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Rachel Lynn Solomon is the author of Today Tonight Tomorrow and its sequel, Past Present Future (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, June 4, 2024), and other romantic comedies for teens and adults. Originally from Seattle, she's currently leading the expat life with her husband in Amsterdam, where she can often be found exploring the city, collecting stationery, and working up the courage to knit her first sweater.
Handsell readers your book in 25 words or less:
Past Present Future is the sequel to Today Tonight Tomorrow, following former academic rivals as they navigate a long-distance relationship during their first year of college.
On your nightstand now:
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross--I feel like I'm probably the last one to read it, but the writing is so immersive that I just want to savor it!
Favorite book when you were a child:
I was obsessed with anything Meg Cabot and even read her blog religiously. Those books imprinted on my subconscious--everything from The Princess Diaries to the Mediator to the adult books that were probably a little too mature for me at the time. All-American Girl was my absolute favorite. It was the perfect book for anyone who felt a little different, and even if the pop culture references don't hold up, I can still recite certain lines from memory. And the romance between the awkward redheaded protagonist (relatable) and the son of the president (less relatable) gave me very high standards.
Your top five authors:
1. Nina LaCour. Her prose has such beauty in its simplicity--lovely and spare is my favorite kind of writing. Hold Still and We Are Okay are breathtaking, and her adult debut, Yerba Buena, was utterly transportive. I do most of my reading on audio these days, and the Yerba Buena audiobook, narrated by the golden-voiced Julia Whelan, is especially fantastic.
2. Gloria Chao. I adore her sense of humor and the way she writes complicated but lovable families. Very few authors make me laugh as much as she does!
3. Christina Lauren. As a romance author, I look up to them [Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings] so, so much. To me their books feel like the gold standard in contemporary romance, and they're always finding new ways to subvert tropes.
4. Candice Carty-Williams. Queenie was one of the funniest and yet most intensely heartbreaking books I've read in ages. A modern masterpiece.
5. Amanda Montell. I'm a huge fan of her podcast, Sounds Like a Cult, and her nonfiction books are perfect blends of pop culture, linguistics, and just plain fun. A few years ago, romance and YA made up probably 95% of my reading, and lately I've been trying to branch out. It's always a treat to find something delightful in a genre I may not have gravitated to in the past.
Book you've faked reading:
I'm drawing a blank... I was too much of a nerd in high school not to do any of the assigned reading!
Book you're an evangelist for:
Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler, another one that's phenomenal on audio (narrated by Caitlin Kelly). One of my favorite books in recent memory, beautiful and melancholy and soul-nourishing all at once. I've pushed it on most of my friends at this point.
Book you've bought for the cover:
World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments by Aimee Nezhukumatathil. It was staring up at me from a table at the bookstore and I just love animals and critters of all kinds, so I couldn't resist.
Book you hid from your parents:
Ready or Not, the sequel to Meg Cabot's All-American Girl. The cover does not adequately convey how much that book was about sex! I haven't read it in ages, but I'd be curious how it holds up--it felt groundbreaking to me at the time.
Book that changed your life:
Some Girls Are by Courtney Summers helped me realize I wanted to write YA. The girls in that book are so viscerally, unapologetically cruel. Courtney has this way of giving voice to all the ugly thoughts we aren't supposed to have, and this book ensured I'd follow her anywhere.
Favorite line from a book:
While this may not be my all-time favorite, it's one that's stuck with me. I was late to the Sally Rooney hype, but my husband is a huge fan. He read Beautiful World, Where Are You before I did and shared a line that I've never forgotten:
"On a Thursday evening after work, the three of them waited forty-five minutes on an increasingly dark and chilly street to be seated in a new burger restaurant Lola particularly wanted to try. When the burgers arrived, they tasted normal."
While at first that might seem like the plainest, most basic of writing, Rooney has a gift for capturing the banal and the tedious, and with just a couple sentences, she makes a cutting, quietly hilarious critique of our consumerist culture. "When the burgers arrived, they tasted normal"--isn't that true of so many things we imbue with an inflated sense of worth?
Five books you'll never part with:
1. Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
Beyond the burgers tasting normal, this one wrapped a fist around my heart and never let go. She may be one of the biggest authors in the world, but her books feel so intimate and personal--which is of course a huge reason for her popularity.
2. Emma by Jane Austen
My favorite Jane Austen, although to be honest, I'm not sure how much of that is attributable to Johnny Flynn's portrayal of Mr. Knightley in Emma (2020).
3. The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver by E. Lockhart
It's so perfectly Seattle (my hometown), and I have a signed copy that I treasure.
4. Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld
I read this for the first time in college, when I was going through a rough time, and for a while I reread it every year. It captures loneliness and awkwardness painfully well.
5. Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson
A pitch-perfect YA romance and my favorite road trip book, both sweet and heartbreaking and filled with mixed-media that makes you feel like you're right there in the car with the main characters.
Book you most want to read again for the first time:
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. The tension in that book is pulled so taut--a master class in romance.