[Review] Love Me Tomorrow - Emiko Jean

Summary: Seventeen-year-old Emma Nakamura-Thatcher doesn’t believe in love, not after her parents’ bitter divorce. So when she attends the festival of Tanabata, her wish is simple: proof that love is real and can last.

Emma thinks little of her wish…until she finds a note from someone claiming to be her greatest love writing to her from the future. It has to be a prank, right? But as the notes pour in, each revealing secrets only she knows, Emma is forced to accept the impossible: This is really happening. Someone is actually reaching out to her from across time.

But who? Ezra, the musical prodigy who makes her pulse race? Theo, the literal boy next door who’s known her since childhood? Or Colin, the overly confident, overly handsome, overly rich kid she meets while cleaning his mega-mansion?

As Emma races to uncover the identity of the letter writer, she’ll discover that love is more than real—it’s the most powerful force in the universe. And it’s been waiting for her all along. (Pub Date: Feb 03 2026)

Emma is just seventeen but she feels responsible for her aging grandfather and for helping her mother with the bills through their job of cleaning other houses. That's when she starts getting letters from someone in the future who says they love her. Who can it be?

3+.

I don't know if many if anyone will get my first problem with this book, but it was too real. Especially for something that sells itself as magical realism, Emma's problems were SO real. I prefer my romance YAs to be a escape. I was surprised there was a resolution at all to this part, but as an adult, I'm not super sure that can really work, and also at what cost? But this will be something for you to wonder after you're done reading anyway. Just know that yes, the author manages to fix it. 

But maybe the realism of it made me so anxious because the magical part wasn't so important. The letters did make some difference, but so would therapy, a normal penpal, some friend who could listen to Emma. They do cause Emma to act on the little information the future guy gives her so she can find out who he is, so I don't mean they were useless to the plot, but they felt like a waste of trope, as it was an underused plot device. So don't read this book for it, if this is the only reason you're considering it. (Also, if this penpal is any of the guys she thinks they could be, then someone much older, probably someone of age, is exchanging love letters with a minor? Euh. This thought crossed my mind from time to time, but this was never of consequence to the book, don't worry.)

It is a good story though. As I said, it touches real themes that I wish no teenager should have to face but I know many do. And it's also very real. It's a pretty story. And I'd like to read more from this author in the future.

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

Rating: 3 out of 5.