Book Review: So Close to You

TITLE: So Close to You
Book 1 in a new trilogy
AUTHOR: Rachel Carter
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Time Travel, romance
PREMISE: Lydia discovers that her grandfather's stories about a local lab are actually true. But this truth comes at a cost.
MY REVIEW: Sigh. Another time travel book. Another wasted oppurtunity of a somewhat cool idea. YA authors, you can do so much with time travel, why why WHY do you all insist on focusing time travel books on boring melodrama? Just...WHY? Do I have to sit you down and make you watch Doctor Who, Quantum Leap, or heck even LOST to make you people see what you can do with time travel? If you insist on making this a trend in YA at least have the decency to make it interesting. Also really helps if the time travel is plausible. This? Not plausible. Also again: BORING.
Basically Lydia is Bella Swan with red hair and maybe a bit nicer who somehow magically gets transported to the nineteen forties. Now me, I'd be freaking out and finding my best way to get home but Lydia? Somehow manages to keep calm and poised and is all "oh, nineteen forties. Interesting" and then proceeds to flirt with two boys who basically do everything for her and something about her ancestors who totally cool with having a complete stranger live with them for a indetermined amount of time. Oh and did I mention one of the boys may be a ancestor of hers? That's not disturbing at all. Add in a stereotypical plot, boring stock characters, and okay but nothing great writing....it all adds up to a yawn of a book. I mean maybe the surprise about the grandfather in the end will lead to something but I honestly wasn't given enough to care about these flat characters that I probably won't bother to find out by the time the next book comes out.
I suppose this book does have some entertainment going on. I suspect fans of romance would actually enjoy the flirtation and not be bothered by how much the time travel takes a back seat to it. But for me this was boring, sloppy, and typical YA du jour. Nothing new to add to the table at all.
WHO SHOULD READ: Time travel fans, Hourglass fans (though Hourglass is better), romance fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five yawns