Y’all, I stayed up way past my bedtime to finish reading THIS DAY CHANGES EVERYTHING by Edward Underhill. This sweet and hopeful dual POV romcom follows two high school students who’ve traveled across the country with their marching bands to perform at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Things take a turn for the worst (or is it the best?), when Abby and Leo (our queer girl/trans guy MCs) get on the wrong subway train. Let’s just say adventure ensues.

This book is for you if:
- you’ve ever experienced the buzzing excitement of visiting a new city with great friends.
- you’ve ever wished for a sign that “The Universe” was on your side.
- you’ve ever needed to feel seen by folks who don’t view your identity as a “Logistical Headache.”
- and of course, if you’ve ever been personally victimized by the MTA.

It warms my heart to read a book that reflects both the heartaches and immense joys I myself have experienced in my own queer&trans journey of becoming. I am so glad that queer youth will have the opportunity to read this book and see themselves in Abby & Leo’s story.

THIS DAY CHANGES EVERYTHING is out this Tuesday, 2/13/24!

I will not be providing feedback nor publishing it on social for this title until SMP meets the demands of the SMP Reviewer Boycott.

St Martins Press is currently under boycott so I will not be sharing my review for this book unless it ends.

This book packed a whole lot of nostalgia for me as the reader.

This book radiates the hope of two queer teens who have one magical 24 hours in New York City. Leo and Abby have one day of adventures and along the way found acceptance in their selves and hope for their future. Tons of queer joy is found within this story, especially between these grumpy and sunshine characters.

The scenes from NYC were fantastic, and my own connections to HS marching band and growing up in the Midwest really made me fall in love with this story.

Good story with great representation. Mostly, I loved the writing style the author uses throughout - its fun and playful at times, and reads perfectly for a YA book. The tone fit the story, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading through this book!

Both Abby and Leo feel very lost in their lives and are still trying to determine how they fit in the world. When Abby and Leo both board the wrong subway while their respective high school bands are on citywide tours the day before they perform in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, they must team up to find their way back and in more ways than one.

I really liked both characters and the dual POV approach. Leo's struggle with being a trans "Logistical Headache" was heartbreaking, but all too real as it's a struggle that cis gendered people don't understand the whole scope of. The smallest of things can be a big deal and the little moment between Abby and Leo waiting for each other at a bathroom was so important. I loved how queer this story was and how we get a lot of various identity representation, including some ace/demi rep there at the end!

It's a fun story with relatable teens that takes you on an adventure throughout New York City. While I thought Abby and Leo's friends were awesome in how they were able to cover for them all day while they were missing from their respective groups, I did feel like Abby and Leo were a bit selfish in how they just kept extending their time lost in the city instead of regrouping with the friends whose itineraries often overlapped. I can't believe none of the chaperones felt the need to physically set eyes on them to verify there were in fact present. Regardless, it's a fun story that older teenage queer or questioning kids will relate to or find pieces of themselves in. After all, a mini adventure in NYC does sound fun and exhilarating. I look forward to reading more by this author as this was my first book by Edward and it sounds like his debut was even better.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this ARC.

This was such a cute read! I really enjoyed it. We follow Abby and Leo who are members of different marching bands on an adventure through New York after they both accidentally get on the wrong train. It was a lot of fun getting to follow them through New York and seeing their relationship develop throughout the day. I really liked both Abby and Leo and the grumpy x sunshine dynamic that they had. They each had their own stuff that they were going through so it was satisfying to see everything work out for both of them in the end. I appreciated how this book highlighted being queer in a small town especially when there aren't many other openly queer people within your community. I also liked how this book touched on queerness without labels. While labels are important and helpful, I liked that this showed how you can just be who you are without having to worry about so much about how you identify.

The only thing that I wasn't a huge fan of was the insta-love between Leo and Abby. It's not really a trope that I'm into. Even though I'm not a huge fan of this trope, I still liked the relationship/romance between Abby and Leo and thought they were cute together. This was by first book by Underhill and I'm excited to read more books by him in the future.

First of all, can we just talk about how BEAUTIFUL the cover by Myriam Strasbourg is?

Abby and Leo are lost in different ways: Abby in her favorite romance book and in her best friend Kat (who Abby thinks she is in love with, but wait a second... Abby's queer?); Leo as the trans man that he is, struggling with his clueless extended family and his reluctant parents. Both protagonists find themselves - and their respective Midwest/southern marching bands - in New York City to march in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Everything about this trip, however, changes when Abby and Leo get lost in every sense of the word.

Underhill is such a vibrant writer that, despite my own dislike of Abby as a character, had me cheering her on. Abby and Leo's voices are so distinct and (at least for Leo, for me) it's easy to cheer for them. What I love the most about this story is the representation and finding spaces for queer teens as they figure out who they are. While the adventure piece of this story wasn't quite realistic, it was magical and connected beautifully with going from feeling invisible to feeling freed.

