Title: See You Yesterday
Author: Rachel Lynn Solomon
Publication: May 17, 2022
Publisher: Simon & Schuster for Young Readers
Genre: YA Fiction, Teen, Sci-Fi
Pages: 429
SYNOPSIS: (From Goodreads)
Barrett Bloom is hoping college will be a fresh start after a messy high school experience. But when school begins on September 21st, everything goes wrong. She’s humiliated by the know-it-all in her physics class, she botches her interview for the college paper, and at a party that night, she accidentally sets a frat on fire. She panics and flees, and when she realizes her roommate locked her out of their dorm, she falls asleep in the common room.
The next morning, Barrett’s perplexed to find herself back in her dorm room bed, no longer smelling of ashes and crushed dreams. It’s September 21st. Again. And after a confrontation with Miles, the guy from Physics 101, she learns she’s not alone—he’s been trapped for months.
When her attempts to fix her timeline fail, she agrees to work with Miles to find a way out. Soon they’re exploring the mysterious underbelly of the university and going on wild, romantic adventures. As they start falling for each other, they face the universe’s biggest unanswered question yet: what happens to their relationship if they finally make it to tomorrow?
REVIEW:
**A copy of this book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.**
Full disclosure: I do not like science fiction books all that much. I like reality and science fiction sometimes pushes that boundary in books. This story, however, peaked my interest. I’m a fan of Groundhog Day and this sounded similar.
I was correct. This is a modern day twist on the Groundhog Day story. You have Barrett, who is so much like me it’s weird. We are weird… period. Then you have Miles who is adorably awkward and most likely someone I would be friends with, even with his grumpy attitude at times. These two characters are the main focus of most of the book so the only two characters you really get to know deeply. I found myself very much attached to them by the end of the story and really wanted to see them succeed at breaking themselves out of this incessant time loop. I liked how both of their backstories became intricate parts of the puzzle, even if it wasn’t the main focus, and brought a realness to their characters. Solomon did an excellent job of building up these characters and having them be more than just basic characters on a page. The story was built like an onion and we peeled each layer back to reveal more of the story and more of the characters.
I did feel near the middle that the story was dragging on. There were pages or even chapters I feel could have been removed and made the book a little more compact and flow more quickly. In that middle section I found it harder to motivate myself to pick the book up. I felt like I was with them and stuck reading the same stuff over and over, but as a reader I want the story to move forward. Other than that, I really enjoyed this story and the interesting plot line. The science fiction side of it wasn’t overwhelming to the story and done in a really clean, real world type of way that drew even me into it.
Also, the ending had a little twist and gave me a little shock at the end, so if you are stuck in the middle like I was, keep reading. I promise it gets really good. I’m not a fan of Rachel Lynn Solomon and look forward to more of her novels in the future.
