THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUMMER is Heartbreak

Title: The Square Root of Summer
Author: Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: May 3, 2016
Source: ARC received from publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

This is what it means to love someone. This is what it means to grieve someone. It's a little bit like a black hole. It's a little bit like infinity.

Gottie H. Oppenheimer is losing time. Literally. When the fabric of the universe around her seaside town begins to fray, she's hurtled through wormholes to her past:

To last summer, when her grandfather Grey died. To the afternoon she fell in love with Jason, who wouldn't even hold her hand at the funeral. To the day her best friend Thomas moved away and left her behind with a scar on her hand and a black hole in her memory.

Although Grey is still gone, Jason and Thomas are back, and Gottie's past, present, and future are about to collide—and someone's heart is about to be broken.

So, I thought I was getting a book about time travel, and what I got was a thoughtful story about grief and loss and friendship. I'm not complaining. Some of my favorite books deal with these subjects. I just wish there were some way to prepare other readers for this book...and to make them stick with it when the going gets tough because it's totally worth it in the end.

At around page 18, I was stuck and didn't know if I'd make it any further. Gottie is a whiz at physics and math and she thinks she's traveling through wormholes to the past, and that's all well and good because I love me some time travel. However, the detail with which Gottie explains black holes and wormholes and how one might travel through them is exhausting and thoroughly confusing. And I say that as someone who aced physics in high school. BUT, as I discovered by reading on, you really don't need to understand the science or math behind the phenomenon, only that this is what Gottie believes is happening to her.

Gottie has been grieving the death of her beloved grandfather for the last year or so. And to make matters worse, right after his passing, her first (and secret) love broke if off with her. She is heart-broken twice over and has shut herself off from the world.

Until the return of her best friend. Things are rough between them at first, with Gottie still feeling the sting of Thomas' betrayal when he moved away five years ago and never wrote to her, but they move past it and something sweet develops between them. For a time, it's almost as if those five years never happened.

The characters in this book are all kinds of quirky. As in, not a single one of them seems to conform to society's norms. And that's okay. It's just another thing that I could have let bother me in the beginning, if I hadn't kept reading to determine why everyone -- at least in Gottie's family -- was so kooky. To some extent, it's a coping mechanism, just as Gottie's fixation on the wormholes is her way of dealing with her loss.

I was really able to empathize with Gottie. I lost my grandmother when I was around the same age, and I always felt close to her. My gran was just about as zany and out of this world as Grey...and she also died of cancer. The constant reminders of my own loss made this a difficult read at times, but it was also a cathartic experience. You don't realize how much you bottle up, how much you keep inside, until it's all spilling out.

This was such a weird little book. For most, it will mean reading out of your comfort zone, either because of the science-y aspect or the tough subject matter. But the payoff -- even if you don't totally understand it at first -- makes the journey more than worthwhile.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Harriet Reuter Hapgood is a freelance fashion journalist and author of THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUMMER (coming May 2016). Her first-ever professional writing credit was for Just Seventeen magazine, and she's been YA obsessed ever since. She likes burritos, cats, Gwyneth Paltrow and young adult fiction, which she plans to write more of, though she's also considering a PhD in Dawson’s Creek.

Find Harriet:

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

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Labels: harriet reuter hapgood, macmillan, multiverse, reviews, sci-fi, the square root of summer, time travel

{WOW} WAYFARER by Alexandra Bracken

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

This week's WoW selection is...








's Pick:



Title: Wayfarer
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: Passenger, book #2
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: January 3, 2017

All Etta Spencer wanted was to make her violin debut when she was thrust into a treacherous world where the struggle for power could alter history. After losing the one thing that would have allowed her to protect the Timeline, and the one person worth fighting for, Etta awakens alone in an unknown place and time, exposed to the threat of the two groups who would rather see her dead than succeed. When help arrives, it comes from the last person Etta ever expected—Julian Ironwood, the Grand Master’s heir who has long been presumed dead, and whose dangerous alliance with a man from Etta’s past could put them both at risk.

