Only a Monster: A Review

Sixteen-year-old Joan Chang-Hunt has a lot to look forward to this summer. She is once again staying with her mother’s eclectic family in London but this year is even better. Not only does she have a dream job at the historic Holland House–she gets to work alongside fellow nerd and crush Nick.

Going on a date with Nick is truly a dream come true. Or at least it should be. Unfortunately, the day of the date does not go as planned.

Instead of the start of a perfect summer, Joan finds herself in a nightmare as she learns more about her family–and their secrets.

Joan comes from a long line of monsters. Actual monsters with horrifying powers. Powers Joan might have herself.

Monsters are the least of Joan’s problems when she realizes that Nick is a hero–a monster hunter from the stuff of legend whose only goal is destroying monsters like Joan. And her family.

Desperate to protect her loved ones, Joan is willing to do anything even if it means working with a snobby stranger who happens to be the equivalent of monster royalty. Aaron Oliver is insufferable but he also knows how to navigate a world of actual monsters and heroes and maybe, just maybe, how to help Joan survive it too.

Joan is a monster. Nick is a hero. Everyone knows how that story ends. But Joan also knows that if she wants to keep her family safe it’s time for a rewrite in Only a Monster (2022) by Vanessa Len.

Find it on Bookshop.

Only a Monster is Len’s debut novel and the start of a trilogy. Joan is biracial (her mother is white and her father Chinese Malaysian) with other main characters assumed white although there is diversity among the monster families and secondary characters.

Distinct world building including a sprawling network of monster families and magical powers ranging from perfect memory to time travel create a rich landscape for Joan’s adventures as she struggles against enemies and even time itself to try to save her family. Ethical questions of what separates so-called heroes and villains inform Joan’s character arc. These moral questions also lend nuance to male leads Aaron and Nick as as their own backgrounds and development factor into the plot.

Readers will appreciate Len’s eye for detail as she brings both present and 1993 London to life while also expanding Joan’s knowledge of the monster world. In a community where everything from clothes to mannerisms carry loaded meaning Joan is doubly aware of her status as a biracial teen and–more dangerously in her current circumstances–as a half-human, half-monster girl in a world that usually sticks to strict binaries.

Only a Monster is a fascinating urban fantasy where nothing is as it seems. Well-drawn characters, action, and numerous surprises make Only a Monster an unforgettable read. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: In Every Generation by Kendare Blake, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, This Savage Song by V. E. Schwab, Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor

Lightbringer: A Review

After years spent trying to deny her powers and her dark urges to push them to their limits, Queen Rielle is done pretending. Rejected by the man she loves, feared by the country she swore to protect, Rielle instead turns to Corien–the dark fallen angel who has always promised her glory and destruction in the same breath.

A thousand years in the future Eliana is still trying to understand how her plan to stop Rielle before she breaks the world went so very wrong. Separated from her brother, betrayed by the man she thought she could love, Eliana arrives at the Empire’s capital broken. But that doesn’t stop Corien from trying to break her more and unearth the secrets of how he can use Eliana to reunite with Rielle in the past.

The world has always been quick to tell Rielle and Eliana what kind of woman they should be. With the fate of the world balancing on a knife’s edge, both Rielle and Eliana will have to take their fates–and the fate of all of Avitas–into their own hands in Lightbringer (2020) by Claire Legrand.

Find it on Bookshop.

Lightbringer is the final book in Legrand’s Empirium trilogy which begins with Furyborn and Kingsbane. Legrand has said before that this is the series of her heart, the reason she began writing, and a massive undertaking. Seeing the end of it, particularly this ending, is bittersweet to say the least.

Lightbringer picks up shortly after the conclusion of Kingsbane although most of the plot relies on world building and plot previously established in the first book in the trilogy.

Epigraphs, shifting points of view, and the story’s two timelines play out on an epic scale as this novel builds to conclusion that feels both explosive and inevitable.

Like the other books in this series, Lightbringer is a long one (nearly 600 pages as a hardcover). Unfortunately in this volume many of the editorial choices shift focus away from characterization and plot in favor of repeated scenes of torture. Corien employs mental and physical violence against Eliana to understand how she could travel to the past. Meanwhile Rielle’s storyline is steeped in blood and gore as Rielle learns more about Corien’s experiments to build monsters to fight his war and vessels for incorporeal angels.

