Book Review: The Ship Beyond Time

TITLE: The Ship Beyond Time
Book 2 in the Girl From Everywhere series
AUTHOR: Heidi Heilig
PUBLISHED: February 28th, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Time-Travel
PREMISE: Nix and her crew continue their adventures on their time-traveling ship.
MY REVIEW: The Girl From Everywhere was a vastly underrated book from last year. It had a time travel ship, pirates, adventure, an awesome female character, interesting family dynamics...all the things. I personally was very happy with it.
I'm just as happy with the sequel. It jumps right into things and figures the readers are smart enough to remember what happened last time. It ties up a lot of plots nicely and there's lots of things going on in this book as there was last time.
All in all, this was a solid sequel. It looks like Heilig has something new coming out next year in the fall and a contribution to an interesting looking anthology so I'm happy that it looks like she's here to stay.
WHO SHOULD READ: those that have read The Girl From Everywhere, Doctor Who fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travel ships

Book Review: Wayfarer

TITLE: Wayfarer
Book 2 in the Passengers Duology
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken
PUBLISHED: January 3rd, 2017
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy, Time Travel
PREMISE: Etta and Nicholas are now separated and struggling to get back to each other as they try and find a way to protect time from the two groups that would do it harm.
MY REVIEW: An unforseen issue that can pop up when you read as much as I do is you sometimes struggle to remember plots and have to make sure you're not mixing up the plot of this series with the plot of another series. Now, I might not have remembered everyone's name from this series (I'm bad with names, that's not a reflection on Bracken at all), but I am surprised at how much I actually did remember the plot of this. Especially as I read it fairly early last year.
To me, that says Bracken wrote a memorable book. I don't love this as much as I do with Darkest Minds, but it is a very interesting series. It's also very very very fast paced. It's long (over five hundred pages) but those five hundred pages go by fast.
The ending is pretty satisfying, it answers questions left over from the first book. Sophia is a treasure, I want an entire book about her. All in all, this was a good and satisfying ending. Bracken has a new series possibly starting in September (MG from the looks of it) and I have to say, it looks pretty awesome.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Passengers, time travel fans, Firebird Trilogy fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers

Book Review: All the Birds in the Sky

TITLE: All the Birds in the Sky
AUTHOR: Charlie Jane Anders
CATEGORY: Adult
PUBLISHED: January 2016
GENRE: er....I honestly have no idea. Dystopianish, Urban Fantasyish, Magical Realismish? Also maybe sci-fi?
PREMISE: A magical girl and a tech genius become friends in middle-school, only to be separated due to circumstance. Years later, they meet as adults when the world is in trouble.
MY REVIEW: You ever have one of those books where you finish it and go..."what the heck did I just read?" That's kind of me with this book. It's not a bad kind of wondering. This book is good. I actually wound up liking it quite a bit. But damn, if I can't begin to tell you what genre it is. Personally, I feel this book would have been better geared towards the literary crowd then the genre crowd which was who it was largely marketed too. If you love the weird quirky magical realism books, this is definitely for you.
The writing style in this book takes some getting used too, but once you do get used to it, it goes by very quickly. After I got used to it, I wound up enjoying it very much. If you start to read it and are like "what?" I strongly urge you to give it time. It will grow on you. Or it won't. Honestly, I suspect this is one of those books that will either appeal to someone, or it won't. Hence the mixed reviews on Goodreads.
Ultimately I wound up really enjoying this book. I'm glad I gave it more of a chance then I usually do. But as I said, this is a book that might not be for everyone. I definitely recommend checking it out from the library before buying it to see if it's for you, first.
WHO SHOULD READ: Lit fans, those that don't mind alternating POVs, magical realism fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five birds

Book Review: The Girl From Everywhere

TITLE: The Girl From Everywhere
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Heidi Heilig
PUBLISHED: February 16th, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Historical Fantasy/Sci-Fi (time travel)
PREMISE: A girl and her father time travel on a ship in an effort to save her mother's life...
MY REVIEW: If you read the summary from this book and looked at Passenger by Alexandra Bracken and went "hey wait a minute...aren't those the same ideas?" you're...kind of right. This book does also feature time traveling via ships. But that is where the similarities between the two new series end. This book takes the similar idea into a whole different, and honestly...kind of better direction. Sorry, Bracken, but it's how I feel. I still like Passenger though.
This was a pretty great debut all around. The writing is strong, the characters are well developed. You can tell the author did her research. The settings leap off of the pages. It's very fast-paced and it keeps you guessing. There's...not much of a cliffhanger at the end, but there are enough unanswered questions that I will definitely be picking up the second book.
So...yes, it's a little like Passenger. But it's different enough that you don't feel like you're just reading the same book over again. Some parts of this were a bit rough (and I could have done without the love triangle nonsense), but overall this was a pretty decent debut.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Passenger, Inkheart Trilogy fans, time travel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five magic ships

