Writing about anime as (part of) my day job absolutely influences how much I write about it outside my day job. It's just logical. If I can monetize an article idea, I'm going to pitch it over to a magazine. Besides, a good chunk of my readership here on the blog and on my social media is more interested in the other parts of my career Venn diagram, so there's not a huge point in talking more.

That said, there are some things that just don't belong in an anime magazine or on an anime news website. Stuff like "Okay but seriously, here are the ones I'd tell you to watch without any sidebars or cautions." There are plenty of things I'd recommend if you're a hardcore anime fan, if you're into this or that specific subgenre, etc. But sight unseen? I don't get many.

So, here under my own roof, I'm going to try and give some occasional new anime recommendations to people who might not be as anime-focused. I've yet to see a Cowboy Bebop or a Keep Your Hands off Eizouken! this season, but there's still some fun to be had.

The Elusive Samurai

Tokiyuki Hojo was the ninth and final head of the Hojo clan, whose family fell apart during the 1333 siege of Kamakura. His attempts to return to power involves a cycle of fleeing, amassing armies, and fleeing again. By 1352 he managed to recapture Kamakura, but was beheaded a year later.

This is all historical fact. It is also the basis for The Elusive Samurai, an award-winning manga recently adapted into an anime. In this retelling, Tokiyuki Hojo is depicted as a young boy with a talent for evading capture. With the help of Suwa Yorishige (depicted here as a deity-level being with future vision), he hones his skills, turning the battlefield into his own brutal game of tag.

The love for the original manga of The Elusive Samurai is more than warranted, and its anime adaptation is possibly the most beautiful show currently airing. Its blend of anachronistic humor and stunningly animated action has left me speechless so far. If you only watch one new anime this season, go for this one. You don't need any anime knowledge: just an interest in history and a willingness to play along with some tonally-dissonant goofiness.

Ramen Akaneko

Sometimes you just want to chill, and I get that. Ramen Akaneko is my laid-back show of the season. It's a show about a ramen shop run by cats. And that's it. That's all you need to know.

The shop has just accepted its one human employee, who works part-time keeping the staff brushed and will occasionally don a kabuki stagehand outfit to wash dishes up front. (Patrons are here to see the cute feline staff, after all.) A gentle giant of a tiger works in the back making the shop's fresh noodles. And that's pretty much it. The stakes are low, with the most dramatic event so far being a YouTuber trying to take video inside the restaurant to boost his viewing figures.

I've already recommended this one to several friends, and I'm sure many more would enjoy it. Sometimes you just need something laid-back and cute at the end of your day.

Pseudo Harem

I'm recommending this one with full awareness that it will be a harder sell. But Pseudo Harem really surprised me. And you only need one basic piece of knowledge about anime to enjoy it, which you might have already: an awareness of harem anime.

For those who don't know, "harem anime" are those shows where one guy (often with nothing to recommend him) is fawned over by multiple love interests, each representing a very specific character trope. Kind of like horny commedia dell'arte: you will know the characters even if you've never seen the show before. There's the aloof cool girl, the spoiled needy girl, the big sister and little sister types, the shy bookworm, the flirt, and so on.

Pseudo Harem is about two drama club nerds in love. The boy, Eiji, dreams of having his own harem of anime girls. The girl, Rin, is a gifted actress who improvs all these different character tropes on the fly to amuse him. In actuality, though, she has a massive crush on him. These different personas let her voice her feelings safely, but she also has no idea whether Eiji reciprocates her feelings or just has fun interacting with her cast of characters. It's an earnest and self-aware little show that I did not expect to enjoy—definitely my wild card of the summer.

If you'd like to see more of my writing on all things anime, check out my news coverage on Crunchyroll and my features on Otaku USA!

 

I give off a vibe of being a person who has seen (and probably read) Bridgerton, but I've only recently gotten around to diving into it. And yes, this may have been spurred on slightly by the Doctor Who episode "Rogue"—when something is deep enough in the zeitgeist that it's influencing one of my favorite shows, it becomes much more difficult to put off.

So, all right. I've seen season 1. My thoughts? In short, I enjoyed it... even if it was laden with my #1 least-liked literary trope.

Generally Speaking

When I told bestie and regular collaborator Ginger that I was going to be diving into Bridgerton, she told me the description she'd heard of it before: "Cocomelon for white women." Which, I'm not going to argue that. If you're not already invested in the machinations of Regency society, you're probably not going to be all that invested in this. It is Pride & Prejudice on steroids, commentated by Dame Julie Andrews with carte blanche to cuss. That either will or won't appeal to you.

