When Ro Devereux's senior project goes viral online and turns into a future-telling phenomenon, it's clear she's in way over her head. But when she has to fake date her match, who just so happens to be her ex-best-friend, things get even more complicated.

As someone who played MASH on a weekly basis growing up (still waiting on that mansion), this book was an immediate need for me. But this book is so much more than feeding my own nostalgia monster. The characters are beautifully written and full of so much heart. The main teens are messy in relatable ways, and the love and friendship they all have for each other brought me so much joy. Special shout out to Miller, who is the most precious cinnamon roll and the perfect match. Second shout out to the dad, because I forever stan a good dad character.

I had so much fun reading this book and stayed up late to finish it (the true sign of an incredible book). I can't wait to see what O'Clover writes next. Whatever it is, I'm all the way in!

Thank you to Netgalley, Ellen O’Clover, and Harper Collins for this advanced e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

I’ll preface this by saying that I went into this book not expecting to completely fall in love with the characters, but it just so happens that I did, with every single and with every single one of them too. Except maybe Evelyn and Ro’s mom.

Ro Devereux is a high school senior who developed an app that “predicts the future” and based it on the childhood game “MASH”. The app is entirely scientific; and helping Ro with her survey questions is Vera, her retired behavioral scientist neighbor who helped raise her after her mom ran out on Ro and her dad.

Ro created the app to be meant for her senior class committee’s eyes only, only for her influencer cousin and her model close friend to introduce the app to their millions of followers. Effectively turning MASH into an overnight sensation, with the app download count breaking 900k by the next day. This captures the attention of tech firm XLR8 who entice Ro into giving them 50% ownership and in return, they’ll give her all the tools for her app to be a worldwide sensation. What follows next is a series of events and experiences that make us ask ourselves this question, can our behavior now affect our future path? Can our future be predicted by science?

Finishing the last page of this book, I was suddenly struck with the realization; I haven’t pulled an all-nighter to finish a book for a really long time. Not one book was able to capture me like that for a while. O’Clover wrote a masterpiece. I was intrigued when I first read the description and that only intensified when I started reading.

Ro is a very likable character, I found her enthusiasm inspiring and fresh and Miller oh well, I completely fell in love with Miller as I learned more and more about him.

“I read the world through Miller’s reception to it, and he showed me what to do by always doing it first. We heard each other in that language between two people who’ve never known a life without the other in it. He didn’t have to speak to tell me he was upset. I didn’t have to show him my hurt for him to believe it was there. When we fought, there were no teeth to it—

Miller was like air, a given. He’d be there the next day, and the next.”


The slow-burn romance between these two was very satisfying; it wasn’t ridiculously dragged out but it also wasn’t an instant thing that only took a couple of chapters to culminate. In fact, it takes about half the book for Miller to properly open up again to Ro and I loved this.

The rest of the characters were extremely well-written and interesting; even the titular character’s mother who’s supposed to take on the role of the villain was interesting to read about. I specifically liked how well the characters were written; each one of them brings something new to the table, and each one of them has enough charm to make you want to know more about them. For instance, even though it was a background love story; I really wanted to learn more about Maren and Autumn’s relationship. I wanted to know more about Ro’s mother, and I wanted more time with these characters.

This book is extremely fun and appropriate enough to be enjoyed by teens and adults alike.

This book reminded me why I loved reading so much. The way that O’Clover described every scene, described things in detail without making it boring and made a slow-burn romance that’s equally meaningful and sweet, proves that writing is an art that not many are talented in.

An easy 5 Star rating and I’m looking forward to reading anything by O’Clover in the future.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5050474874

I am blown away by how much I enjoyed this book.

First, we’re going to talk about the amazing colloquial language. I just felt so connected to this narrative and the way these kids talked. O’Clover’s writing is perfect for YA. It captures the essence of being a teenager.

Next the flashbacks. Yes, this is a friends to enemies to lovers so we have to know about their past friendship and the night that everything changed. Sometimes flashbacks are done sporadically or over a long section of the book (sometimes the whole book) but here was get all of the flashbacks early! And what I loved is that they were all singular narratives and not drawn out over multiple chapters. They also had perfect break points - no “she snapped out of her reverie when XX called her name” - at least not from what I can remember. The flashbacks flowed seamlessly into the present story. AND O’Clover knew that after a certain point, we, the readers, would want the PRESENT instead of the past. And she delivered!!

So let’s talk about the friends to enemies to lovers trope. Outstanding! Ro is the little girl who isn’t quite sure how to feel and Miller is the boy who feels too much. So Ro uses his emotions to figure out how she’s supposed to feel - she not only learns walking and talking from him as a toddler but also emotional cues. The way O’Clover describes all of this is amazing!

