Blog Tour: Review: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

Book Description:

Hardcover, 368 pages (Reviewer's Copy: ARC)
September 3rd 2013, Disney Hyperion

"You have to kill him." Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was.

All Our Yesterdays is a wrenching, brilliantly plotted story of fierce love, unthinkable sacrifice, and the infinite implications of our every choice.

Source: Disney Hyperion (Thank you!!)

My Thoughts:

The time travel concept in All Our Yesterdays was simple yet backed by detailed explanation of its genesis, process and consequences. One of the main reasons why I loved All Our Yesterdays was because of the drastic consequences and aftermath of time travel, leaving lives changed forever, sometimes cut short, sometimes lengthened, in its wake.

The story revolved around Marina and Em, the past and present of one person. All Our Yesterdays' strength was in its well-developed characters. I was so shocked at how much the characters changed and matured over the course of time. I initially encountered Em, a semi-hopeless prisoner, frail and thin and hardened. She was once Marina, a daughter born in a rich family, shallow and naive about life.

Finn was a different story. Nerdy, a little bit awkward and charming in his own way, he managed to capture my attention. In the present, he wielded his charm to its full extent. His relationship with Em was a long, bittersweet one. United and separated by prison walls, Em and Finn learned to trust and care about one another. With nothing and no one else to hold onto but each other and what little hope they had, they grew closer each day. I enjoyed reading about these two. They shared what I liked to call a natural relationship, full of promise and spark. I'm sure romance readers will love these parts.

The plot was amazing and well-developed. There was never a boring part. All Our Yesterdays had me at the edge of my seat, holding on to the story with fast fingers, flipping the pages until I got to the end. The narration of the past and present united in a single story. Another thing that I liked was that I could see the fragmentation of the lives of the characters: Em's and Marina's lives differentiated and separated by time. By unraveling the past, I understood the present (and the future) little by little.

All Our Yesterdays is a beautifully written, strong, and unputdownable tale of love, loss, and change. 100% engaging and 0% boring, I was engaged and captivated. This surpassed my expectations, to be honest. I highly recommend this to readers of time travel and romance.

Rating:

Cristin Terrill is a young adult author and aspiring grown-up. She grew up semi-nomadic and graduated from Vassar College with a degree in drama. After getting her masters in Shakespeare Studies from the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon, she lived in London, Austin, Boston, and Washington, DC while working as a theatrical stage manager. Now she writes and leads creative writing workshops for DC-area kids and teens. All Our Yesterdays is her first novel.

Follow Cristin: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon: Buy All Our Yesterdays

There will also be a Twitter Chat with the author on September 17th. Don't forget to join!

Cover Reveal: 1816 Candles by Amanda Brice

Title: 1816 Candles
Author: Amanda Brice
Genre: Time Travel Romance
Age Group: Young Adult
Cover Designer: Keith Draws
Expected release date: September 2013
Cover reveal organized by: AToMR Tours


High school senior Lauren is attending a costume ball at Old Town Alexandria’s famous Gadsby’s Tavern. But when she gets bored by the repetitious historical dances, she goes off to explore in the building and something odd catches her eye.

Is it a woman?

When Lauren follows the mysterious person and picks up a snow globe in the room she’s led to, she somehow ends up in 1816, experiencing the actual events of the “Legend of the Female Stranger” she’s heard her whole life growing up. Now Lauren has to solve the mystery of this ghost, find her way back home…and deal with her own emotions when she falls in love with a guy who lived 200 years before her.

About the Author:

As a little girl, Amanda Brice dreamed of being either a ballerina or the author of a mystery series featuring a cool crime-solving chick named Nancy Flew, but her father urged her to “do something practical,” so she went to law school and spent her days writing briefs and pleadings instead of fiction.

But dance and writing have remained a part of her life. Amanda was a member of the ballroom dance team at Duke University, and continues this interest by her obsession with Dancing with the Stars, so it was only natural for her to set a teen mystery series at a dance school.

Amanda is the President of Washington Romance Writers, and is a two-time finalist for Romance Writers of America’s prestigious Golden Heart® Award. She blogs once a month or so with the Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood. She is also a popular conference presenter, speaking on basic copyright and trademark law for writers.

In her spare time, Amanda enjoys dancing, reading, cooking, traveling, and obsessing over whether Duke will beat Carolina in basketball. Go Devils!

Find Amanda: Website | Facebook

Review: Fever by Dee Shulman

Book Description via Goodreads:

ARC, 400 pages

April 5, 2012, Puffin UK

A fearless Roman gladiator. A reckless 21st century girl. A mysterious virus unites them . . .

152 AD. Sethos Leontis, a skilled and mesmerising fighter, is unexpectedly wounded and lies dangerously close to death.

2012 AD. Eva is brilliant - but troubled. Starting her new life at a school for the gifted, a single moment in the lab has terrifying results.