While this book has all of the pieces for a powerful conclusion, they never quite gel as well as they need to relative to the build up. Corien’s motivations are never entirely clear, Ludivine’s purpose in the story remains murky. Worse than all that, a lot of character viewpoints are relegated to epigraphs in favor of cutting down the book length. This choice highlights how badly Ilmaire needed to be a main character in this trilogy while I am still wondering why I had to read though countless chapters from Navi, Tal, or Jessamyn–all of whom feel largely tangential to the entire series.

Both the torture and violence throughout Lightbringer became repetitive enough that as a reader I began to feel inured to it. Instead of furthering the story, the torture took page time away from allowing the overarching narrative to unfold leaving much of that to happen in the final 150 pages of the book.

Lightbringer is a natural if not always satisfying conclusion to a truly distinct series. This installment redeemed a lot of the flaws in Kingsbane or at least made them understandable, particularly in regards to Rielle’s motivations. While the conclusion here feels inevitable, it remains bittersweet and leaves many of the characters and the entire world of Avitas forever changed. It’s clear that there are more stories to be told in Avitas and I hope Legrand will eventually be able to share them with readers.

Lightbringer ends strong remaining inclusive, sexy, and very smart making it a good read-a-like and antidote for Game of Thrones or other problematic fantasies written by white men for white men.

Possible Pairings: Realm Breaker by Victoria Aveyard, Frostblood by Elly Blake, Graceling by Kristin Cashore, Violet Made of Thorns by Gina Chen, The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, The Never Tilting World by Rin Chupeco, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Reign the Earth by A. C. Gaughen, Forest of Souls by Lori M. Lee, The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller, Angel Mage by Garth Nix, Beasts Made of Night by Tochi Onyebuchi, Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch, The Midnight Lie by Marie Rutkoski, Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor, Realm of Ruins by Hannah West, The Girl the Sea Gave Back by Adrienne Young, The Girl King by Mimi Yu

Malice: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

Alice Sherman is more interested in taking delicious looking pictures of her not-always-edible cooking for her foodie Instagram account and dreaming of a future as a photographer for National Geographic than she is in math and science.

She knows the only reason that she is at her super competitive, STEM-focused school is because her older brother Archie is a certified genius and science prodigy. She doesn’t mind. Someone has to keep an eye on Archie to make sure he remembers things like eating instead of equations sometimes–especially in the years since their mom left and their dad has become more and more distant.

Her mundane life is upended when a sudden, sharp pain hits during lunch. A voice in her head tell Alice that she can make the pain stop. All Alice has to do is tell Bandit Sakda that she loves him. Embarrassing, but easy enough.

Except the Voice isn’t done with Alice. There’s something else she has to do. Something that might prevent the creation of a virus that will kill two thirds of the population. Something that might make Alice a killer. Something that is going to be that much harder for Alice to do if she ever lets herself fall for Bandit in Malice (2020) by Pintip Dunn.

Find it on Bookshop.

Dunn’s latest standalone adventure follows Alice as she tries to figure out who the Voice is and how far she is willing to go to prevent the dire future the Voice warns her about.

While some of the twists and turns will be predictable for readers familiar with time travel shenanigans, Alice’s journey remains unique and puts a strong focus on the ways in which free will and compassion can change everything. Alice’s best friend Lalana Bunyasarn and Alice’s reluctant love interest Bandit add some needed levity (and chemistry) to a potentially bleak story.

Malice is a delectable blend of time travel and suspense. Recommended for readers who like their romance with a little sci-fi or vice versa.

Possible Pairings: Loop by Karen Akins, Midnight at the Electric by Jodi Lynn Anderson, The Infinity of You & Me by J. Q. Coyle, The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Soulprint by Megan Miranda, Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

Everless: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

In the kingdom of Sempera time can be bled out of a person and bound to iron making it the literal currency of the kingdom. In Crofton there’s never enough. Desperate to save her father before he sells what little time he has left, Jules returns to Everless—the family estate that was home to her fondest childhood memories as well as the haunting nightmare that forced her and her father to flee ten years ago.