Meanwhile, Nicholas and Sophia are racing through time in order to locate Etta and the missing astrolabe with Ironwood travelers hot on their trail. They cross paths with a mercenary-for-hire, a cheeky girl named Li Min who quickly develops a flirtation with Sophia. But as the three of them attempt to evade their pursuers, Nicholas soon realizes that one of his companions may have ulterior motives.

As Etta and Nicholas fight to make their way back to one another, from Imperial Russia to the Vatican catacombs, time is rapidly shifting and changing into something unrecognizable… and might just run out on both of them.

I don't know how I missed the cover reveal for this one, but I saw it on Amazon over the weekend and was like, YEP. I know Passenger was rather hit-or-miss for most people, but it was a hit with me. I've always liked Bracken's writing, and these books are no different. Plus, the premise for this sequel is just so compelling. Characters back from the dead. Mercenaries and girls with ulterior motives. And the possible destruction of time as we know it? YES, PLEASE!

What are you desperately waiting for this Wednesday? Let us know in the comments or share a link to your own WoW post!

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Labels: alexandra bracken, beautiful covers, disney, diversity, fantasy, grabby hands, passenger, time travel, waiting on wednesday (wow)

{Blog Tour} THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUMMER - This Is Who I Am Now

Welcome to my stop on The Square Root of Summer Blog Tour: This Is Who I Am Now. This blog tour is a little different, in that us bloggers were tasked with answering a set of questions immediately upon receipt and then answering them again in a few months' time to see what had changed in that time. You can check out my responses below; but first, a bit more about the book:

Title: The Square Root of Summer
Author: Harriet Reuter Hapgood
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Roaring Brook Press
Publication Date: May 3, 2016 -- that's today!!
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

This is what it means to love someone. This is what it means to grieve someone. It's a little bit like a black hole. It's a little bit like infinity.

Gottie H. Oppenheimer is losing time. Literally. When the fabric of the universe around her seaside town begins to fray, she's hurtled through wormholes to her past:

To last summer, when her grandfather Grey died. To the afternoon she fell in love with Jason, who wouldn't even hold her hand at the funeral. To the day her best friend Thomas moved away and left her behind with a scar on her hand and a black hole in her memory.

Although Grey is still gone, Jason and Thomas are back, and Gottie's past, present, and future are about to collide—and someone's heart is about to be broken.

This Is Who I Am Now

What Brings You The Most Joy In Life?

- Feb/March 2016: my daughter’s smiling face
- May 2016: still my Katiebug…when she’s happy, I’m happy :)

So, my little girl will always be the light of my life and she brings me so much joy each and every day. She can also be a royal pain, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

What Are You Reading?

- Feb/March 2016: I’ve been re-reading a lot of fantasy lately – mostly via audio – including the Seven Realms series by Cinda Williams Chima, The Girl of Fire and Thorns series by Rae Carson, and The Winner’s Trilogy by Marie Rutkoski
- May 2016: Right now, I’m listening to Rebel of the Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. I read the book earlier this year but a good friend got me the audio for my birthday. And I’m reading Free to Fall by Lauren Miller, which has been on my TBR for ages.

I’ve been doing a lot of re-reading lately, so I guess that hasn’t changed much in the last few months. But I've also decided to start reading more of my backlist titles instead of always focusing on review books. Starting Free to Fall over the weekend was the beginning and it's already going really well.

What Is Something You’re Really Looking Forward To?

- Feb/March 2016: Katie’s 8th birthday and the #PenguinTeenOnTour stop in Dallas…I get to interview Alison Goodman before the event!
- May 2016: our big family trip to Schlitterbahn this summer…first time all of us sisters have taken our families on vacation together!

I was really looking forward to chatting with Alison Goodman, but she got delayed in Canada after that tour stop, so I got to interview Rachel Hawkins instead, which was super fun. Katie went along with me, too, and had Rachel sign the copies of the Hex Hall series that I gave her. ;)

What Is One Thing That’s Worrying You?

