Buy: Amazon
Review
4.5 stars!
This is SUCH a cute read! A 17-going-on-30 YA romance that is fun, witty and sweetly romantic. It’s a wonderfully written ‘fluffy’ romance that had me hooked from start to finish, and I enjoyed every moment!
Charlotte is a high school senior and a smart, driven perfectionist. For the entirety of high school she has been working to a plan, and she’s hitting all of her goals, except for the ones ruined by her arch-rival, J.T. Renner. Renner is everything Charlotte is not – popular, carefree and laidback, and their best friends are dating, so he’s always in her face. While Charlotte is charging ahead planning the perfect prom, Renner is constantly in her way, culminating in a decorating mishap which has her falling off a ladder directly onto her nemesis. And things take a dramatic turn when Charlotte wakes from her accident in an unfamiliar bed with Renner ride by her side, both of them now in their thirty-year old bodies, and engaged.
It’s a great set up, and this story is lots of fun. The dynamic between Charlotte and Renner as 17 years olds is snarky but buzzing with hidden, mostly unwanted, attraction, and I loved both of them pretty much immediately. When they wake in the future, they are forced to work together to figure out what happened to them, and how to undo it all.
In the meantime, they get to experience their adult lives and learn what happened in the intervening 13 years – learning some pretty big life lessons in the process – and they are by each other’s side through all of it, with only each other to lean on. Forced together, faking an adult relationship, and being each other’s support changes their relationship forever, but will they ever get back to their real lives? And if they do, will they remember what happened to them? And what do they do with all that they’ve learned about their future?
Though this is a fun and light read, it does have some important and heartfelt themes. Both Charlotte and Renner are dealing with some drama in their lives, and I loved that even though they’re dealing with it as the teenagers they are, they also get a glimpse of the consequences of their actions in the future. It’s real and it’s relatable, and I thought it was so well written.
“For some reason, I always thought adults made decisions with purpose. That they knew what they were doing all the time. But maybe adults are just like teens, bumbling around aimlessly, unsure if they’ve gotten it right.”
And of course there’s a romance, and I loved the relationship between Charlotte and Renner. There’s more to it than initially seems, and despite the years of animosity between them, the forced proximity and the bizarreness of their situation draws them together, and the love story is really cleverly done.
I loved this book. I loved the characters, the writing, and the way the story unfolded. It brought back memories and made me think, and left me feeling fluffy and giddy with happiness.
Such a gorgeous read. 4.5 stars!