Any potential the story had is let down by the execution.
Time travel enables a seemingly impossible romance.
Emmie’s mind is on creating a piece of jewelry that will get her into a prestigious London design school, not on her friends or the end of high school. When she spots an unusual blue ring at a yard sale, she buys it—not realizing that when she falls asleep wearing it, she will be transported 400 years into the past, to the time of Nicholas the Ironheart, the last Tudor monarch of England, adding alternate history to time travel in this soft sci-fi. To Emmie’s surprise, Nick isn’t just the bloodthirsty maniac of history books; he’s handsome and dotes on his sister, Kit. But Emmie knows it’s Kit’s murder that will set Nick on his notorious historical path. As she falls in love with Nick, Emmie tries to protect Kit and to figure out whether she can give up the freedoms of the 21st century for love in the 16th. Even before the constant crisscrossing trips across time and the lies to cover up her absences, Emmie is a wishy-washy, reactive character. The alternate history angle isn’t fleshed out sufficiently, and the time travel is overused. Worst of all, the romance is hard to stomach, especially with Nick’s jealous temper.
Any potential the story had is let down by the execution. (Romance. 14-18)Pub Date: June 11, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-9984484-7-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Literary Crush Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 6, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2019
Fun YA galactic romp that is not without its thoughtful side.
Jett, a California kid, invents a gadget that could propel an unready mankind far into space, and he’s abducted by powerful, cautious aliens.
Scott and Evan Gordon, a father-and-son sci-fi/YA writing team, offer a rambunctious launch to a new series. In southern California in the year 2028, adolescent inventor Jett Javelin, son of a theoretical physicist, takes cues from his mom’s research to create the “quantum swapper,” a DIY teleportation device capable of materializing individuals light-years away. Its use instantly makes Earth a high priority for the judgment of the Fold, a federation made up of 1,756,234 intelligent, peace-loving (and vegan) alien civilizations. The Fold takes action whenever a nonbeneficial race discovers interstellar travel. It turns out the Fold, via their chief regulators, the Aaptuuans (the variety known to UFO enthusiasts as flying-saucer “little greys”), long ago seeded throughout the universe the laws known here as the Ten Commandments. Any spacefaring civilization that violates these laws in any way—even killing and eating animals for food—is subjected to “neutralization,” doomed to likely extinction by having all electronic technology deactivated. After the Aaptuuans abduct Jett along with his invention, his behavior (and whether his people find his records and can duplicate the quantum swapper) will determine Earth’s fate. Luckily, Jett hooks up with the tentacled Tii-Eldii, a refugee from a previous Aaptuunan neutralization, and the chase is on. The fleet narrative never has any dead spots and boasts a clever range of aliens of all shapes, sizes, and appendages. It also has just the right balance of tongue-in-cheek (when a life form happens to have a tongue or a cheek) and serious elements when it comes to pondering moral issues and dilemmas. There is, naturally, a cliffhanger finale to draw readers into the next installment.
Fun YA galactic romp that is not without its thoughtful side.Pub Date: May 9, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9963574-3-2
Page Count: 244
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An otherworldly setting, grounded by irresistible melodrama and an unshakeable protagonist worth rooting for.
A Florida teen unhappy at home and tormented by bullies at school discovers a dreamlike world where she can escape and that may be more real than she knows in this YA fantasy debut.
Ever since her beloved Gramma Rose died, Sadie Myers’ life has been immersed in melancholy. Her once-cheerful parents are perpetually grumpy, and Sadie’s alienated others, including former best friend Melanie Greene. Having no friends makes her an easy target for resident bully Dave Jablonsky, who spearheads the students’ unremitting ridicule. Sadie dreams of a terrifying shadow man chasing her but takes solace in visions of her grandmother and Rose’s lost cat, Barnaby. Barnaby leads Sadie to a towering tree, whose voice the girl can hear, and a gateway to another realm, Mystashan. Sadie evidently holds the key to Mystashan, a place she soon prefers to the world she’s currently living in. Meanwhile, amnesiac Finn Montgomery awakens to foster parents who tell him his name and estimated age (13). A voice in his head tells him to play the part of a nice guy, but Finn’s prone to violence, which ultimately lands him in an institution and later juvenile hall. Plagued by visions of an unknown girl, the murderous Finn will somehow cross paths with Sadie. At the same time, Sadie’s disturbed by recurring and menacing flashes of red. Before enlightening readers about Mystashan, the authors relay a sound drama of a despondent girl and psychologically unstable boy. It’s unquestionably riveting, even if it’s hard to stomach the deplorable Dave pushing Sadie into a mud puddle or Finn’s rampant cruelty, calling his juvenile hall cellmate Beagle without learning his name. Romance for Sadie seems doomed: boyfriend Christopher has gone to New York, and the nervous heroine introduces herself to the charming Sam as Annie. But the story’s not all gloomy, as Sadie encounters fantastical characters, like Thelo, a somewhat reptilian but good-natured guide to the mysterious realm. Sadie’s link to Finn and the truth about Mystashan (is it real or only in the girl’s head?) are best left unspoiled. Suffice it to say that the Engels sufficiently resolve the story while leaving nagging questions to be tackled, presumably in Book Two.
An otherworldly setting, grounded by irresistible melodrama and an unshakeable protagonist worth rooting for.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-61984-931-0
Page Count: 398
Publisher: Gatekeeper Press
Review Posted Online: April 7, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