Then the night happens and they’re enemies. We see them as enemies for 50% of the book. And I was HERE for it. The tension between them is so palpable that you need a saw to cut through it. I was squealing and going crazy for this entire book, let me tell you!

Ro is delightful in her complexity and I loved some of her lines. How she feels and reacts to certain things. And Miller was one of those characters that just makes you feel so deeply. All of their scenes together were perfection.

I won’t spoil anything but I loved every single second of reading this book from beginning to end. I was waving my hands and pounding the desk in excitement or tearing up and trying not to bawl. I hope others see the same things I saw in this book. Gosh I loved it.

I thought I knew what the plot would be from clues in the beginning, but there were many nice twists throughout this book to keep me on my toes. I also love supportive parents!!! Thank you for having good role models.

This was such an interesting book. Imagine if you could actually know your future! Would you want to? Would you prefer to be surprised?
While you could delve into this moral dilemma and its ramifications forever, there is way more to this story! Relationships - both romantic and familial, career success, and life priorities all intertwine to make a very engrossing read. I really liked all of the characters and appreciated the realistic dialogue and feelings that were evoked.
Enjoy!

Ro Devereux doesn't want to go to college. She used her entire summer before senior year creating an app for her senior project that proves just how smart she is and that she doesn't need college, but her dad still isn't on board for the get a job track. Her app, called MASH, after the game that most teens in the 80s and 90s played, can accurately predict how your life will turn out, with 93% accuracy. But to prove her app works, she needs to go live with the “match” part of the app and fall in love with her match. The only problem is her match is the boy she grew up with, Alistair Miller, and they haven't spoken since the incident, three years ago. But will and app that predicts your future career, where you will live, how many kids you will have and who your perfect match is really be something that the world can handle? Will knowing the future be too much for people?
Okay, a big thank you to Netgalley.com and the publisher for the pre-published copy of this book. That being said, I really liked this. Ro and Miller are completely believable to me. I knew people like them once upon a time. The whole creating an app is completely believable. And I would like to think that the human brain can be predictable at least 93% of the time. But there is always that 7% that is completely unpredictable. A margin of error. I honestly felt like in this day and age that the company would market it better and mention the 93% because there are no absolutes and saying it can predict the future unconditionally is asking for blowback. So that was a little unbelievable for me. Overall the author did a great job with the two main characters and the whole drama of the incident that blew them apart 3 years ago. I have to believe that if people were more honest with their feelings on a constant basis if life could turn out better for everyone. Loved the book and didn't want to put it down.

This was a really fun & nostalgic read.

For her senior class project, Ro creates a future predicting app called MASH, based on the childhood game. It gives you your career, city you'll live in, number of kids you'll have, and, if you choose to opt-in, your partner. It's a dating app that matches you with 93% accuracy. What could go wrong?

Just the fact that this book is based on a game I played with all of my friends growing up sold me. And I was not disappointed. We're taken on all the ups and downs in the aftermath of the creation of MASH & let me tell you, there are many.

The characters are very real, flawed, vulnerable, and messy, which makes for the perfect space for character growth. I loved watching our main 2 make mistakes, learn from them, grow from them, and better themselves. It was all done in such a way that draws the reader in and makes you want to keep reading to know more.

I did feel as though there was a little too much packed into the book in terms of big, life-changing moments, as we see multiple injuries, cancer, and absent parents. It felt a little bit like the author was trying too hard to keep the reader's interest.

However, overall I really enjoyed this book & all of those moments didn't take away too much from the main focus.

Rep: bi SC, side sapphic relationship

CW: absent parent, cancer, death, injury, body horror, medical content, hospitals, underage drinking

Rating system:
5 - absolutely love, little-to-no dislikes that did not impact my reading experience

4 - great book, minor dislikes that did have an impact on my reading experience

3 - good/decent book but for some reason did not hook me or there were some problematic things that just were not addressed or greatly impacted my reading experience

2 - is either a book I did not click with and did not enjoy, problematic aspects are not addressed and severely impacted my reading experience, or I DNF'd but think it has potential for others

1 - is very problematic, I would not recommend the book to anyone

For a classic, slow-burn, fake dating romance this book had it all. Tension, arguments, veiled flirting, and utterly adorable characters. Ro’s love for all who surrounded her and her fights with her father about college were relatable to any senior in high school. The ending was mostly predictable but anyone who reads books like these expect that, it didn’t take away from how adorable it was.