Tag Archives: time travel

Book Review – The Girl from Everywhere

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The Girl from Everywhere book coverThe Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Nix has spent her sixteen years sailing with her father on his ship, The Temptation. She has been across the globe and through the centuries. Her father can sail to any time and place if he has a map from that period. But he has spent Nix’s lifetime looking for one specific map. One that will take him back to Honolulu in 1868; back to before Nix’s mother died in childbirth. Nix has been helping her father obtain various versions of the map even though it could erase her entire existence as she knows it. The premise of The Girl from Everywhere intrigued me right from the start. This book is incredibly creative mixing the time travel with adventure, a modern sensibility with fantasy, and nineteenth-century Hawaiian politics with mythological stories. I found Heidi Heilig’s ability to blend many different themes from addiction to fate to the inevitable love triangle of a YA novel into a cohesive story to be impressive. Her character development is also top-notch. Overall, this novel was refreshing.

Book Review – The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster

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The Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster book coverThe Lemoncholy Life of Annie Aster by Scott Wilbanks

Annabelle Aster is unconventional. She prefers to wear vintage Victorian clothes in 1995 San Francisco and seems to just accept her situation when an 1890s Kansas wheat field appears in her backyard. Elsbeth Grundy, on the other hand, is somewhat put out by the purple and gold Victorian house that suddenly appears on her land but after striking up a correspondence with Annie through letters sent to a mysterious brass mailbox, Elsbeth comes to enjoy Annie’s friendship. Together Elsbeth and Annie try to unravel the mystery of their unique situation and in the process discover a murder that they must try to stop. Scott Wilbanks’ time travel story shares a similar vibe as The Time Traveler’s Wife. However, it also has its own particular tone and plot elements. I enjoyed Annie & Elsbeth’s interesting story and how the time travel wove through the story. There was a side plot involving Annie’s best friend that was pretty good on its own but felt somewhat out of place within the larger narrative. But, overall, this novel was above average.

*Disclosure: I was provided a free copy of this novel with a request for an honest review.*

Book Review – Until We Meet Again

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Until We Meet Again book coverUntil We Meet Again by Renee Collins

When Cassandra meets a strange boy on the private beach in front of her family’s summer house, she never imagines being swept up into a dangerous mystery almost one hundred years in the making. Cassandra soon learns that the boy, Lawrence, seems strange to her because he is really from 1925 and living in the same house that her family is renting. As their friendship blossoms into something deeper, Cassandra discovers something that puts Lawrence’s life in danger and they must find a way to change history. The time-travel elements in this book are pretty standard. Cassandra and Lawrence make an interesting couple; both searching for their places in life and helping each other find those places. However, it’s the descriptive aspects that shine. Ms. Collins’ writing has a beautifully haunting quality about it.

Book Review – The Mine

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The MineThe Mine by John A. Heldt

In “The Mine,” Joel Smith enters an abandoned Montana mine shaft in the year 2000 and ends up in 1941, six months before the start of World War II. Finding himself stuck in the past, he travels back to his hometown of Seattle and tries to make a new life. The action starts off slowly but it picks up toward the end. I particularly enjoyed the climax of the story where Joel has to face the difficult choice of keeping what he has built in 1941 or possibly returning to his own time. Mr. Heldt also paints a lovely picture of the Pacific Northwest and the surrounding scenery. My one complaint would be that, at times, the writing felt anachronistic, which drew me out of the story. I will admit that I probably would not have picked up this book left to my own devices, but, overall, the story was satisfactory.

*Disclosure: I was provided a free copy of this novel with a request for an honest review.*

Book Review – Timebound

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TimeboundTimebound by Rysa Walker

Review: This is the first book in what I’m assuming will be a series about a teenage girl, Kate, who has inherited the ability to jump through time using an antique medallion. I thought it was a pretty good story overall. The time travel elements were fine though they did not add anything new. There are still time shifts, alternate timelines and bad consequences if you see yourself. However, the characters and story kept me interested until the end and beyond as I will probably keep reading the series.