Twenty-Four Seconds from Now . . .: A Love Story
by Jason Reynolds
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A Coretta Scott King Author Award Winner
A New York Times Bestseller
Seven starred reviews!
"Jason Reynolds has done it again!...Fresh from start to finish...This is what it could be, should be, if only we were all as lucky as Aria. Girls (and everyone) wait for your Neon!" --Judy Blume, New York Times bestselling author of Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. and Forever...
#1 New York Times bestselling author Jason Reynolds tackles it--you know...it--from the guy's perspective in this stream of consciousness story of a teen boy about to experience a huge first. "Reynolds's foray into romance is as spectacular as expected...Undoubtedly, a story for everyone" (Booklist, starred review).
Twenty-four months ago: Neon gets chased by a dog all around the parking lot of a church. Not his finest moment. And definitely one he would have loved to forget if it weren't for the dog's owner: Aria. Dressed in sweats, a t-shirt, hair in a ponytail. Aria. Way more than fine.
Twenty-four weeks ago: Neon's dad insists on talking to him about tenderness and intimacy. Neon and Aria are definitely in love, and while they haven't taken that next big step...yet, they've starting talking about...that.
Twenty-four days ago: Neon's mom finds her--gulp--bra in his room. Hey! No judging! Those hook thingies are complicated! So he'd figured he'd better practice, what with the big day only a month away.
Twenty-four minutes ago: Neon leaves his shift at work at his dad's bingo hall, making sure to bring some chicken tenders for Aria. They're not candlelight and they definitely aren't caviar, but they are her favorite.
And right this second? Neon is locked in Aria's bathroom, completely freaking out because twenty-four seconds from now he and Aria are about to...about to... Well, they won't do anything if he can't get out of his own head (all the advice, insecurities, and what ifs) and out of this bathroom!
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Book Details
- ISBN
- 9781665961271
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Authors
- Jason Reynolds
- Publisher
- Atheneum Books
- Published Date
- October 8, 2024
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 256
- Physical Info
- 8.55 in L x 5.8 in W (0.76 lb)

Very interesting story
I don't know if it's just me, but I just wasn't feeling this book. Something about the main character's voice just didn't sound legit to me, but maybe I'm just too old for YA work.
The book is phenomenal. Love it.
Neon sits at the edge of a moment, one that's been coming forever and not soon enough. And no, it's not graduation. Though that's up too. And deadlines. And a million other things as his brain spirals into a slew of thoughts spanning the last two years or so of his life as his relationships and how they've shifted all crash forward in his brain. All in the few moments he's standing in front of the mirror feeling the weight of a moment.Reynolds is at the top of his game doing the thing I find him the master of. He's able to capture the intensity complex net of emotions that weigh on a person, particularly on adolescence, as they cumulative into an event. He is able to stylistically lay out everything that brings a person to a point while digging into the very heart, the fears and joys, that we often feel but don't conceptualize as individual parts. Starting with how Neon's inner debate, laced with tell tale snarky humor that Reynold's most endearing characters have, about his own appearance and preparedness the reader is taken through a full journey that encompasses his romance, his bond with his sister, his parents, grief, nerves, uncertainty, dreams, fears, and the simple joys.What is truly beautiful in this work is that it takes on so much. It is, in itself, its own story. But in framing it as a lead in to a moment it's able to leave things with loose ends that never feel like it as those things are matters of the future. It doesn't offer solutions or rosy future images. It all really comes down to who someone is in that moment and how much someone can feel, how they are shaped into the person they are at that time.This author, I truly believe, is a gift to all of us that can do no wrong.
I gifted these books to male middle and high school students and they enjoyed them.
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