No one seems to remember Jules but she remembers enough about cruel Liam Gerling and his handsome and kind brother Roan to know she’d best keep a low profile in her new position as a maid at the estate.

The entire estate is bustling with preparations for Roan’s wedding to Ina Gold, the Queen’s official heir. Raised up from humble beginnings as an orphan, Ina is beloved throughout Sempera and granted unguarded access to Everless and the Queen. Working as Ina’s maid at the estate might also be Jules’ best chance to unlock the mysteries of her own past.  Secrets abound at Everless but with danger looming Jules isn’t certain she’ll have enough time to uncover them all in Everless (2018) by Sara Holland.

Everless is Holland’s debut novel and the start of a series.

Everless starts with an inventive and surprising premise: what if time could be measured and sold? From this tantalizing question Holland builds the rich and strongly developed world of Sempera. Although the mythology and world building is initially muddy, many questions are answered by the end of the novel as various pieces of Sempera’s past begin to fall into place.

Jules is an impulsive and often frustrating heroine. She doesn’t think or consider. Instead she spends most of the book reacting first as she sneaks her way into a job at Everless and then when she realizes she can’t safely remain at the estate. While that makes for an incredibly exciting and nail-biting read it is also infuriating to watch Jules repeatedly rush into things that could easily be avoided if only she would listen.

Everless is a sprawling, grand estate and the novel itself is suitably well-populated with fascinating characters. Roan and Liam, the two Gerling sons who will one day inherit Everless and its wealth, serve as a point of infatuation for Jules–Roan as the object of her childhood affections and Liam as the reason she and her father had to leave the estate’s comfort and shelter when she was seven. Despite getting far less page time, Liam is by far the more interesting of the two and a character I look forward to seeing in the sequel.

Everless is a strong series starter filled with action and intrigue. This story starts small focusing on Jules’s own survival and revenge only to gain momentum as Jules finds herself at the center of a story that could change the entire forever. Highly recommended for fantasy readers and sci-fi fans who like their science with a heavy dose of alchemy.

Possible Pairings: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard, Wither by Lauren DeStefano, Crown of Oblivion by Julie Eshbaugh, The Jewel by Amy Ewing, The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, The Glittering Court by Richelle Mead, Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan, Birthmarked by Caragh M. O’Brien, The Queen’s Rising by Rebecca Ross, Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian, Shimmer and Burn by Mary Taranta

Weave a Circle Round: A Review

Fourteen-year-old Freddy just wants to be normal. She wants to blend in at her high school and disappear. But that’s hard when her step-brother Roland is always telling outlandish stories and leaves a trail of chaos in his wake despite his best efforts. Meanwhile her little sister Mel is like an amateur detective.

Freddy’s mother and step-father are so wrapped up in each other they hardly notice. And it’s not like they can force Freddy to like her siblings anymore than they can force her to learn sign language so she can talk more with Roland.

It becomes even harder to pretend everything is normal when new tenants move into the house on Grosvenor Street–hardly a surprise since the house always seems to be in a state of flux.

Cuerva Lachance and Josiah aren’t like any of the people who have previously rented the house on Grosvenor street. In fact, based on the way the house begins to defy the laws of physics, they may not even be people in Weave a Circle Round (2017) Kari Maaren.

Maaren’s debut standalone is an intentionally chaotic and frenetic novel about time travel, family, and the power of story and talismans. Maaren pulls intricate plot threads together to create a story with eclectic characters and detailed world building.

Because of Freddy’s age and the overall tone of the novel, Weave a Circle Round feels much younger than marketing would suggest–something not helped by flat and often one-dimensional characters. I’d put this book much more firmly in the middle grade category than YA were it left to my own devices.

While I’d love to give Weave a Circle Round points for inclusion, I can’t. Every synopsis I found for this novel describes Freddy’s sister Mel as smart and Roland as . . . deaf. That’s it. He gets no other defining attribute despite being one of the more layered characters in the novel not to mention being key to the plot.

