Love Me Tomorrow by Emiko Jean

The quick cut: A teen girl who stopped believing in love is surprised when she receives a letter from the future - a boy who is in love with her.

A real review:

Thank you to Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for providing the arc for an honest review.

Love is a fickle feeling. While everyone may want to find that special someone that makes them happy, there is the undeniable reality that it doesn't always last. When Emma saw her parent's marriage end, she stopped believing in it.

Emma's life is filled with responsibility and not always a lot of fun. She definitely doesn't have time for romance, especially since it's not something she thinks is real anymore. So when she starts receiving letters from an unnamed sender who claims to be from the future, she starts questioning what is possible. When the sender also says he loves her, she can't help but try to figure out who he is. Is love real?

The best part about this story is the fact that is feels so ordinary and relatable outside the letters from the future. Emma is like any other teen who struggles with the future, trying to support her family, and figuring out who matters most. The letters just add an element of magic to the mix.

Emma's life is not easy. Her parents divorced and her relationship with her father isn't in the greatest place. Her mom is trying to make ends meet with a grandfather who is starting to need more assistance with daily needs. Emma works to clean homes so that they can pay the bills. She worries about the future because she can't see leaving them behind as an option to pursue higher education. That's not easy problems to deal with.

There are three guys that Emma sees as her possible letter writer. The first is Theo, the boy next door who got through his growth spurt and became handsome overnight. The second is Ezra, the musical prodigy who Emma has crushed on from afar for years. The third is Colin, the rich son of one of her home cleaning clients. Each one has their own unique connection to Emma that makes them a good fit. Each one also has their own struggles that make a relationship complex. While you get time with each, it's definitely not an even distribution. There's one in particular that I feel we don't get enough time with and get to know.

I definitely enjoyed the story here, but there's so many characters that it feels like too many for the number of pages there are. It makes it difficult to give each one the space they need to develop properly. More so, I loved how this book's core point is to enjoy the present because the future is always coming.

A fun contemporary story about romance and embracing the present.

My rating: 4 out of 5