Anyway it appeals to me.

Overall I like the cast, and I recognize a lot of them. I did kind of walk backwards into this series, meaning that Regé-Jean Page will always be Xenk Yendar first and foremost to me. (And thus I love him unconditionally.) Ben Miller is always fun to see, and I'm always delighted to see an actor I like manage to make me hate him. Adjoa Andoh (to me, always Martha Jones's mom in Doctor Who) steals every scene she's in, to the point that I have to wait to talk about her or I won't talk about anything else.

I'm not as familiar with the books, though my friend Katy (who is walking me through the series) has given me some background on what's changed and how the books are arranged. I may end up reading them myself eventually. As it stands, I generally like the pacing, and the fact that in season 1 we have a central couple around whom all the other stories revolve. Things like Lady Whistledown's identity and the elder brothers' various crises of identity are all focused through the lens of Simon and Daphne. And I'll be curious to see how that evolves when the focus shifts to other couples in later seasons.

However...

While there are a lot of things I like about Bridgerton, the fact that Simon and Daphne's plot is motivated almost entirely by a lack of communication started to drive me up a wall after a while. Which is not to say that bad communication isn't a valid theme in a story like this: upper class double-talk, the silencing of certain people for no reason other than the boxes they fit in, and sheer misinformation are all valid and interesting pieces of action.

One of the biggest lapses in communication—Violet failing to give Daphne "the talk" and Simon assuming she's had it—falls under this category. It accentuates an aspect of this society, of the different expectations placed on husbands and wives, and of the Bridgerton family as the "head of household" distinction is tossed around like a hot potato.

There was a sense of relief when the Duke and Duchess finally addressed the elephant in the room, but not the pleasant kind that comes after intrigue and anticipation. As engaged as I was by their story, I didn't feel like this reticence to discuss something as important as "children: yes or no" was warranted. Maybe that's my mistake for being a contemporary viewer of a classically-style story.

That said, I think it could have worked. There were ample threads to tie this reticence to rather than simply choosing not to talk about it. I can do the legwork in retrospect to justify it, but having it there of its own volition would have been so much more meaningful.

But Also...

Lady Danbury could have turned this 8-episde series into a 30-minute featurette.

There's something both wonderful and terrible about having an eminently sensible person floating through an ensemble cast—knowing they could solve everything with a bit more screen time. Lady Danbury is honestly one of the best characters in the series, and not just because I feel like she must be seeing the people around her much as ew do. She's managed to make this world work for her, rather than bending herself to fit within it. I'm looking forward to eventually watching Queen Charlotte and seeing how that played out.

Her discussion toward the end of the season with Simon in which she (quite literally) tells him to use his words is as close as we get to a meaningful thematic reason for the lack of communication with Daphne. That salvages some of my issues with that story arc, but it still felt like a lot of drama balanced on a very small infrastructure. For that reason, the stories radiating out from the central story ended up feeling much stronger and more fulfilling in a lot of ways.

That said, I will absolutely keep watching. I want to see what else there is, and I want to see how these characters grow and change. And maybe, when my TBR pile has shrunk a bit, I'll try the books.

I'm grateful that a big part of my work has always involved reading as much as possible. And it's been a good summer for books. My batch for July includes graphic novels, magical technofutures, murder mysteries, and a very fun slasher pastiche. Thanks as always to the generous reviewers and publishers who send their advance copies my way!

(Candle is Garden Shed Library, the July scent of the month from Frostbeard Studio. Get book-inspired candles from their website!)

READY OR NOT
by Andi Porretta
Available now

It's Cassie's last summer before her close-knit friend group heads off to college. Everyone else, from the artistic Marcy to the musical Nico to future lawyer Aaron, seems to have their future sorted out. But Cassie can't seem to get her life together as quickly as the rest of the world would like. As she stares down adulthood, she only has two things on her mind: her seemingly unrequited crush on Nico, and making memories while she still can.

To that end, she suggests a summer-long game, based on one the four invented as kids. A travel cup carries slips of paper around, each inscribed with a dare. Some are simple, some are downright illegal. But they'll all be memorable. Failing your dare means you're out of the game. Winning carries with it a variety of forfeits for the losers, depending on who wins. But as the friend group navigates their game, cracks form. Nico appears to be invested in someone other than Cassie, and she can't hold her jealousy in. Meanwhile, Marcy and Aaron seem to be changing... or maybe Cassie just wasn't paying close enough attention to them. What began as forging precious memories is now threatening to tear the group apart, and Cassie can't help but feel she's to blame.