I am SO excited to share this one with my kiddos who have been yearning for more trans (especially) representation in YA literature.

i will not be rating or reviewing outside of netgalley as long as st. martin's press is still under boycott.

This book was super cute! I loved the plot and writing style. The characters were probably my favorite part, their personalities absolutely leapt through the page.

I will be withholding my review due to the boycott with St Martins Press. If the boycott were to end in the near future, I will be glad to share my thoughts then.

i will not be reviewing this title in solidarity with the ongoing st. martin's press boycott. if you want to find out more about the boycott, please visit https://r4a.carrd.co/

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ARC in exchange for my honest review!!

Honestly, this was super adorable. I loved the dynamic between Leo and Abby. This felt like a fantastic magical romance. I guess I can be a little cynical when I think that people can’t fall in love in a few hours. It also felt like the romance was rushed. Mad at each other and then in love? Maybe a crush, but idk about love. I don’t see how they can love each other and barely know each other, but it was still a cute story.

Abby and Leo meeting other queer people and seeing that there were people like them everywhere made me so happy. I love when characters are able to accept themselves and see that they deserve love and others accept them too.

One of the things I didn’t like was the cop-out of Kat being ace. It felt like a punchline of some sort. Oh you want Abby to get with Leo and not Kat? Make her ace and aromantic! I love ace rep, but it felt weird in this context.

All in all it was a cute quick read with another beautiful cover. I loved Edward’s debut novel and this one was also a sweet read.

i am withholding my review and any promotion of this title due to the boycott of SMP. if SMP eventually speaks up and the boycott ends, i will update this with a review.

Thank you for the opportunity to read the e-ARC for This Day Changes Everything. I won't be writing a review or posting on bookstagram due to St.Martins Press not responding or taking action about the racist remarks made by an employee on twitter. I will rate the book, as to not hurt an authors new release. I hope that SMP speaks up soon so that I can share about new releases that I've enjoyed. Until then, SMP will not get free advertising through social media creators.

Another great book by this author! A sweet, queer YA book that spans across NYC, and builds character along the way.

I wanted to love this one so much, especially because I loved Underhill's debut book, but I struggled through just finishing the first chapter and ended up DNFing this.

A fictional character the FMC is obsessed with is mentioned nearly 30 times in the first chapter, by name. A number of other things were repeated multiple times.

I just can't get past the repetition and what feels like a lack of a thorough edit (as an editor).

4.5 stars!

I enjoyed this book so much! It reminded me a lot of "Dash and Lily's Book of Dares" by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn, which makes sense since the two are compared in the description of this book. "Dash and Lily" is one of my favorite YA books, and this one is joining it!

I love how magical New York is in this story, and how free it feels to go somewhere outside your hometown where no one knows you. I really appreciated how Leo was written as a trans man, I think as one himself Edward Underhill provides a unique perspective on that experience. I also liked how the characters didn't feel a need to label themselves as anything other than queer, and realized that they will work on figuring it out along the way.

The romance was a really sweet and I loved having the dual perspective, so I could see the two slowly falling for each other. One of my favorite tropes is the guy who is so grumpy he never smiles, but the girl gets smiles out of him *cough cough Pride and Prejudice* and that was done so well in this as well!

I'm a little on the fence about Abby thinking she loves Kat to falling in love with Leo so fast, but I also understand that when you're queer it is hard to distinguish between platonic and romantic love, so I'm really happy Underhill included that.

Overall I thought this book was really entertaining, and I loved the characters and the setting. Will be buying a physical copy for sure!

Thank you to the publisher, author, and Netgalley for providing me with an e-arc of this book!

I highly recommend this book to readers who love teen realistic fiction, queer romance, and New York City!!!

As these two characters Abby and Leo start to bond and to understand themselves better in NYC, it makes them wonder about the other one’s place in their lives.

Thank you NetGalley for an early copy for review and I enjoyed my first time reading from this author Edward Underhill. Thank you.

New York City was even more magical than her favorite book described. The sights, the sounds, the hustle and bustle… it all mixed together to form a unique experience she never could have fathomed. What made it even more stunning was the stranger exploring the city with her and the moments that were turning into forever memories.

This Day Changes Everything is a queer YA romance following Abby, who is questioning her sexuality, and Leo, a trans boy. Their bands are in the city to perform in the Macy’s Day Parade and they both end up separated from their bandmates when they get on the wrong train. Now they must navigate the streets on New York together and find their way back.

This was so cute! I loved the New York City setting and getting to experience the wonder through the characters’ eyes as they explored the city together. This was giving me “The Sun is Also a Star” vibes as these characters connected over the course of an adventurous day. So much great queer rep and another book by Edward Underhill that I loved. I will always pick up his books!

If you’re a New York City setting fan and want a cute insta-love queer YA romance… pick this book up!