Book Review: Passenger

TITLE: Passenger
First in a new series
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken
PUBLISHED: January 5th, 2016
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Fantasy/Time Travel
PREMISE: Etta gets thrown into a world she doesn't know when she accidentally time travels on board a ship where she meets Nicholas.
MY REVIEW: This was not a bad way to start off the 2016 batch of books. As I've come to expect from Alexandra Bracken, this was creative. I loved the use of time travel here (even if as always...the travel method didn't make much sense). Bracken uses it effectively. We get treated to multiple time periods and it's all described beautifully.
Now romance wise...it's bland as usual. That part I could have done without. I also wish there was more time spent on character development. This book was so fast-paced that there was little time to get to know the characters well. I got a vague idea, but not the whole picture if that makes sense. But it's only the first book. Perhaps more development will come later.
This is perhaps a bit trope-filled. There was stuff in it that I've come to expect. But it was still very entertaining. The last fifty or so pages are where all the really good stuff happens and that is what is likely going to have me coming back next year for the sequel.
WHO SHOULD READ: Alexandra Bracken fans, time travel fans, Mortal Instruments fans (the fast-paced plotting of it reminds me a lot of that series)
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers

Book Review: Kindred

TITLE: Kindred
AUTHOR: Octavia Butler
PUBLISHED: 1979
CATEGORY: Adult/Modern Classic
GENRE: Sci-Fi/Time Travel
PREMISE: A black woman living in the seventies, with her white husband gets sent back in time to her ancestors who live on a slave plantation in the south.
MY THOUGHTS: Butler was an author who was around for quite awhile. She's what I call a quietly well known author. Meaning that in certain reader circles, her name is passed around like wildfire. When I did my search into old sci-fi to look into, her name was one that kept popping up on lists. However, if you talk to a casual/mainstream reader, chances are they'll say "who?". Never mind that she's won both Hugo and Nebula awards.
I wish she was more well known after reading this. This book was awesome. It's like a ten times better version of A Time Traveler's Wife. Some of you may recall, I loathed that book. Well, this book takes that premise of a person time traveling for random reasons and actually gives it a much better spin. Personally, I can't help but wonder if this is where Niffenger got her inspiration from in the first place.
I will warn: this is not a light-hearted book. It does not sugar-coat the south or what went on in that time period. Dana has some pretty horrific experiences while in the past. If you're looking for a romantic view of the past, this ain't it. This is not escapism sci-fi. It does however make you think. If anything, it kind of shows how far we haven't come. There are some attitudes in this book that have not gone away from both the history part and the present day era I'm sorry to say.
WHO SHOULD READ: Sci-Fi fans, Time Traveler's Wife fans, time travel plot fans, those looking for diversity in their sci-fi

Book Review: Loop

TITLE: Loop
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Karen Akins
PUBLISHED: October 21rst, 2014
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Sci-fi, Time Travel
PREMISE: A girl who time travels gets into trouble in the past and that in turn, effects her future.
MY REVIEW: Time travel books tend to be hit or miss with me. That especially includes YA time travel books. This one....as always, I didn't take the method of time travel seriously at all (this time travel gene trend needs to END. I blame Time Traveler's Wife). But other then that sigh inducing aspect, the story itself was rather good.
The main character is likable, the romance...okay, but nothing special. But at least the guy wasn't a douche. What was interesting to me mostly was the mystery surrounding the mother and the time loop butterfly effects going on. I like when authors actually use the time travel to make a good story and don't just use it for romance purposes and this author did actually do that.
It's not a debut of epic proportions, but this is a perfectly decent debut. I look forward to the rest of this series.
WHO SHOULD READ: Time Traveler's Wife fans, Tempest Trilogy fans, time travel romance fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers wreaking havoc

Many thanks to the publishers for the Net Galley of this book.

