A Romantic Time Loop Mystery Like THE LAKE HOUSE

Let me backtrack a bit to set the scene in Remember Me Tomorrow. While Aleeza initially decides to dorm with her childhood best friend Mia, they have a falling out. When Aleeza requests to swap rooms in March, she’s thrilled to learn she’s gotten placed in a single. The only catch? It’s the now vacant room of Jay Hoque, the popular guy who vanished from campus five months ago. When Aleeza moves in though, she gets a message on the roommate app ResConnect from none other than Jay. But it’s not Jay from the present. It’s Jay from September before he disappeared.

As the two process their startling and unexplainable connection, Aleeza fills Jay in on how he’s gone missing in her timeline. The pair decide to try and prevent Jay from disappearing, or find him in Aleeza’s timeline.

Now on to what I love about this book and why I think you should read it. Aleeza makes for such a funny and endearing character. Take this quote, for example, an inner monologue Heron writes of Aleeza debating what to say to Jay. “I don’t want to ask him where he was last night, because it’s none of my business. But I don’t know what to say. So I say nothing, because I’m awkward.” Aleeza’s self-degrading humor and understandable woes make her the kind of character I’d like to be friends with. I see some of my own internal conflicts, like shyness and awkwardness, shine through her, too.

I like how Heron highlights the changing nature of friendships as we grow up through Aleeza’s dynamic with Mia. Aleeza comes across as quite relatable as she tries to process her best friend’s unkind behavior and stay true to herself—a quirky girl with a passion for journalism, octopuses, and old-school mysteries.

Aleeza’s new friend Gracie phrases it well when she states, “I hate it when a person’s entire identity becomes about the person they’re dating. She may have been your best friend, but you weren’t hers.” These relatable friendship conflicts helped me connect with Aleeza’s character early on.

I also loved Aleeza and Jay’s epistolary connection as they communicate through messages. The two develop great banter and a natural build-up of chemistry. I enjoyed how they watch popular time travel movies in response to their own unique time loop situation. The pop culture references are on point, and I appreciate the well-deserved praise they throw Keanu Reeves’s way. If I ever find myself in a time loop, I will definitely be falling back on time travel movies to help me figure it out too.

I flew through this book, a compelling mystery and sweet romance with well-developed characters. The fleshed-out secondary characters surprised me, too, as Aleeza makes heartfelt new friendships and interviews the shady circle of rich kids Jay spent time with. Jay’s complicated friend, Jack, for example, offered some intriguing and unexpected twists to the story. Heron also digs into important explorations of racism that both Aleeza and Jay face as Aleeza is Indian and Jay is biracial Bangladeshi amidst a predominantly white student population. Jay shares experiences growing up with his single mom as well, and I appreciated the thoughtful single parent representation.

While I could wax poetic forever about how much I love this book, it’s time for you to go read it! Like me, I hope you’ll remember it tomorrow and long after you finish reading it too.