Ready or Not is a single-sitting graphic novel read, full of bright colors and vibrant art. Porretta's layouts are excellent, integrating group chats (a major part of the friend group's communication) in a way that's still visually interesting. Most of all, though, it's a relatable story of that time in our lives when we and the people we love change forever—and how to weather those changes.

LADYKILLER
by Katherine Wood
Available now

Gia and Abby have been best friends since childhood, separated by class and brought together by teenage tragedy. Years later, heiress Gia has made a snap decision to marry near-stranger Garrett in the wake of her father's death. Abby has been keeping her distance from this ill-advised match, foregoing the wedding and agreeing to meet up again only because Benny—Gia's brother and Abby's longtime crush—will also be along.

But things are becoming uncomfortable. Gia has failed to show up for the reunion, sending apology texts that sound nothing like her. Alongside these are threatening emails, calling Abby out for a long-buried lie. When Abby and Benny make it to Gia's home in Greece, all they find is her latest autobiographical manuscript: a terrifying story of betrayal, scandal, and infidelity. All signs point to Garrett, as well as the couple's two new friends, targeting Gia. But how much of Gia's manuscript is true? As the truth of Abby and Gia's shared trauma resurfaces, Abby and Benny scour the city for both the truth and absolution.

On the surface, Ladykiller is a slow-burn mystery. But dig deeper, and readers will discover that it is in fact a long-form character study. Gia's manuscript plays out alongside Abby's own narrative chapters. As we discover more about both ladies, we are cast as judge and jury: who is telling the truth? Is anyone telling the truth? Katherine Wood subverts expectations right in front of our noses, with the true convoluted mystery emerging in the final pages and sitting with us long after the book has been closed.

A MAGIC FIERCE AND BRIGHT
by Hemant Nayak
Available now

Four centuries ago, magic entered the world, bringing technology down with it. Now, in a rebuilt future, only technomancers can operate electronics and machines, speaking to their "souls" to bring them back to life. Adya is one of these rare practitioners, and she's putting all her energy into one goal: crossing the deadly spell wall that keeps her isolated and finding out if her twin sister Priya is still alive.

Her adventures unite her with unlikely friends: old frenemy Dsouza, a princess who can't control her magic, and an enthusiastic motorcycle who dreams of racing once again. But crossing the spell wall is just one challenge: petitioning the maharajah for help in finding Priya is an even bigger ask than anticipated, and uncovers unpleasant truths about the war raging between England and India. To survive, and to bring her family back together, Adya must reach out to new allies and embrace her trie potential.

A Magic Fierce and Bright is a fascinating techno-future vision, depicting magical castles built over the bones of skyscrapers and rusted vehicles with burning spirits. The little Yamaha in particular is one of the most compelling characters. The backdrop of Indian religion, legend, and culture makes this a stand-out entry in the genre, and the combat leaps off the page in epic fashion. This is truly gorgeous sci-fantasy.

THE PERFECT SISTER
by Stephanie DeCarolis
Available July 16

Despite being a year apart, sisters Maddie and Alex have always been as close as twins. But that changes after the death of their aspiring actress mother. Maddie disappears to the Hamptons, abandoning her sister and her medical school dreams in the wake of a fight. Desperate to reconnect, Alex follows her. But instead of Maddie, she finds the Blackwells.

The wealthy family is full of secrets, lies, and guilt. And it seems everyone around her has more information than they're letting on, and no intention of revealing it. The narrative changes hands throughout, from Alex to each Blackwell, and even to Maddie herself in flashback, as a web of deceit begins to form. Why did Maddie disappear into the Blackwells' home? What are Blackwell patriarch James's actual intentions for her. Will Alex make it out of the Hamptons alive?

The majority of The Perfect Sister is enticing and intriguing, with an undercurrent of untempered grief as the sisters struggle with their conflicting memories of their mother. However, the build-up of the story is a bit hampered by an eleventh-hour twist that feels a bit unsatisfying, coupled with an in-the-moment monologue to justify it. While the central mystery of the book—what happened to Maddie and why—is compelling and well handled, the final confrontation feels like it doesn't blend with the rest of the book. A decent enough summer read, but the finale may feel people leaving a bit turned around.

