If you’re anything like us here at THP, you wouldn’t pass up an opportunity to read a romance novel! And we’re back with another YA romance book review: Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea!
Picture this: Never Have I Ever meets 13 Going On 30. Woke Up Like This is an academic rivals-to-lovers story that’s impossible to put down! No, we mean it. We finished reading it in less than a day.
We could go on and on about why you should read Amy Lea’s latest romance novel, but we’ll narrow it down to a few of our favorites! Here are three things we love about Woke Up Like This!
Book Overview
Summary: Planning the perfect prom is one last “to do” on ultra-organized Charlotte Wu’s high school bucket list. So far, so good, if not for a decorating accident that sends Charlotte crash-landing off a ladder, face-first into her obnoxiously ripped archnemesis J. T. Renner. Worse? When Charlotte wakes up, she finds herself in an unfamiliar bed at thirty years old, with her bearded fiancé, Renner, by her side.
Either they’ve lost their minds or they’ve been drop-kicked into adulthood, forever trapped in the thirty-year-old bodies of their future selves. With each other as their only constant, Charlotte and Renner discover all that’s changed in the time they’ve missed. Charlotte also learns there’s more to Renner than irritating-jock charm, and that reaching the next milestone isn’t as important as what happens in between.
Navigating a series of adventures and a confounding new normal, Charlotte and Renner will do whatever it takes to find a way back to seventeen. But when―and if―they do, what then?
The Rivals-To-Lovers Romance
Charlotte is a headstrong, Type-A student, while J.T. is the school’s favorite jock. Charlotte lost the student council presidency to J.T. and will never forgive him for it. Nor will she forgive him for standing her up at homecoming in their first year. We love a good rivals-to-lovers trope, but even more so when the two love interests become rivals after a misunderstanding. Or when one side has always liked the other but never confessed. And that feeling of “What if?” when they clear up everything later is everything!
The Well-Written Time Skip
Woke Up Like This includes a time skip where Charlotte and J.T. wake up in their 30s, just a week before their wedding! Technically, we can’t tell you too much about their future without spoiling part of their love story, but it is a trip! These two have to pretend to love each other deeply, but it’s not an act to J.T. He’s gentle and domestic and brings Charlotte food even after they fight. (If they wanted to, they would!) And we weren’t ready for the snap back to the present. We wanted to stay in the future a little longer, and we think our main characters did too.
Themes Of Friendship and Adulthood
Another thing we love about Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This is how well it addresses the evolution of high school friendships into adulthood. Charlotte and her high school best friend Kassie drift apart in the future, which shocks her initially. But she starts to recognize the warning signs once she returns to the present.
When you’re still in high school, it’s easy to think you’ll be friends with people forever. But in adulthood, you’ll realize how hard it is to maintain friendships if you don’t see them daily, and that’s okay. And sometimes, there’s no clear explanation for why two people stop becoming best friends. We’re all busy people learning to grow and make a life for ourselves, and it’s okay if some friendships don’t make it.
Amy Lea’s Woke Up Like This feeds our inner teenager with a lovely rivals-to-lovers romance that fosters a deeper appreciation for the friends and family we still have today.
Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea was released on October 1. Here’s how you can order and claim your copy!
What do you think of Amy Lea’s newest romance, Woke Up Like This? Let us know on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram!
Want to hear about some of our audiobook recommendations? Here’s the latest!