Book Review: Timestorm

TITLE: Timestorm
Book 3 in the Tempest Trilogy
AUTHOR: Julie Cross
PUBLISHED: January 28th
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction/Time Travel
PREMISE: The final battle between Jackson and his crew and the Enemies of Time begin.
MY REVIEW: This series has been an up and down sort of trilogy for me. Started out okay, got better in the second, and its conclusion is for me somewhere between those two levels.
Thing is...not much here was unexpected despite what the summary promised. Expanding on the world was a nice touch. Relationships are solved. Still not a rabid Jackson/Holly fan, but they are at least a tolerable YA couple. It reached a logical (of sorts) conclusion.
So...my feelings on this trilogy are forever going to be mixed. It's a good time travel fix and by far it's one of the better time travel offerings in YA I've read in the genre.
WHO SHOULD READ: Fans of the first two books, time travel fans
MY RATING: Three and a half out of Five time travel portals
RATING FOR TRILOGY: Three and a half out of Five

Book Review: All Our Yesterdays

TITLE: All Our Yesterdays
Book 1 in a new series
AUTHOR: Cristin Terrill
PUBLISHED: September 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Science Fiction, Time Travel, Mystery
PREMISE: A girl goes back in time to change her present and winds up in direct conflict with the past...
MY REVIEW: Time travel has been a thing as of late in YA. Not sure why (too much Doctor Who, maybe?) but there it is. I'll be honest, I haven't been impressed with most of the time travel books either so my expectations for this book were pretty low. It managed to surprise me.
Granted, still a few issues. As with all time travel, the way they travel is flimsy at best. But the author manages to get me to overlook that annoyance by giving a good story. A good reason for time travel in the first place. That's what's been lacking for me in previous time travel YA books: there's no real rhyme or reason for the time travel, it's just sort of there (So Close to You for instance) and it's never really used to it's full potential, it's usually just there to get the heroine to meet the sexy broody guy she's destined to be with.
This one was a pleasant surprise. A few issues with plausibility aside, it was a fun read with a good story that is likely to make me pick up the next book.
WHO SHOULD READ: Science Fiction fans, Time Travel fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers

Book Review: Infinityglass

TITLE: Infinityglass
Book 3 in the Hourglass Trilogy
AUTHOR: Myra McEntire
PUBLISHED: August 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Time Travel/Science Fiction, Paranormal
PREMISE: The group has found the Infinityglass: It's a girl named Hallie whom Dune falls in love with.
MY REVIEW: Sigh. This is one of those series that while cheesy, had a lot going for it. But then it's like...nothing happened? Nothing that really turned it into a must read now series anyway. This is more like one of those books you pick up when you want to read a romantic time travel plot and don't care about quality.
Because honestly? This was like the other two books in terms of plot and thus it was predictable. I think that's ultimately why I haven't been able to get into this series as much as everyone else: the books are all basically alike, they just have different couples. It makes for rather boring reading to be honest.
So I'm sorry but I thought this ended with a bit of a whimper instead of a bang. Nothing happened that wasn't really unexpected. In the end I was kind of yawning. Bad sign.
WHO SHOULD READ: Hourglass Trilogy fans, Time Travel plot fans
MY RATING: Three out of Five shrugs because I found myself no longer caring

Book Review: The Obsidian Mirror

TITLE: The Obsidian Mirror
Book 1 in the Obsidian Mirror Trilogy
AUTHOR: Catherine Fisher
PUBLISHED: April 2013
CATEGORY: Middle-Grade/YA (no one seems to agree which it is, I say it can pass for both)
GENRE: Fantasy, Time Travel, Adventure
PREMISE: Jake finally finds a way to confront the man he thinks murdered his father and then finds out the truth is more complicated then he could imagine...
MY REVIEW: I love Catherine Fishers stories. She's always inventive, she keeps the pace going, she has complicated morally gray characters, and her stories are just plain fun.
Like Incarceron, this was imaginative. I don't think it was as well thought out as Incarceron but I know it's a first book so hopefully world-building questions will be answered later in the series. I did have some trouble getting into the characters this time around (Jake was kind of annoying) but as always, they are complex and you never know what they'll do next.
I don't think this one is as good as Incarceron but it's still pretty solid. I definitely look forward to book 2.
WHO SHOULD READ: Incarceron fans, time travel fans, Catherine Fisher fans
MY RATING: Four out of Five magic mirrors

Many thanks to the publisher for the ARC, which I won in a Goodreads giveaway

Book Review: Vortex

TITLE: Vortex
Book 2 in the Tempest series
AUTHOR: Julie Cross
PUBLISHED: January 2013
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Time-travel, science-fiction, romance
PREMISE: Jackson throws himself into his training in order to forget about Holly, but then something happens that draws him and Holly together again...
MY REVIEW: I admit, I wasn't that impressed with Tempest. I didn't get the appeal. I do still think this series is a victim of over-hype (and a bit of a Jumper rip-off) but I think the second book was much better done then the first one.
Cross's writing has improved for one. Her pacing is better, there's more plot this time around, and things are explained. Things still don't make sense to me (and Enemies of Time will forever be a horrible villain name) but I've made my peace with it and have let that go. The result was, I enjoyed this one much more then book 1. I am really happy when sequels turn out better the first books. I mean, I don't like being the naysayer of popular books. Honest.
So I think this one was a improvement over a okay start to a series and now I'm actually looking forward to book 3 where I hope more things are explained and the author keeps up the good work she did with this one.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of Tempest, Jumper fans, fans of time-travel books
MY RATING: Four out of Five Tempest agents