THE BLONDE DIES FIRST
by Joelle Wellington
Available July 30

Devon and Drew are twins, but they couldn't be more different. Drew is smart, driven, and goes to a high-end private school from which she's about to graduate a year early. Devon prides herself on her bleached blonde hair, vibrant makeup, and chill personality. But Devon is determined to have the Best Summer Ever™ before Drew goes off to take her genius to the next level. Unfortunately, the first stop on this summer sojourn involves taking their friend group to meet Drew's friends at a rich kid party, complete with a Ouija board—and the whole thing is flying scarily close to a recent horror movie.

Devon doesn't know how close until a coworker is killed by a literal demon: a demon that was coming after her first. As more people are targeted, the group realizes that the attempted kills and their surrogates are following the classic horror movie pattern. The bleached-blonde Devon nearly died first, only to be replaced by her natural blonde coworker. Now they have to use genre awareness to predict the kill order, save themselves, and stop the demon. That includes training up Yaya—a lovely ballerina and Devon's unrequited crush—to be the Final Girl and slay the demon. But along the way, Drew and Devon both discover that their preconceptions may be off.

This self-aware supernatural slasher is a perfect summer read. Beyond the surface-level fun and terror, it's also an insightful treatment of identity: how we view ourselves and others, the expectations that come with those assumptions, and how the roles we assign ourselves may hold us back from realizing our true potential. You can be a genius and an asshole; a love interest and a victim; and you might just have it within yourself to be the Final Girl.

 

I finally figured out why this game sounded so familiar: "vaesen" is the term Grimm used to refer to its monster-people. Remember Grimm? It was on around the same time as Once Upon a Time during that big wave of "dark fairy tale" stuff? Anyway, that's not important, just something that's been bugging me.

Now, Vaesen the tabletop game hails from Free League Publishing, who have done several other cool titles I like. The concept is "Nordic Victorian fae horror," which is four words I like smashed together in a very appealing way. James Bojaciuk of 18thWall invited me and several others to play a test campaign for review purposes. And we all sort of ended up liking it a lot. Look for his review, and reviews from other players in the campaign, down the line. But this one is mine.

As a system, I like the majority of it. And the peripherals are a bit like the little girl with a curl: when they're good they're very, very good; and when they're bad... well, I'll get into that.

The Core System

I've mentioned in other TTRPG reviews that I really appreciate any system that has characterization baked into the mechanics. For example, PBTA games will tie leveling/progressing to making difficult rolls, failing rolls, or addressing your character's backstory or class while playing. In that vein, a huge chunk of the Vaesen character sheet is given over to characterization—not just your own, but how your character interacts with everyone else.

Each character has a Trauma and a Dark Secret that guides their bit of the story. And, as you're solving spooky mysteries with your group, you're encouraged to air out the group's Dark Secrets as well. This is a great mechanic and also encourages at least some secrecy at the table (which is great for players like me who enjoy less inter-party pre-planning). The down side to this is that, when your Dark Secret is discovered, you're encouraged to take on a new one. That's fine for a short campaign, but it can start to feel like your character's backstory is back-heavy or fragmented for longer ones. Some of the suggested Traumas and Dark Secrets are also a little iffy, but most of us came up with our own anyway.

In terms of actual mechanics, you're building pools of d6es for your stats and have levels of physical and mental harm (affected by attack rolls and fear rolls, respectively) rather than hit points. 6's are successes and 1's are failures. The presence of a 6 cancels out any 1's, but the absence of either can be read either as a failure or as a success with complications at the DM's discretion. A relatively easy system to get used to, with minimal math.

Players also get a base that they can build out over time using resources and points from doing missions. I really loved this aspect of it, as it presented little bonuses that helped everyone while also creating a setting for character-centric roleplay.

Mythic Britain & Ireland

This is where our campaign actually started, and boy was it great. Maybe it's because our group was made up of people who are already interested in the mythology of the British Isles, but this was such a good fit for us.

The book contains three playable mysteries and lots of resources for various beasties and creatures. If you're an expert on this aspect of history and mythology, you might notice a few things that don't quite fit into place. Regardless, the mysteries were really enjoyable and a good way to get our feet wet at the beginning.

The one downside is that there are occasional dead ends and red herrings during the information-gathering phase. These are fine in non-interactive fiction like books and TV shows, where the path to the finish is already set in stone. But when you have a group of people chasing down leads in real time, it doesn't really add to the thrill of the hunt to find out that you've been hitting your head against a brick wall for half an hour. Fortunately, our DM agreed, and would tell us outright if something was engineered to be a dead end.