An extraordinary link brings Sethos and Eva together, but it could force them apart - because the fever that grips them cannot be cured and falling in love could be lethal . . . Can love survive when worlds collide and threaten time itself?

Source: Dee Shulman (Thank you!!)

My Thoughts:

Eva was beautiful, intelligent and talented. Her life was almost perfect aside from her crappy family life and her crappy social life. Eva was too perfect, some people said. But hold on. I can honestly say that people like Eva exist in this world. I have met plenty of Evas in my life, including some of my best friends, and yes, they were almost perfect. For that reason, I had an easy time accepting Eva’s personality and qualities. She was a hacker with photographic memory, genius and a good singer. I liked how her curiosity drove her. I felt for her. But I couldn’t say that I got attached to Eva.

I got more attached to Sethos Leontis (Seth.) He was a slave and fierce handsome gladiator in Londinium. He only fought with a trident and a net, without armor. He was strong, determined to win, determined to survive each fight on the arena. I enjoyed reading about his arena life, discovering how he thought and how he acted. Everything that Seth did was calculated and careful. Well, he was careful about everything until he met Livia, the beautiful girl who captured his attention and his heart. I ached for Seth – he was forced to fight all his life, shackled and bound to a slave’s life. Although he had great potential, to the Romans, he was still an insignificant slave. Life was hard for him. Life became even harder when he met Livia. His heart called out to her. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted anything else. But Livia was betrothed to Cassius, a powerful and corrupt man who always got what he wanted. Imagine finally finding one person you’re drawn to and knowing that person felt the same way but there was no ‘us’ in your near future because you were not entitled to rights and the girl was taken. Ouch. *shakes head* Poor Seth.

When Seth and Eva finally meet in 2012, I was excited. There was a great tension between the two. There was this unexplainable, magnet-like energy between Seth and Eva that pulled them together. Seth was nowhere near prepared when Eva shoved and pushed him away as hard as she could. The attraction just got stronger and stronger with each day that walking in the opposite direction, away from each other, took so much effort. You’re probably thinking: instalove again?! No, my lovelies, not exactly. ;) You’ll see why. There’s a perfect explanation for everything that happened between the two of them. I won’t reveal it but I’ll say this: it’s a familiar element in novels that I absolutely LOVE.

Seth and Eva’s lives were tangled together by a mysterious virus. You’re probably asking how? Shulman’s concept of Parallon – a place outside the boundaries of time – was interesting. She created a parallel universe that defied the rational, the logical and went beyond anything I’ve ever imagined. In Parallon, you could conjure anything and everything by thought. You could also jump from one time to another. It was a place of wonders. I’m very interested in finding out how the process of time travel, exactly, happens in this novel. To be honest, I still have so many questions about Parallon. Some were answered in Fever but I have to admit that at the end of the story, I’ve accumulated tons of questions and I’m hoping they’ll be answered in Delirium, the sequel.

In Fever, there’s no shortage of drama, tragedy and romance. Be prepared to be lured into three worlds of color, curiosity, desperation, loss, determination, hope and possibilities. The radiant and diverse characters from different times will definitely keep you entertained. I recommend this to readers of time travel, historical readers and contemporary readers.

Rating:

Review: Tempest by Julie Cross

Book Description via Goodreads:

Hardcover, 413 pages

The year is 2009.  Nineteen-year-old Jackson Meyer is a normal guy… he’s in college, has a girlfriend… and he can travel back through time. But it’s not like the movies – nothing changes in the present after his jumps, there’s no space-time continuum issues or broken flux capacitors – it’s just harmless fun.

That is… until the day strangers burst in on Jackson and his girlfriend, Holly, and during a struggle with Jackson, Holly is fatally shot. In his panic, Jackson jumps back two years to 2007, but this is not like his previous time jumps. Now he’s stuck in 2007 and can’t get back to the future.

Desperate to somehow return to 2009 to save Holly but unable to return to his rightful year, Jackson settles into 2007 and learns what he can about his abilities.

But it’s not long before the people who shot Holly in 2009 come looking for Jackson in the past, and these “Enemies of Time” will stop at nothing to recruit this powerful young time-traveler.  Recruit… or kill him.

Piecing together the clues about his father, the Enemies of Time, and himself, Jackson must decide how far he’s willing to go to save Holly… and possibly the entire world.

Source: Hattie, Sally & Pan Macmillan UK (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

Jackson was a rich and spoiled sophomore college student at NYU. You may think that his character follows the prototype of rich male characters in YA but that’s where you’re wrong. He was a student, a son, a boyfriend, a friend and a time-traveler. He could go back in time (within his life span) and go back to the present. Nothing would change. With his genius friend, Adam, he experimented with time jumping.

Cross made a new twist on time-travelling. Gone were the time-travelling machines and the time-travelling through objects and places with strong sentimental value and importance. Her time-travelers can travel because of their genes. I like how she made it more specific and scientific.