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


Book Review: Timepiece

TITLE: Timepiece
Book 2 in the Hourglass series
AUTHOR: Myra McEntire
PUBLISHED: 2012
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Time Travel, Adventure
PREMISE: Kaleb and his friends continue their adventures as they search for Jack, the man who killed Kaleb's father.
MY REVIEW: All my issues still stand with this series (sloppy science makes no sense, kind of flat characters, YA stock cliches abound). But I've kind of learned to let it go. Once you let the rather clicheness of this go it's an enjoyable series. I definitely commend the author for deciding to ditch boring Emerson and go with the far more interesting Kaleb this time around.
Honestly, Kaleb is my favorite and this book reminded me of why. Though I have to say the way his friends treat him sometimes really irritated me and also reminded me of why I didn't care for Emerson or Michael in the last book that much. Kaleb and Lily are so much more fun for me and less "it's all about us!" like I feel Michael/Emerson can be. Plus, I actually get chemistry from these two.
Plot was pretty much more of the first with a few interesting revelations here and there. As a second book, this was not bad. I just still am not overwhelmed with this series. I like it just fine and will be reading book 3 though.
WHO SHOULD READ: fans of the first book, time travel fans (who aren't interested in details)
MY RATING: Four out of Five time travelers


Book Review: Ruby Red

TITLE: Ruby Red
Book 1 in the Ruby Red Trilogy
AUTHOR: Kerstan Gier
PUBLISHED: 2011 (in the US)
CATEGORY: YA
GENRE: Time travel, romance,
PREMISE: A girl inherits her family's time travel gene.
MY REVIEW: Okay YA what the hell is up with all the time travel lately? Especially in books from last year. I swear every other book I read lately has had some sort of time-travel plot. Did you all have a group watching of Doctor Who and then challenge each other to different time-travel plots like CS Lewis and Tolkien did way back when or something? Seriously, what the frak?
That said, This is the first one that has actually used time travel in a way that I somewhat get so I give the author points for that. Even though as usual it makes very little sense (A time travel gene? Really?). Honestly I sort of shrug at this. It was fun at parts but annoying in other parts. The MC was rather forgettable as was the male lead. The family members were obviously purposely written to annoy the reader (particularly the aunt and cousin) and it's frankly kind of telling that a week later after finishing this book I can't even remember character's names.
This book was just...okay. I get that there's two more coming but honestly I'm not sure if I'm going to bother with those. I'd read this only if you really like time-travel plots which if you do, you're apparently in luck because that's clearly the thing in YA right now.
WHO SHOULD READ: Time travel plot fans, Hourglass fans,
MY RATING: Three out of Five bored time travelers

Book Review: Wildwing

TITLE: Wildwing
AUTHOR: Emily Whitman
PUBLISHED: 2010
CATEGORY: Young adult
GENRE: Romance, drama, historical fiction
PREMISE: Addy hates her life as a maid, she then gets dropped into medieval times where she gets everything she ever dreamed and meets the man of her dreams...
MY REVIEW: I won't lie, this book is basically a harlequin-esque romance novel for the tween set. Which is fine, these books fill a niche and those in the mood for a light romance will devour this book and enjoy it thoroughly. Whitman had some nice writing in here, there was a lesson to be learned, so it wasn't horrible.
Unfortunately I had trouble getting into it due to the main character. I just didn't like her. She was a obvious Mary Sue with little to no personality and was honestly quite a arrogant brat. She never got to Bella Swan level or anything (to her credit she did learn her lesson and tried to get herself out her own messes and there was a bit of character growth at the end) but she just didn't interest me at ALL. The secondary characters were just as uninteresting and two-dimensional. It just made it hard for me to get into the plot when I just didn't care about the characters. Also wasn't helpful that the plot became quickly obvious and predictable.
So it wasn't a horrible book, it was just slightly blah. Especially when you compare it to Whitman's first book Radiant Darkness which I kind of dug. For romance lovers, this one is for you. For everyone else, I'd only pick it up if you like fluffy historical romances.
WHO SHOULD READ: romance lovers
MY RATING: Three out of Five wedding gowns