A Reader's Guide to Books and Reviews

Title: Throwback

Author: Maurene Goo

Genre: Time Travel, Contemporary, Science Fiction, Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Netgalley, Asian Literature

Date Started: January 25th, 2023

Date Finished: January 25th, 2023

Status: Finished

Rating: 4.5/5

Sypnosis: Back to the Future meets The Joy Luck Club in this YA contemporary romance about a Korean American girl sent back to the ’90s to (reluctantly) help her teenage mom win Homecoming Queen.

Being a first-generation Asian American immigrant is hard. You know what’s harder? Being the daughter of one. Samantha Kang has never gotten along with her mother, Priscilla—and has never understood her bougie-nightmare, John Hughes high school expectations. After a huge fight between them, Sam is desperate to move forward—but instead, finds herself thrown back. Way back.

To her shock, Sam finds herself back in high school . . . in the ’90s . . . with a 17-year-old Priscilla. Now this Gen Z girl must try to fit into an analog world. She’s got the fashion down, but everything else is baffling. What is “microfiche”? What’s with the casual racism and misogyny? And why does it feel like Priscilla is someone she could actually be . . . friends with?

Sam's blast to the past has her finding the right romance in the wrong time while questioning everything she thought she knew about her mom . . . and herself. Will Sam figure out what she needs to do to fix things for her mom so that she can go back to a time she understands? Brimming with heart and humor, Maurene Goo’s time-travel romance asks big questions about what exactly one inherits and loses in the immigrant experience.

Review: When I caught this book on Netgalley, I found myself intrigued by the premise. A little bit of Back to the Future meets somewhat of a different version of Freaky Friday. The only thing is that there is no body swap but imagine having fought with your mom and being tossed back into her high school years!

Sam and her mother are complete polar opposites. Her mother is a straight-laced lawyer who pushes her daughter to be the best, at least in what she wants her to be. She demands perfection from her daughter and even wants her to start applying to colleges that are prestigious. But Sam does not want to be part of her mother's perfection. She wants her own things and to be her own person.

But a fight with her mother causes Sam to be tossed back into the past. She now has to do something to change her mother's life in high school. Will Sam be able to do so?

This story was funny and sad at times. I loved Sam and her mother, Priscilla. These two could not be two different people. Both stubborn and unyielding to the other person. I also see that Priscilla got most of her thoughts from her mother - be perfect, be Homecoming Queen, be the best, and unfortunately this would carry onto the future.

The storyline is unique and fun. The characters are great along the way, and I think, that generational communication can be complicated along the way. People are expected to act and dress according to what generations believe they should be. Any rebellion is frowned upon. This is what we see from Priscilla and her mother to Priscilla and Sam. I am just glad that the two were able to patch things up in the end. I love stories that add closure between characters and offer both to look at each other in a new light.

I feel every generation that comes and goes that there will always be something neither of them will ever agree on and this discourse could easily carry into other future generations. I think each generation should not put so much on the shoulders of the next and expect them to be able to pick up the pieces that they are left with.

Also, can I say I love Marge? Marge needs her own fanclub. That woman was wonderful! We need more of her in the future!


Thank you, Netgalley, the author, and their publishing company for a chance to read this book and give an honest opinion about its subject.