Roland’s deafness feels more like a plot device than a key trait and is only ever seen in relation to Freddy. Freddy finds Roland tedious. She doesn’t want to interact with him or learn sign language to talk to him. She has to get over that to move the plot forward. Bizarrely Roland talks throughout the book with only minimal mention of sign language at all. He also falls into the common trap of being a super lip reader carrying entire conversations with multiple people without signing at all.

Weave a Circle Round is likely to appeal to fans of A Wrinkle in Time and books in that vein. Unfortunately this story never quite realizes its potential or does right by its characters–especially Roland.

Possible Pairings: A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, Alchemy by Margaret Mahy, In Other Lands by Sarah Rees Brennan, Just One Damned Thing After Another by Jodi Taylor

Wayfarer: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

*Wayfarer is the conclusion to Bracken’s Passenger duology. It contains major spoilers for book one. If you’re new to the series, start at the beginning with Passenger*

“All of us have had to come to terms with the fact that our loyalty is to time itself. It’s our inheritance, our nation, our history.”

—

“We can live in the past, but we cannot dwell there.”

Etta’s preparations for her debut as a concert violinist feel distant in the wake of revelations that she and her mother are part of a long line of time travelers who have drawn Etta into the center of a dangerous battle for power.

Etta has gone around the world and through time searching for a coveted astrolabe that can control and manipulate the timeline itself. She knows the astrolabe has to be destroyed. But she also knows she will need it herself if she hopes to save her mother.

Orphaned by a disastrous change to the timeline, Etta wakes up alone in another place and time separated from Nicholas, her partner throughout this journey. The future that she knows no longer exists. In this new timeline Etta finds unexpected help from Julian Ironwood–Cyrus’s heir, long presumed dead–and an unlikely ally from Etta’s own past.

Nicholas could do nothing to keep Etta with him when she was Orphaned. Now he and Sophia are following every lead–every passage–that they can to find the astrolabe and Etta. Their uneasy alliance is tested by the pursuers far too close behind and the mercenary who may be trying to help Nicholas and Sophia–or stop them.

Separated by time itself Nicholas and Etta will have to face impossible odds, familiar enemies, and a dangerous new power if they hope to reunite and keep the timeline safe in Wayfarer (2017) by Alexandra Bracken.

Find it on Bookshop.

Wayfarer is the conclusion to Bracken’s latest duology which begins with Passenger. It contains major spoilers for book one. If you’re new to the series, start at the beginning.

Wayfarer picks up shortly after the dramatic conclusion of Passenger. Etta is injured and alone after she is Orphaned while Nicholas is left behind in Nassau where he is forced to rely on Sophia’s knowledge of the passages to hopefully find Etta and the astrolabe before time runs out.

This novel once again alternates close third person narration between Etta and Nicholas (possibly with slightly more time given to Nicholas). Although they are separated at the start of the novel both Etta and Nicholas remain true to each other and confident in each other amidst rampant mistrust and doubts from their allies. The steadfastness of their belief in each other is heartening as almost everything else these characters hold true is thrown into doubt over the course of the story as all of the characters face difficult choices once the full threat of the astrolabe becomes clear.

Bracken expands the world of the travelers in Wayfarer with new characters (be sure to watch out for mercenary Li Min), and new backstory about the origins of the travelers and the four families. Sophia, happily, also plays a bigger role in this story after previously being an antagonist to both Nicholas and Etta. Sophia remains ambitious, angry, and delightfully unapologetic even as she begins to make new choices. The focus of this story also shifts from romance to relationships of a different sort as friendships, partnerships, and other alliances form.

One of the constant themes in this series is trust. In Passenger Etta and Nicholas have to learn how to trust each other and, to some extent, their abilities as travelers (albeit inexperienced ones). Wayfarer, meanwhile, finds both Etta and Nicholas having to form new bonds in order to survive. These changing relationships lend depth and substance to a story that is already rich with historical detail and fully developed characters.

