. But I just couldn't get on board with the idea of the way she saw her future, or how on earth she could make the 180 on detesting the guy and her flighty flighty friends ... it just didn't work for me.

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This was a quick and sweet read. I always enjoy and enemies to lovers trope and seeing it take place in the high school world was no different. The additional twist of the characters getting a glimpse into their constant changing futures made this extra fun. I also appreciated that the authors touched on multiple common problems that teenagers face during their high school years. I think it would have been beneficial if these were explored more instead of lightly introduced but I appreciate that they were mentioned. I think the protagonists friends too quickly believed in the supernatural phone that predicts the future but that just might be my aged cynicism forgetting how easy it is to just believe whatever truth your high school best friends told. Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.

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I’ve come to learn that some YA books are just not for me and I feel like I learn that time and time again. This just wasn’t for me and I honestly didn’t like neither or the characters and I could have cared less about what was going on with them. I finished it out of sheer will.

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I read this book in just a few hours. It was a fun adorable read. Skyler gets this link that shows her what her future looks like. Pictures of her with the boy she can't stand. The problem is Skyler is obsessed with checking this site. Every decisions she makes changes her future. Even though what she thought she didn't want for her future, she starts to realize there are worse things. Every time Skylar tries to change or help friends to better their future she makes things worse.

This was a great way of showing that sometimes the best thing to do is enjoy the moment you are living in. It is ok to plan the future but don't live only for your future because you never know when your time is up. This was done in a fun light way with swoon and snarky banter throughout. If you like the love to hate trope this is a read to add to your to be read list. I am giving this book 4 out of 5 stars.

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Gotta love the YA teen angst. I know I do! Why else does one read YA? The cover art for this book is INCREDIBLE and right on the money! I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read this ARC.

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