- Feb/March 2016: money…buying a house really depletes your funds
- May 2016: money…need to save for the big trip in July…some things never change

Apparently, money needs to grow on trees because I'll never have enough of it. But we knew that it would be hard at first when we bought the house we did because it's older and it's on a big lot that required we buy a much bigger (read: powerful) mower than what we had. That's done, but now we have a family trip on the books and that also requires money.

What Is Something That You Always Have With You?

- Feb/March 2016: a book, either a physical copy, my Kindle, or audiobooks on my phone...or all three
- May 2016: this answer will never change :)

This question really requires no further comment. =)

What Is Something That You Wish You Could Change?

- Feb/March 2016: the fact that the library I use recently reinstated the non-resident fee :(
- May 2016: the lack of empathy in the world – I’ve just seen so much hate and negativity in the world lately and it’s hard not to let it get me down

When I first answered this question, I was focused more on something I wished I could change in my own little world, but I've really been trying to work on my overall outlook on life, and well, that's where my recent answer stems from. A little love and understanding goes a long way.

About the author:

Harriet Reuter Hapgood is a freelance fashion journalist and author of THE SQUARE ROOT OF SUMMER (coming May 2016). Her first-ever professional writing credit was for Just Seventeen magazine, and she's been YA obsessed ever since. She likes burritos, cats, Gwyneth Paltrow and young adult fiction, which she plans to write more of, though she's also considering a PhD in Dawson’s Creek.

Find Harriet:

Website | Twitter | Tumblr | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

Full List of Participating Blogs

Art​,​ Books​,​Coffee​ Blog​
Book Briefs
Bumbles and Fairytales
Confessions of a Book Junkie
Manga Mania Cafe
Ticket to Anywhere
The Irish Banana
Firefly Read It
Across the Words
Books and Makeup
Ex Libris Kate
Dark Faerie Tales
Jenuine Cupcakes
Miss Print
Mundie Moms
Nobs Book Reviews
Seeing Double in Neverland
Reading Teen
The Starry Eyed Revue -- you are here!
Read Now, Sleep Later
Forever Young Adult
Gone Pecan
Book Rambles
Perpetual Page Turner
Melissa's Eclectic Bookshelf
Twirling Pages
Andi's ABCs
That Artsy Reader Gir​l​
Waste Paper Prose
Evie Bookish
Book Rook Reviews
Fiction Fare
​Lady Knight Reads​
Book Nerds Across America
Page Turners' Blog
Tripping Over Book​s​
Consummate Reader
Fiktshun
Ageless Pages Reviews
A Perfection Called Books
XPresso Reads
Good Books and Good Wine
Swoony Boys Podcast

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Labels: blog tour, harriet reuter hapgood, macmillan, multiverse, sci-fi, the square root of summer, time travel

{Mini Reviews} ASSASSIN'S HEART and THE GIRL FROM EVERYWHERE

Title: Assassin's Heart
Author(s): Sarah Ahiers
Narrator(s): Khristine Hvam
Series: Assassin's Heart, book #1
Length: 10 hrs 41 mins
Publisher: HarperAudio
Publication Date: February 2, 2016
Source: ARC received from publisher, audiobook from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

In the kingdom of Lovero, nine rival Families of assassins lawfully kill people for a price. As a highly skilled member of one of these powerful clans, seventeen-year-old Lea Saldana has always trusted in the strength of her Family. Until she awakens to find them murdered and her home in flames. The Da Vias, the Saldanas’ biggest enemy, must be responsible—and Lea should have seen it coming. But her secret relationship with the Da Vias’ son, Val, has clouded her otherwise killer instinct—and given the Da Vias more reason than ever to take her Family down.

Racked with guilt and shattered over Val’s probable betrayal, Lea sets out to even the score, with her heart set on retaliation and only one thought clear in her mind: make the Da Vias pay.

