Remember Me Tomorrow by Farah Heron
Publication Date: October 1, 2024
Summary From NetGalley:
East House is the oldest and least desirable dorm on campus, but it has a draw for lonely university freshman Aleeza Kassam: Jay Hoque, the hot and broody student who vanished from East House five months ago without a trace. It’s irresistible to an aspiring investigative journalist like Aleeza.
But when she starts receiving texts from Jay, the mystery takes an unexpected turn. To put it mildly. His messages are coming not only from Aleeza’s own dorm room but from the past—only weeks before he disappeared. Sharing space, if not time, Aleeza and Jay are living the impossible, and they start working together to prevent his inevitable disappearance. Causing a temporal paradox that could blow up the universe is a risk they’re going to have to take.
Aleeza digs through Jay’s suspicious friends, enemies, and exes, determined to find out what happened to him. Or what will happen to him. But it’s becoming more than a mystery. Aleeza is catching feelings for her charming new roommate. Wherever, and whenever, he may be.
ARC provided by Skyscape via NetGalley for an honest review.
Confession:
This was a very fast, very fun read. I also found it quite compelling as I just couldn’t put it down, and the few times I did, I kept thinking about it. I wanted to know what had happened to Jay just as much as his friends did.
The story is told through Aleeza’s point of view only and I just adored her. I saw a lot of myself in her at that age, and I’m sure lots of teens and YA will see themselves too. She starts off alone and unsure of herself, but as the mystery and her relationship with Jay and the other people she meets becomes stronger, she does to. I just loved that about her, how she was able to come out from a bad friendship and still take a chance on the new people she meets. I also adored her obsession with cephalopods, what a fun character quirk.
Although we don’t get Jay’s point of view of the story, I felt that we really got to know him through his conversations with Aleeza. He is a really sweet guy, who admits he is not into commitment, which may have got him in trouble a bit, but from his point of view sounds like he managed that ok. His true friends do rally to help him and Aleeza when it is needed which shows to me what a really great guy he his despite his reputation.
The mystery of what happened to Jay and the use of the parallel universes was well done. I liked how they communicated through texts that only they could see and only when they were both in the dorm room. Aleeza’s ability to connect with Jay in the past certainly helped with finding out what happened to him. There were some great twists and turns and even a couple that I didn’t see coming and it was a great puzzle to finally put all the pieces into. I was a little bit nervous about the ending for awhile, but it all turns out ok.
I liked the author’s writing style, it was very down to earth and felt perfectly at ease with the characters and their lives. I felt totally immersed in the setting of a college campus and how cold Toronto is in the early Spring. I also loved all of the references to old time travel movies. One in particular which was very similar to this story, which they made some fun of. I only had one small complaint and that had to do with another missing person who had disappeared under similar circumstances as Jay, but 100 years before. I just kept expecting there would be some connection between the two disappearances, but there never was. It just felt weird that it was mentioned as often as it was.
Overall a great YA mystery romance. I highly recommend if you are into this genre, especially if you like the parallel universe angle. This YA has a lot going for it, and the characters are very lovable. I will definitely be picking up other books by this author in the future.
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