Wayfarer is a brilliant novel about trust, choices, and time travel (of course) filled with romance, action, and more than a few memorable moments. This series is a great introduction to time travel and also ideal for fans of the sub-genre. The perfect conclusion to one of my favorite duologies. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Loop by Karen Akins, Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins, The Infinity of You & Me by J. Q. Coyle, Truthwitch by Susan Dennard, Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly, Chasing Power by Sarah Beth Durst, The Glass Sentence by S. E. Grove, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, Only a Monster by Vanessa Len, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski, Into the Dim by Janet B. Taylor, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, Song of the Current by Sarah Tolcser, Pivot Point by Kasie West, Fable by Adrienne Young

*An advance copy of this title was sent by the publisher for review consideration*

The Infinity of You & Me: A Review

Every decision has the potential to send Alicia into a tailspin where she retreats into her own head and experiences what various therapists have diagnosed as hallucinogenic episodes. Hafeez, Alicia’s best friend, tries to help but neither of them can really explain what’s happening.

She’s been treated for seizures, OCD, delusions, and various other conditions. But none of the medications or therapies have helped. In fact, as Alicia gets closer to her sixteenth birthday the hallucinations have only gotten more vivid and more frequent.

When Alicia’s long-lost father appears at her birthday party, he shocks Alicia by telling her that the hallucinations are real.

Every time Alicia thought she was dreaming she was really traveling to an alternate world including one that is slowly dying where she is drawn to a boy named Jax. Alicia and Jax share a complicated past and a present that spans two worlds. Desperate to understand who and what she is, Alicia will embark on a journey across worlds to find the truth and protect the people and places she holds dear in The Infinity of You & Me (2016) by J. Q. Coyle.

Speculative fiction often grounds supernatural or extraordinary abilities in what initially appears to be a disability. In Alicia’s case, that translates to her belief in the beginning of the novel that she is mentally unstable and consequently needs treatment and medication for a variety of diagnoses. Coyle, unfortunately, compounds the problem here with Alicia’s medications. Alicia repeatedly refers to herself as an “almost junkie” and obsesses over the number of pills she takes. While it makes some sense for her character, it’s also a troubling portrayal of the stigmas surrounding medication for mental illness and something that bears mention and discussion outside the context of the story.

The Infinity of You & Me is grounded in the theory that every decision you make creates a new universe with potentially infinite branches as decisions change. Alicia makes sense of this abstract theory throughout the novel with references and excerpts from Sylvia Plath poems.

This novel’s blend of poetry and science fiction works well to lend an eerie and timeless quality to the writing as Alicia wades through multiple worlds. Alicia is prickly at the beginning of the novel but patient readers will be rewarded with a nuanced and thoughtful narrator.

The Infinity of You & Me is an interesting and unique exploration of the idea of parallel worlds with stark writing that sharply highlights the beauty and danger that Alicia encounters throughout her travels. Sure to appeal to readers looking for a fresh sci-fi adventure.

Possible Pairings: Loop by Karen Akins, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, In Some Other Life by Jessica Brody, Malice by Pintip Dunn, Slide by Jill Hathaway, Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi, Planesrunner by Ian McDonald, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Parallel by Lauren Miller, The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, Pivot Point by Kasie West

*A copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

Twist: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

*Twist is the sequel/companion to Loop. As such this review contains major spoilers for book one.*

Bree Bennis should be living happily ever after now that she’s saved her mother, found a way to fight back against ICE’s plans to change the timeline to their advantage, and reunited with her boyfriend Finn from a different century.

But it turns out being a time traveler is never easy.

In the twenty-third century, ICE is still trying to alter the timeline by allowing non-shifters to time travel to points in their own pasts. Bree’s reverter can undo the changes before the timeline is permanently altered but she can only work so fast. Now that she is no longer a chipped Shifter, she can literally see when her reality changes.

Everything still feels controllable until Bree’s Future Self stops her from fixing one key change to Bree’s own life six months earlier. Losing the last six months of her life, Bree never travels to the twenty-first century to meet her boyfriend Finn. She never tangles with ICE. But she knows the timeline is still at risk and she still has to stop it.

Now, Bree is stuck undercover with Wyck as her boyfriend. Sure he hasn’t tried to kill her on this timeline but Bree still remembers him as Evil Wyck and she still doesn’t want to pretend to date him. With only a minimal sense of what she has to do to stop ICE, Bree can’t even take a moment to stew when Finn shows up in the twenty-third century dating another Shifter. As a time traveler, Bree should have time on her side. But as ICE’s changes become more extreme, with more devastating personal consequences for her, Bree knows she’s running out of time in Twist (2015) by Karen Akins.