I like a good revenge story. I like a good story featuring assassins. And I liked this story a lot more than I expected to, based on early reviews. Maybe those same reviews tempered my excitement for such a novel and thus I was able to enjoy it on its own merits? I mean, it wasn't a perfect story, but I appreciated the spirit of it just the same.

So maybe there wasn't all that much assassinating going on past the annihilation of Lea's family, but the revenge scheme carried the book for me. Or, more accurately, Les and his involvement in the half-baked revenge plot did. Lea was alright...a little too preoccupied with her former lover and each of their roles in her family's fall, but she realized the error of her ways and was more tolerable for it.

My biggest complaint would be how religious and fanatical the whole story is. I mean, for families who commit murder for hire, it seemed...odd...to be so beholden to a specific deity, but it's not as if I haven't seen something like this before. I did find it intriguing how the religious aspects came into play later in the story, though, so I guess since it was central and necessary to the overall plot, I'll allow it. :P

It probably also helped this story that Khristine Hvam is the narrator. She's an absolute favorite of mine, and I rarely pass up an opportunity to listen to one of her audiobook performances if I can help it.

About the author: 

YA fantasy writer, dog lover, all around cool nerd? Repped by Mollie Glick of Foundry Literary + Media. Author of ASSASSIN'S HEART Winter 2016 from HarperTeen.

Find Sarah:

Website | Twitter | Goodreads

Title: The Girl from Everywhere
Author(s): Heidi Heilig
Narrator(s): Kim Mai Guest
Series: The Girl from Everywhere, book #1
Length: 10 hrs 9 mins
Publisher: HarperAudio
Publication Date: February 16, 2016
Source: ARC received from publisher, audiobook from library
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Audible

Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.

As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.

But the end to it all looms closer every day.

Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.

For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.

She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.

Or she could disappear.

I remember reading a review that basically said if you'd read Passenger, you could probably skip this one because it was very similar. And it is. And it isn't. I don't want to get into the specifics, comparing and contrasting the two stories because then we could be here all day. I will say that I probably would have enjoyed this book a smidge more if I'd read it prior to Passenger. But the same is true for having already read Passenger: if I'd read this book first, I probably would have enjoyed Passenger a smidge less than I did. And it does boil down to those similarities.

I think what I enjoyed most about this story was the magical aspect, that these pirates could sail to any land, real or imagined, as long as they had a map for their destination. There were magical creatures and artifacts and a fortune teller and it all culminated into this fantastical story of time travel and treasure seeking.

Also: this is actually more of a pirate book than Passenger turned out to be, considering that the ship is the vessel that takes its crew from one destination and time to the next, rather than fissures in time and space that have to be located in order to travel on, as in Passenger. I'm a big fan of pirates stories -- and roguish pirates, to be more specific -- and making a pirate ship the time travel apparatus was a stroke of brilliance. Almost as awesome as a blue police box. ;0)

Kim Mai Guest is always a phenomenal narrator, but I love when she's picked to voice characters of Asian descent. She beautifully captures Nix's struggle to come to terms with what might have been and what her future holds and whether or not any of it matters when she could just as easily disappear, never to have existed at all.

I don't know if I'll continue this series. I enjoyed the story overall, but it definitely didn't have the cliffhanger that Passenger did...that draw to return and find out more. Honestly, I know there's much more story ahead for Nix and company, but this book had a solid conclusion and could have been a stand-alone novel. I'm not saying I prefer cliffhangers, but they do make it harder to say no to the sequel. o_O

About the author:

Heidi grew up in Hawaii where she rode horses and raised peacocks, and then she moved to New York City and grew up even more, as one tends to do. Her favorite thing, outside of writing, is travel, and she has haggled for rugs in Morocco, hiked the trails of the Ko'olau Valley, and huddled in a tent in Africa while lions roared in the dark.

She holds an MFA from New York University in Musical Theatre Writing, of all things, and she's written books and lyrics for shows including The Time Travelers Convention, Under Construction, and The Hole. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and their pet snake, whose wings will likely grow in any day now.