Overall, this was a great introduction to the world of Vaesen, and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a solid introduction.

Now, though—woe, Lost Mountain Saga be upon ye.

Lost Mountain Saga

It should be very telling that, at one point, we ran a timer to see how long it took until our group went in a direction that the campaign book didn't account for. (15 minutes, by the way.) While the conceit of The Lost Mountain Saga is super intriguing, the execution does not live up to the promise. Most of the action relied on the player characters going along with whatever the story wanted, even if it went against all logic. Simply to keep the game entertaining, our DM had to retrofit a lot of things. He would, however, read to us what was supposed to happen.

Now, I am a big believer that it's on you as the player to figure out why your character is here, and not on the rest of the group to convince your character to be there. However, there's a difference between embracing the flow of the story and, say, following an obvious cult into a forest, accepting food from them, and watching them kill a horse. Especially in a game in which you play a supernatural investigator. There's only so much narrative causality one can endure before one starts to wonder why this wasn't just a book instead.

The actual mythos of the expansion, which involves an archaeological dig and ancient Norse god-giants, got me really excited. It also made a great setting for our characters' expanding stories. But so many of the mysteries just felt... off. A man of the cloth attempting to bring back witch-burning and going completely unopposed in the era in which this game was set felt strangely out of touch, and yet it was still not the most out of touch thing in this expansion.

From what I understand, this expansion was based on an actual play podcast, which I have not listened to, so I can't comment on how it was transferred. All I know is that our DM did the absolute most to bring it up to playable standards, and that's the opposite of what a ready-to-play campaign book should be.

To sum up: Vaesen is a fantastic, atmospheric, character-forward TTRPG. It's so good that our party is looking to play more in the near future, even though the review process is over. It's so good that it's inspired characters we still talk about in Discord DMs. Mythic Britain & Ireland is excellent, and will be catnip for enjoyers of British folk horror and lore. The Lost Mountain Saga... is, I'm afraid, simply not good.

At the very least, I would recommend picking up the core book and Mythic Britain & Ireland. There are two other books of mysteries that we've yet to try, but the concepts intrigue me. I'm hoping our little group will band back together again soon to investigate them.

 

Thanks as always to Chapters Tea & Co. for having me on board as an affiliate! If you want to try any of their custom tea and coffee blends, be sure to use my code KARAD15 for 15% off your order!

I am a sucker for a special tea blend, and Chapters Tea & Co. always has me covered. This small business has been running for a year and is still my favorite purveyor of very good tea blends. As a bonus, they're all book themed!

For summer, Chapters has released a trio of fruit-flavored teas and tisanes. While many blends are inspired by specific books or authors, these encapsulate the joy of lazy summer days with a book. I've tried all three—and, once again, we have some winners.

The best part: these are not labeled as limited-edition teas, meaning you can enjoy them year-round!

Poetic Peach Refresher

Kicking off with a caffeine-free fruit tisane, Poetic Peach Refresher is pretty much made for iced tea. Inspired by summer picnics with a good book and a cool drink, this tea blends peach, apple, rosehip, orange, and hibiscus for a lovely pink brew.

Hibiscus is a bit of a touchy ingredient, in my experience. Use it right, and it adds nice color and flavor; go overboard, and you taste nothing but hibiscus. Fortunately, the peach is frontmost in this blend, and it's excellently balanced without being too sweet or too bitter. It's fine hot if you prefer, but the flavors are at their best iced. Personally, I'd recommend giving this a try cold-steeped in carbonated water for a nice soda summer alternative.

Porch Reads

Porch Reads is another peach-centric blend in the batch, but peach is great so there's nothing wrong with that. This black tea brings to mind lazy afternoons reading on your porch, and blends peach, apricot, and other natural flavors with black tea.

When served hot, this is a very subtle tea. The peach and apricot are more an aroma than a flavor, but that can be nice for a summer morning. Iced with some sugar, the flavors really pop. This is a great alternative to the Poetic Peach Refresher if you prefer black tea over fruit teas.

Summer Sunshine

All three new summer blends are great, but Summer Sunshine is (at least in my books) the MVP. This papaya and floral blend balances the fruit and tea flavors perfectly with the help of jasmine, marigold, and calendula. It's good hot or iced, but the fruit and floral balance is peak when it's served hot.