Twist is the sequel to Loop and the conclusion of Bree Bennis’ story.

Twist is a trippy, page-turning continuation of Bree’s adventures. The story is filled with the catch-22 time travel scenarios readers will remember from book one. While this book has a contained story and recaps of key moments, it heavily references Loop and should not be read out of order.

Akins expertly manipulates familiar time travel conventions and tropes to create a unique story filled with twists and turns. While the timeline keeps changing, Bree and Finn’s relationship remains relatively constant as the emotional heart of this story.

Snappy prose and Bree’s witty first-person narration enhance this story and bring readers along for the sometimes bumpy ride across multiple reality shifts for Bree and the timeline. While the story has some nail-biting moments of suspense (and worry for this likable cast of characters), this book is a finale worthy of these characters. Twist is an immensely satisfying conclusion to an adventurous and fascinating sci-fi duology. Highly recommended for readers seeking a new time travel adventure.

Possible Pairings: The Darkest Part of the Forest by Holly Black, Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, The Infinity of You & Me by J. Q. Coyle, Malice by Pintip Dunn, Chasing Power by Sarah Beth Durst, The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson, Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Soulprint by Megan Miranda, Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty, The Shadow Society by Marie Rutkoski, The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater, All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill, Pivot Point by Kasie West, Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

The Square Root of Summer: A Chick Lit Wednesday Review

“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’s grandfather, Grey, died nearly a year ago but the grief is still fresh enough to choke her. She’s spent the past year trying to hide, trying to forget, trying to disappear.

Her father, in his usual absent-minded way, is breezing past the gaping hole in their family without really seeing the damage. Her brother is home from school for the summer and keen to resurrect Grey’s eccentric traditions and remember him. All of which makes Gottie’s guilt and sadness hurt even more.

It’s been hard enough focusing on the day-to-day and the things she’s lost. It gets worse when seemingly impossible wormholes start springing up around Gottie’s small seaside town pulling her to times and memories she’d rather forget. Like the day of Grey’s funeral when her first love, Jason, wouldn’t even hold her hand. Or the day her best friend Thomas moved away leaving Gottie with a scar on her hand and no memory of their parting.

When Jason and Thomas reappear in Gottie’s life, she realizes that some things can’t be forgotten and some memories–even the painful ones–are worth revisiting. The wormholes and the lost time are building to something. Gottie has the rest of the summer to decide if she wants to run toward whatever comes next or keep running away in The Square Root of Summer (2016) by Harriet Reuter Hapgood.

The Square Root of Summer is Reuter Hapgood’s debut novel.

Gottie is an incredibly smart heroine with an affinity for math and science–especially physics. Once she realizes that she is losing time, she begins to work out the science of such an impossibility and try to make sense of it with mathematical equations and the laws of physics.

Reuter Hapgood seamlessly integrates complex science and math concepts into the story as Gottie comes closer to the impossible truth behind the events of her summer. These concepts combined with Gottie’s singular voice make for a dense beginning. As the story unfolds and readers get to know Gottie they are rewarded with a satisfyingly intricate novel that begs to be read closely and repeatedly. The addition of unique text designs, illustrations of certain concepts, and notes from Gottie’s research make for an even more unique reading experience.

While time travel is a pivotal aspect of this story, The Square Root of Summer is a novel about family at its core. Gottie’s family is a adrift in the wake of Grey’s death–lost without their boisterous and unlikely anchor. It is only in revisiting memories of him and his death that Gottie begins to realize that sometimes moving forward is the best way to grieve someone.

The Square Root of Summer is populated with distinctive personalities ranging from Gottie and her family to her eccentric physics professor. While the blackholes lend a sense of urgency to the story, this is a character driven novel with fascinating dynamics–particularly between Gottie and her long-absent friend Thomas.