Find Heidi:

Website | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads | Pinterest | Instagram

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Labels: assassin's heart, assassins, audiobooks, fantasy, harper-collins, heidi heilig, mini reviews, pirates, reviews, sarah ahiers, the girl from everywhere, time travel

An Existential Crisis in the Making

Title: The Love That Split the World
Author: Emily Henry
Series: stand-alone
Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: January 26, 2016
Source: ARC provided by publisher
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Natalie Cleary must risk her future and leap blindly into a vast unknown for the chance to build a new world with the boy she loves.

Natalie’s last summer in her small Kentucky hometown is off to a magical start... until she starts seeing the “wrong things.” They’re just momentary glimpses at first—her front door is red instead of its usual green, there’s a pre-school where the garden store should be. But then her whole town disappears for hours, fading away into rolling hills and grazing buffalo, and Nat knows something isn’t right.

That’s when she gets a visit from the kind but mysterious apparition she calls “Grandmother,” who tells her: “You have three months to save him.” The next night, under the stadium lights of the high school football field, she meets a beautiful boy named Beau, and it’s as if time just stops and nothing exists. Nothing, except Natalie and Beau.

Emily Henry’s stunning debut novel is Friday Night Lights meets The Time Traveler’s Wife, and perfectly captures those bittersweet months after high school, when we dream not only of the future, but of all the roads and paths we’ve left untaken.

This book was like an existential crisis for me. Have you ever just read a book that because of heightened emotions or personal experiences -- or in spite of them -- just resonates with you on a level that it maybe wouldn't have otherwise? A book that just made you want to live your life more fully? That made you think you weren't living your best life? That was this book for me.

The Love That Split the World was just so poignant and honest and beautifully heartbreaking that I would have to be a monster not to have felt something while reading it. It's a love story first and foremost, but it doesn't just focus on romantic love. Yes, the romance was a key focus of the novel, but it also delved into the familial bond and loving oneself and the all-encompassing love of a higher power, and it utterly captivated me in doing so, even if I'm not necessarily religious myself .

I loved Natalie Cleary from Chapter One, and I only grew to love her character more as the story progressed. She managed to corral anyone into her witty repartee and her snark knew no bounds. But even when she was stuck inside her own head, having an existential crisis of her own, I couldn't help but feel attached to her. It was the same with "Grandmother". I figured out the truth of this would-be deity a lot sooner than Natalie herself did, but it made me love her no less. Probably more, actually. Just as it was for Natalie, Grandmother's presence was warm and welcoming in a story that I knew was going to leave me undone.

That's due in part to the comparison to Friday Night Lights and The Time Traveler's Wife. Because of the FNL comparison, I pictured Beau as Tim Riggins. Not that I minded that one bit. ;0) And because of the stories Grandmother tells -- with their lack of endings -- and because of the apparent resemblance to The Time Traveler's Wife -- which I haven't read, nor have I seen the movie, but I fully expect to ball my eyes out if I ever do -- I anticipated a fulfilling yet not necessarily happy ending. I won't tell you what kind of ending I did get, but I did write in my notes somewhere that if this story ended like The Amber Spyglass, I was not going to be happy. Make of that what you will.

Going into this story, I wasn't sure whether to expect time travel or a multiverse novel or something in between, especially after Grandmother's first story. And I'm still not 100% sure what to classify this as because it's detailed yet vague and I feel as if you're supposed to draw your own conclusions, just like with Grandmother's stories. When what's happening is being explained to Natalie, it still seemed like it could be either/or. The explanation made sense to me in the way that Donnie Darko makes sense to me. Which is to say: not at all, then all at once, until I lose that train of thought and find myself confused all over again. Every time I watch that movie, I take something different away from it, and it was the same when I was trying to put the pieces of Natalie's story together. But, if you like Donnie Darko, I could easily see you enjoying this book for the same reasons.

