Rating: 3.5/5
Emmeline Bailey is a nineteen-year-old college student living in California with big plans to move to England and teach. She's never been one for commitment in relationships--wanting nothing to tie her down. When her grandmother falls seriously ill, Emme must return to her hometown in Maine. Her grandmother dies, leaving a library to Emme...and a secret. Emmeline is part of a line of women who can travel in books as a preserver of history. She does so accidentally one day and meets a handsome man named Jack. She quickly develops a strong attachment to him and wonders if she could leave everything behind to stay with him...
This book was heavily advertised on my Facebook feed for a while, and I finally gave in and bought it because it sounded totally amazing (I LOVE time travel in general) and the cover is phenomenally beautiful. The concept is sort of mind-blowing and has endless possibilities. Who wouldn't want to travel inside books or travel through time? However, the execution of the story was ultimately poor.
First of all, the main character is shallow. While she has "big dreams" to move to another country, her behavior is irritating and childish. She was constantly talking about how, before the events of this book, she only wanted to make out and hook up with guys. She and her friends casually go drinking at a bar with fake IDs, not batting an eye. She had only one close friendship and was willing to throw that away after one fight. She would fly off the handle about things emotionally and then become alarmed when others did the same. She fell in love instantly with the man in the book and then took things way too far, causing lots of trouble and heartache. And this plot relies heavily on her not being told anything about the book/time travel process, which does create conflict, but it's a super lazy way of doing so. The ending was also patched up quickly and unrealistically.
I also found the book predictable, especially the part about JR Builders.
The other reason this book was difficult for me to get through was the writing--mainly the misuse of tenses. I don't think this author or her editor (if there was one) knows anything about the past perfect tense, which made the book quite confusing in many areas.
There are a few areas that gave this book a glimmer of hope. The overall concept, of course, is totally fascinating. Some of the explanations and discussions about the actual process were interesting. The love story, while at first irritating and unbelievable, did sort of start to grow on me after a while. I did feel sad for her when things fell apart and for what she had to do to fix it at the end.
Overall, this book held promise, but I ultimately wouldn't recommend it.
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