The Square Root of Summer delivers the best aspects of any time travel story combined with the memorable characters and pathos so often found in great contemporary novels. This genre-defying novel is clever and unique–a breath of fresh air on a warm summer day. Gottie and her story are guaranteed to leave a lasting impression. Highly recommended.

Possible Pairings: Suffer Love by Ashley Herring Blake, A Week of Mondays by Jessica Brody, Jane, Unlimited by Kristin Cashore, A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley, Two Summers by Aimee Friedman, In Some Other World, Maybe by Shari Goldhagen, 13 Little Blue Envelopes by Maureen Johnson, The Museum of Heartbreak by Meg Leder, Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart, Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta, Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson, The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith, Pivot Point by Kasie West, Places No One Knows by Brenna Yovanoff, Memoirs of a Teenage Amnesiac by Gabrielle Zevin

*An advance copy of this title was provided by the publisher for review consideration*

Into the Dim: A Review

Hope Walton is certain that her mother isn’t really dead. But no one else saw the flash of news coverage and no one can find any evidence to corroborate what Hope knows to be true thanks to her eidetic memory.

Expectations for a summer visiting her aunt in Scotland are low (even without the smack of rejection knowing her father will be on a cruise with his new girlfriend). Between her crippling claustrophobia and headaches brought on when her photographic memory gets away from her, even time at home–alone–can be overwhelming.

Soon after arriving in Scotland, Hope learns that her aunt and mother belong to a secret society of time travelers dedicated to preserving the timeline–a mission that has left Hope’s mother trapped in twelfth-century England.

Hope might be the only one who can save her mother. But she’ll have to learn how to conquer her own fears first in Into the Dim (2016) by Janet B. Taylor.

Into the Dim is Taylor’s debut novel and the start of a new series.

Written in the first person, Into the Dim is narrated by sixteen-year-old Hope. Hope is incredibly book smart thanks to her memory but she is also naive and reads as much younger than her sixteen years would suggest. Taylor also chooses to write characters’ speech in dialect to convey accents which often feels stilted if not clumsy to follow.

The novel’s plot is based on some problematic elements. The role of her father is especially troubling. Readers learn early on that Hope was adopted by her mother who married when Hope was five. Her mother and father are the only parent’s Hope has ever known and she considers both her parents without qualification and, as far as the story suggests, Hope’s father feels the same way about her. Despite that Hope’s father allows his own mother to treat Hope as an outsider and inferior to the “real” members of the family. (This is behavior that leaves Hope’s mother seething but seems to get a pass from her father.) Aside from being a damaging trope to perpetuate it feels like a heavy-handed attempt to build in sympathy for Hope and better explain her decision to go along with a visit to Scotland at all.

Other problematic familial aspects of Into the Dim include the fact that Hope’s father has a new girlfriend a mere eight months after his wife’s sudden death and chooses to go on a cruise with her while leaving Hope to fend for herself with an aunt she has never met in a foreign country. Furthermore the idea that Hope’s aunt has never bothered to speak to her–ever–despite speaking to Hope’s mother weekly seems highly unlikely.

Hope’s photographic memory and phobias often feel contrived. That isn’t to say that her fears are invalid or badly portrayed. Rather they feel like elements added into the story solely to move the plot in a very specific direction. The addition of extreme headaches brought on by Hope’s eidetic memory seems superfluous and lacks any basis (as far as my research shows) in reality.

Into the Dim veers more to the light end of the speculative fiction spectrum. Explanations for the mechanics of time travel are thin when they are presented at all. The novel is also poorly paced with obvious twists (time travel!) that are hinted at in the plot summary not appearing until well into the story. For a novel that travels to a variety of locations and time periods, Into the Dim often lacks a strong sense of place feeling as it if could be set anywhere without much change to the action. The historical parts of the novel are well-researched but come too late to enhance the text.

Into the Dim begins with a promising premise that hints at action, time travel, and even some romance. Unfortunately in a year rich with titles that explore similar themes, this one often falls short by comparison.

Possible Pairings: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken, Malice by Pintip Dunn, The Girl from Everywhere by Heidi Heilig, Winterspell by Claire LeGrand, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, Lock & Mori by Heather W. Petty, Time Between Us by Tamara Ireland Stone