I have to preface this with: In 1995 I got my first computer and my first AOL CD. That said, I was so stoked when I heard about this book, especially since Jay Asher was one of the authors. Unfortunately, it didnt really live up to my high expectations.

Things I liked: All the 90s references. Even though I was a fairly wee tike at during that time I still remember a lot of the references. To me this book, even though it was about young adults and had appropriate themes, was most definitely not a YA novel because how could these references speak to a YA audience? I mean, Im sure some teens know who Hootie & The Blowfish are but it cant possibly be all that many, can it? This was a positive thing for me

I also liked how original it felt using Facebook. Im sure similar things have been done but I havent read any books like that.


Things I didnt like: It was just kind of a meh story. Even though it wasnt that long, it felt like it just putzed on forever. And I really only felt invested in one character, Josh. Those two things are really big things. So you can see why Im only giving it two stars.

While it was original, it just didnt float my boat or sink my sub.

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This was a fun read, but not quite what I was expecting. I like the premise and it was interesting as it played out, once they discovered that their actions in the present affected their future and they could watch the changes take place by checking their future Facebook profiles. Not knowing what Facebook was or texting or much of the lingo, etc. It was funny in places, and I enjoyed it. However, we never find out why or how this connection to their future occurred and in the end it was more of a teenage romance tale than anything else. I felt it could have been a really good read, but it never really achieved that.

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What if you could go online, see your future? And what if you could do something different now and see how it affected your future?

After reading the story summary on the book when my son brought it home from the library, I decided to give it a listen.

An original premise with easy to relate to characters and spot-on descriptions of the late 90's when the story takes place.

Although a 'young adult' book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend it to any teenager or adult.

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Before picking up this book, I read the beginnings of several reviews on Goodreads, as there weren't any here. So many were negative, complaining about the "one-dimensional" characters, who had the chance to see into the future and didn't look to see if anything like 9/11 had happened/etc.

The characters are 15 and 16, in 1996. There was no precedent to see if something like 9/11 had happened -- the last attack on our country before that was Pearl Harbor, and even when 9/11 happened and I was watching it on TV, I thought the news was showing a clip from a movie. There was no frame of reference. To think that adolescents at that time would look those kinds of things up is illogical.

Is this a riveting, long-lasting work of fiction? No. But it's fun for what it is -- a nostalgic look back at high school pre-internet, pre-Facebook, pre-smart phone. 30-somethings will probably enjoy this book more than any other subset.

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