This one has the surprising smoothness of their Second Breakfast blend (a standard and one I regularly pick up) with that additional summery brightness. While I highly recommend you pick up all three to have your summer tea arsenal ready, if you only get one, make it this one.

Be sure to check out the whole catalogue of Chapters teas. And use code KARAD15 at checkout for 15% off your order!

Summer is a busy time work-wise, but I finally got a chance to get this month's books read, reviewed, and out to you! There's romance, enemies-to-lovers, ethics in journalism, and a story of political intrigue straight out of a summer movie.

Be sure to check these books out - all of them are available now!

BETTER MUST COME
by Desmond Hall
Available now

Deja lives in Jamaica. Her mother lives in New York and sends her children barrels of food and clothes. While Deja's friends consider her lucky to be a "barrel girl," things aren't easy for her family. At first, it was just a matter of missing her mother and wishing her brother and sister could grow up with their real mom. But now she's gotten word that her mother was mugged, and there's no barrel coming.

Just as things are looking grim, the impossible happens: Deja finds a wounded man, who gives her a briefcase of $500,000 US and a name to deliver it to. There's no way she can just make off with it—the wounded man is a DEA and the bills are allegedly marked. But if she could get a reward out of it, she could change everything for her family. There's just one problem: Gabriel, the cute boy she met the other night, is after the same briefcase. And for far less ethical reasons.

Besides its intriguing plot, Better Must Come is an educational look at life in Jamaica. Deja's journey to be rid of the half-mil is also a crash course in the country's social structure, lifestyle, geography, and economy. Chapters alternate between Deja and Gabriel, two characters both desperate for the money at the center of this caper in very different ways, both equally in love with their home and inhibited by their respective circumstances. The whole book is full of characters with depth and motivation, from a gang member-turned-priest to Deja's little brother.

LOVE, OFF THE RECORD
by Samantha Markum
Available now

Éowyn Evans (Wyn for short) doesn't mind her parents' obsession with all things Tolkien, Ren Faire, and otherwise nerdy. But she much prefers journalism. In fact, she's already kicked off her freshman year by aiming for a coveted position on the university newspaper's Campus Life section. But she's not the only one: Three (also not his real name) is aiming for the spot, too. And as far as she's concerned, the two are deadly rivals. If it weren't for all the hate, she might just have a crush on him.

Fortunately, Wyn's got Hayes to talk to. The anonymous confidant, whom she matched with on a campus-wide hookup app, seems perfect. And she's pretty sure that Hayes is actually Lincoln, a cute RA who has shown at least some interest in her. But in the midst of the rivalry and romance, something bigger drops: a drug scandal involving someone close to Wyn. Now, she and Three are together to crack a case bigger than both of them. And more secrets may fall out along the way...

If you are not a fan of enemies-to-lovers romances, Love, Off the Record will probably not change your mind. But if you are a fan, this book is made for you. Even if that's not your style, it's intriguing to see that both Wyn and Three's antagonistic ways stem from deeper-seated psychological issues that are addressed. And addressed well. I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer degree of investigative reporting woven through the story, too. Overall, a fun read with a positive ending.

PAST, PRESENT, FUTURE
by Rachel Lynn Solomon
Available now

Especially for younger protagonists, many romance novels have a happily-for-now ending. The new lovebirds finally connect, start making plans for college, and things will probably be fine. That was how Today, Tonight, Tomorrow ended: with overachieving rivals Rowan Roth and Neil McNair realizing their feelings for each other over the course of a 24-hour graduation game. But, to quote Mystery Science Theater 3000, "College is gonna change everything."

Vowing to beat the odds and keep their long-distance relationship strong, Rowan and Neil set off for college at Emerson and NYU, respectively. But while their breaks together are a whirlwind of romance, everything else is a mess. Neil is second-guessing his major while also dealing with his imprisoned father wanting to come back into his life. Meanwhile, Rowan's dream of becoming a romance author seems to falter when nothing she writes pleases her creative writing professor—who also happens to be one of her favorite writers. Not having each other at hand to work through their problems with is hard enough. But as Neil's mental health slowly breaks down, even their time together begins to suffer.

Past, Present, Future is a shockingly accurate look at What's Next. As much as it addresses the changes that college brings, it doesn't necessarily destroy any hope that young couples might have. It's a story that champions communication, honesty, and grace... especially to oneself. Fellow writers of all levels will also appreciate Rowan's story arc as she battles perfect and lets herself simply write.