I loved this novel. I love that it leaves so much unanswered while answering so much. I love that it made me question so much. And I love that it's a love story on so many different levels. Honestly, I loved pretty much everything about The Love That Split the World. It was breathtaking...inside and out.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Emily Henry is full-time writer, proofreader, and donut connoisseur. She studied creative writing at Hope College and the New York Center for Art & Media Studies, and now spends most of her time in Cincinnati, Ohio, and the part of Kentucky just beneath it.

Find Emily:

Twitter | Goodreads

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Labels: beautiful covers, emily henry, multiverse, penguin, reviews, time travel, tough subject

My First DNF of 2016: INTO THE DIM

Title: Into the Dim
Author: Janet B. Taylor
Series: Into the Dim, book #1
Publisher: HMH Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: March 1, 2016
Source: from publisher via Netgalley
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

When fragile, sixteen-year-old Hope Walton loses her mom to an earthquake overseas, her secluded world crumbles. Agreeing to spend the summer in Scotland, Hope discovers that her mother was more than a brilliant academic, but also a member of a secret society of time travelers. Trapped in the twelfth century in the age of Eleanor of Aquitaine, Hope has seventy-two hours to rescue her mother and get back to their own time. Along the way, her path collides with that of a mysterious boy who could be vital to her mission . . . or the key to Hope’s undoing. Addictive, romantic, and rich with historical detail, Into the Dim is an Outlander for teens.

Not gonna lie: I had some high expectations for this book, especially as it being lauded as the Outlander for the YA set. It definitely did read a lot younger than I'm used to, even for a young adult novel. But Outlander it was not. For one thing, I was almost 40% into the story before the time travelling became an actuality. And it was very much a planned trip, not a matter of accidentally touching a stone at the wrong time.

I was supposed to be buddy reading this novel with my friend Sabrina, but she was reading ahead and I was getting further behind until she texted me to say that she'd just finished and asked if I just wanted her to tell me what happened. To which my reply was, "Oh, gawd, yes!" I had already been contemplating not finishing the book, but that sealed the deal. And I was glad that I hadn't forced myself to read further once she confirmed every one of my suspicions. I don't DNF often because I like to give a story a fleeting chance to recover my attention, but there was just no way that was going to happen with this book.

Into the Dim was just sooo incredibly predictable. The obvious foreshadowing just left nothing to the imagination, and every time one of my theories came to fruition, I couldn't help but roll my eyes at the inevitability of it all. I'm just looking back at my emails and texts with Sabrina while we were reading and it's almost unbelievable how much of the story we were able to guess beforehand. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't post snippets here, but we basically called it before we even got to the 40% mark.

The main character was tragically unlikable to me. She was self-deprecating, but not in a snarky, mildly amusing way. Hope was home-schooled and socially awkward and just plain annoying. Her ability seemed to plague her constantly in the beginning but was only mentioned later when it was useful to the story. If that's what it's like to have a photographic memory, I will content myself with just having a really, really good memory.

I didn't really get to see much of the romance before I decided not to finish, but from what I discerned in my reading and from what Sabrina related after I stopped, I definitely feel like a love triangle is on the horizon, even if it didn't rear it's ugly head in this first book. One guy is the doomed love interest while the other is the brooding guy who will inevitably step in when doomed guy appears to be out of the picture. Not a fan, especially once Sabrina relayed that there was a kissing scene that involved one of the characters oozing yellow pus. No. Thank. You.

I find that I enjoy time travel novels with the simplest explanation for how the time travelling is accomplished. This was not one of those. Basically, it's described as a big mistake, stumbling on some ley lines in an underground cavern and using a friend's technology to aid in the process. It's more mystical than anything -- the travelers having no ability to control when and where they travel back to, just a computer program that predicts when they should be able to travel back to a certain time and place. And they can only travel back to a specific time and location ONCE, lest they should run into their previous selves from another trip back in time. I guess in those terms, it does seem rather simple. But maybe that's actually my issue with the time travel aspect: it was boring and I pretty much skimmed the passages about it.