Jackson had more or less three important persons in his life. He shared an imperfect but good relationship with his girlfriend, Holly. She was the kind of girlfriend who let his slip-ups pass most of the time. She was the rational, logical and unshakeable kind. But at the same time, she was the understanding, not pushing Jackson to confess his secrets. But his secrets were affecting Holly. She felt that Jackson had a different life that she couldn’t be a part of. I admired Holly for being understanding. Most of the girls I know wouldn’t do that. Despite the fact that Jackson and Holly have only been going out for months, I believe that Jackson thought that they shared true love – the type that comes only once in a lifetime. Jackson wanted nothing more than to save Holly from her fate and he jumped back to the past to undo her death. This kind of dedication was rare, although it was a typical element in YA.

I enjoyed reading about Jackson’s time jumps. Going back to the past was like reliving the same memory but seeing it through a different, more mature and more observant lens. It was better than flashbacks with its strong emotional impact and life-altering quality. The jumps that Jackson made to see his dead sister, Courtney, were the ones that I liked best. Courtney was his twin – the smarter one and the stronger one. With the help of Courtney, he was able to piece together the puzzle about his life, his identity and his fate.

The characters of Tempest felt real to me. Seeing different versions of the characters from different timelines allowed me to see how they changed, how they matured and how they became better persons through the years. I got to know them well and I liked that about this novel.

I liked the alternation between past and present. It wasn’t confusing since Tempest was partly told through Jackson’s journal where he records information about his jumps. The date was included so I never felt confused. For me, Tempest was a novel of stories in a story. For people looking for layered stories, this is perfect. From the curious beginning to the unforgettable ending, I got sucked into the story. It was addictive.

With kickass action, warmth of romance, bittersweet flavor of life, Tempest is a thrilling time-travel adventure debut. I highly recommend this to readers of time-travels, adventure, romance and action!

Rating:

Review: The Juliet Spell by Douglas Rees

Book Description via Goodreads:

Paperback, 304 pages

September 27, 2011, Harlequin Teen

I wanted the role of Juliet more than anything. I studied hard. I gave a great reading for it—even with Bobby checking me out the whole time. I deserved the part.

I didn't get it. So I decided to level the playing field, though I actually might have leveled the whole play. You see, since there aren't any Success in Getting to Be Juliet in Your High School Play spells, I thought I'd cast the next best—a Fame spell. Good idea, right?

Yeah. Instead of bringing me a little fame, it brought me someone a little famous. Shakespeare. Well, Edmund Shakespeare. William's younger brother.

Good thing he's sweet and enthusiastic about helping me with the play...and—ahem—maybe a little bit hot. But he's from the past. Waypast. Cars amaze him—cars! And cell phones? Ugh.

Still, there's something about him that's making my eyes go star-crossed...

Source: Pinoy Book Tours (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

When I first started The Juliet Spell, I didn’t know what to expect. But I was glad to realize that my fondness of theater-themed books increased with this debut. The main character, Miranda or Miri, was a dedicated theater girl. She was full of hope, dreams and unbridled desire to be Juliet in the upcoming play of her school. Now, I’ve encountered a lot of characters who wanted to be Juliet. But Miri was different. Miri had a purpose to be Juliet and the reasons to back them up. Aside from theater life, at home, she was casting spells. She wasn’t a witch though. She was just a simple girl looking for ways to enhance her chances to get her desired role. So she cast a spell – the one that made her Juliet and made her life and everything else in the story complicated.

Her spell brought her a special treat and a complication – Edmund Shakeshaft – the brother of the one and only William Shakespeare. He was fresh from the Renaissance, confused, shocked and panicky. He brought with him his 100% real old British charm and good looks. Being stuck in the twenty-first century left him with no other choice but to adapt and try to blend in, in the bizarre high-tech world. He was a fast learner, a charmer and a true actor. He managed to make both Miri and Vivian, Miri’s competition when it comes to Juliet, fall in love with him. Sadly, Edmund had the hots for Vivian and they took their relationship to a higher, more intimate level. Miri, hurt but still undeniably in love with Edmund, always looked out for him. She was trying in vain to keep him away from harm, namely Vivian.

As the rehearsals went on, Miri found herself in the middle of a set of jealousy, crap and chaos. Bobby was still mad that he got Tybalt instead of Romeo. He focused all his anger on Edmund though, especially since Edmund was dating Vivian, who Bobby secretly had a thing for. Drew was probably the most composed of them all. Smart, friendly and easy to be with, he always popped into the scene to help and save Miri and Edmund. But Edmund’s secret was getting harder and harder to keep. People were starting to ask too many questions and it was getting difficult to lie with ease. Could they keep his secret safe? Or would they have to think of a quick solution to Edmund’s stuck-in-the-21^st-century-problem?

Theater drama mixed with real-life drama in The Juliet Spell’s romantic tale of tragedy, time-travel and second chances. The Juliet Spell was well written, had vibrant and realistic characters and had its own strong heroine to conquer the stage. I recommend this to Shakespeare readers, romance readers and time-travel fanatics.

Rating: