The Throwback List by Lily Anderson | Book Review

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Welcome to Sandy Point, Oregon: a sleepy beach town that's home to a giant anchor statue, a sometimes-karaoke-bar, and Frosty's questionably legendary Sunday Sundae Surprise. A town Jo, Autumn, and Bianca thought they'd left far behind when they graduated high school, finally moving on to greener pastures than the midway point for tourists heading to the Goonies house. But life seldom goes according to plan.
Bianca Boria-Birdy, former prom queen and valedictorian, has always been an overachiever. As she juggles managing the family tattoo parlor, caring for her grandmother, and adjusting to a new marriage, Bianca's schedule becomes stricter than ever, with no room for disruption. What she really needs is a vacation, but not even Bianca Boria-Birdy can achieve the impossible.
Autumn Kelly used to be an actress. Now she teaches drama at Sandy Point High. She may have had to kiss her movie-star dreams goodbye, but molding the next generation of performers has given her life meaning in a whole new way. Until the sudden reappearance of her ex-best friend throws everything off-balance.
Jo Freeman has it all together. With a cool job in Silicon Valley, connections at the trendiest fitness studios, and a down payment on her dream condo, she's well on her way to reaching every one of her goals before thirty. Or she was, before she got fired and landed right back home with her parents and teenage sister.
When Jo finds an old bucket list in her childhood bedroom, it sets the three women on a path that brings them closer to one another with each task. And it just might lead to a life none of them could have planned.

After reading The Throwback List, I only have one Lily Anderson book left to read and so I am now saving it for a special occasion. As it turns out, I enjoyed The Throwback List just as much as the other books I’ve read by Anderson. It only took me a few pages to be drawn into this new adult/women’s fiction read about three young women coming of age. There are SO many praises to sing about this book.

Jo Freeman basically had her life together. She was living in the silicon valley doing marketing for a fitness app, on her way to achieving all her career goals when she’s suddenly laid off. Running out of money, Jo returns home to Sandy Point, an oceanfront town in Oregon that is on the way to the Goonies house. There she finds a list she made during her senior year of high school of all the things her town had to offer that she wanted to achieve. Turns out, she did nothing on the list. Living next door to Jo’s parents is Bianca Boria-Birdy who was valedictorian and prom queen, but not exactly someone with a lot of friends.

Bianca is running the tattoo parlor that her grandmother opened while her husband is about to open his orthodontist practice up. She is an only child but a classic only daughter. Bianca takes on the family responsibility of running the parlor even though that wasn’t originally what she wanted to do. She  also takes care of her grandmother Lita who has short term memory issues after a fall. This was the character I probably related to most — as she is such an overachiever and has trouble accepting help from others.

Meanwhile, there is Autumn who wanted to be an actress but came home to be the high school drama teacher. Autumn loves musicals and is just a bubbly delight. She would like nothing more than for her two best friends – Jo and Bianca – to also become friends with each other. The Throwback List explores how Autumn and Jo navigate being friends as adults — particularly as they kind of fell apart after Jo left Sandy Point.

There is SO much to love about Lily Anderson’s The Throwback List. I loved the actual list aspect and how Jo went about achieving the different items. The main characters are comprised of a biracial woman, a Puerto Rican woman, and a white woman — also Jo is bisexual. The characters don’t feel like cardboard cutouts but like fully realized people whom I could relate to in different ways. Also, the pacing in this book is really good. I felt like I just ended up speeding through the pages when I finally had time to sit down and read this. Don’t sleep on this book — Lily Anderson simply kills it and I can’t help but recommend it if you are looking to transition into reading books meant for adults from YA.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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