The Challenge Factory discussion

Book Today Tonight Tomorrow
GISH II Challenge
Team: I Plead the Fifth


Today, she hates him. It’s the last day of senior year. Rowan Roth and Neil McNair have been bitter rivals for all of high school, clashing on test scores, student council elections, and even gym class pull-up contests. While Rowan, who secretly wants to write romance novels, is anxious about the future, she’d love to beat her infuriating nemesis one last time. Tonight, she puts up with him. When Neil is named valedictorian, Rowan has only one chance at Howl, a senior class game that takes them all over Seattle, a farewell tour of the city she loves. But after learning a group of seniors is out to get them, she and Neil reluctantly decide to team up until they’re the last players left—and then they’ll destroy each other. As Rowan spends more time with Neil, she realizes he’s much more than the awkward linguistics nerd she’s sparred with for the past four years. And, perhaps, this boy she claims to despise might actually be the boy of her dreams. Tomorrow…maybe she’s already fallen for him.

Possible Discussion Questions:

1. This book feels like a love letter to Seattle. If you’ve been there, did you feel it was a good representation? If you haven’t, does this book make you want to go there?

2. Rachel Lynn Solomon uses Howl, the senior class scavenger hunt, as a fun framing device for the entire novel.


Which was your favourite part of Howl?
It’s obvious that Rowan and Neil were in it to win it, but what would your strategy (or lack thereof) be?
3. Writing the Enemies-to-Lovers trope can be tough, and a lot of Rowan and Neil’s animosity begins before the novel’s start, which also represents the beginning of an understanding between the characters. Did you like their hate-to-love chemistry and find it believable?

4. Rowan unexpectedly bonds with Neil over being one of the few Jewish students at their school – both the good and the bad. Their experience with bigotry in progressive spaces is unfortunately not uncommon. Do you have any tips for learning about microaggressions others may face and how to better support those communities?

5. What did you think about Rowan’s parents and their decision to make this entire children’s series based on their daughter?

6. Rowan is fiercely defensive about the romance novels that she reads and wants to write. She’s protective of her passion to the point of hiding it and avoiding the worst-case reactions that she’s dreading. What do you do when you encounter someone who doesn’t (or who you think won’t) get your hobby?

I am about a third of the way into the book. I am enjoying it - I think it is going to be a cute story. I like that it takes place over ~24 hours. I wish my high school had a scavenger hunt game like HOWL on the last day - it sounds super fun!

I finished this morning and really enjoyed it; it was fun and cute and I'm going to start the sequel later today! HOWL was an awesome game; I still wish my high school had something like this. I loved the way Rachel Lynn Solomon used all the different media forms in the novel; the text messages, Rowan's lists, etc all added another fun element to the book.

I hope you are liking it too, Kat.