As I said, I only read to about 40%, but up to that point, I found the story to read very young and to be incredibly slow-paced. I'm used to time travel novels being intense and shaking things up, but I was more likely to yawn while reading Into the Dim than be at the edge of my seat. I really, really wanted this novel to be good, but it was just too predictable for me to bother continuing. Especially since I have no plans to read the sequel now.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

Janet Taylor lives in such a small town in Arkansas that if you happen to sneeze when you pass by, you'll totally miss it. (Cause, you know, you can't sneeze with your eyes open. For real--try it--it's impossible)

Her debut novel, INTO THE DIM (coming 3/1/2016 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt) is about a 16 year old girl who travels through time. Totally on purpose and stuff.

She's a reader/fan first and a writer second. She lives with her fantastic husband, two hilarious sons, and Dorda the diabetic dog who won't win any beauty contests, but has a "nice personality".

Find Janet:

Website | Goodreads | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Pinterest

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Labels: disappointments, dnf, houghton mifflin harcourt, into the dim, janet b. taylor, reviews, time travel

{Review} PASSENGER Will Take You on an UNFORGETTABLE Voyage Through Time

Title: Passenger
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: Passenger, book #1
Publisher: Disney-Hyperion
Publication Date: January 5, 2016
Source: ARC received from publisher/Big Honcho Media
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

passage, n.
i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are play­ing, treacherous forces threaten to sep­arate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever.

Passenger is everything I'm looking for in a time travel book. For one, there's actually quite a bit of travelling going on...not just one jump but several from one time to another and from one locale to another. This is only the first book, so the origin of the particular method of time travel in this story is still relatively unclear, but it's not confusing either.

There's an evil madman, hell-bent on making time travel his bitch, with total world domination likely on the agenda. There are chase scenes and gun fights and pirates and all manner of action sequences. Plus, there's a bit of romance. And it's a multi-racial one that breaks ALL THE RULES. In other words, I don't think there's anyone who won't like this book to some degree.

Etta's life has been one big deception. She doesn't even know she can travel through time until she's being dragged through a passage into Nassau in 1776. But this girl is tough as nails and not to be underestimated. Though she doesn't know it yet, her mother has given her everything she needs to surmount every obstacle she encounters.

The fiercely protective Nicholas has his own plans, but he'll die before he sees any harm come to Etta. Theirs is not a love-at-first-sight type of romance, but it is one of immediate mutual respect. And it only grew from there. I didn't feel any deep connection to these characters until nearly halfway through the story, but once that connection was made, there was no turning back. But that probably stems from the fact that the main characters themselves are so guarded up until that point that they weren't even sure they were connected.

All of the characters in this story are so full of surprises. At every turn, I'd think I knew what to expect, and then my theories would be completely turned upside down with their antics. I love a story that can constantly keep me guessing, and that's exactly what I got with Passenger. Even the ending was shocking in a way I hadn't expected. I know from experience that Bracken can create an intricate world and make me believe in it completely, but she's really outdone herself with this book. I've only read this first book and I'm already completely invested in Etta and Nicholas's future.

And I love that Bracken didn't skimp on the racial injustices or the societal expectations when representing previous centuries. Nicholas, having been born in the 18th century, knows about limits and expectations better than anyone, but for Etta, it all comes as a bit of culture shock. It was honestly hard to read the gritty depictions of how Nicholas was treated and viewed at times, but it also fired up my inner feminist when it came to how Etta was expected to behave. It also intensely fueled my hope that both would end up in the 21st century where things aren't exactly perfect but are still better.

I've already added Wayfarer to my TBR, and I'm ardently waiting for its release. Like, if I had a magic book genie, that book would be the first I'd ask for. If you're a fan of time travel, pirates, and have a healthy sense of adventure, this series should definitely be in your future.

GIF it to me straight:

About the author:

I’m Alex. I write about telekinetic teens and floppy-haired wizards. I love Star Wars, classic rock, and 18th century gentlemen. When I’m not up at 4 AM writing, you can find me running around the DC area, where I now live and write full time..

Find Alex:

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