BROKEN RIVAL

A teenage time traveler is stuck in the past.

Magnolia Brown’s parents invent personal time-travel suits in the 2070s. When Magnolia is 16, the three travel back to 2024, hoping to warn people about the coming ravages of climate change. Her parents don’t realize their suit design is stolen while they’re there, and the resulting flood of time travelers causes massive societal unrest. Magnolia’s parents are arrested and executed for these crimes, but Magnolia is adopted by a pastor and his family, including two sons, in Aubrey, Kansas. Two years later, Magnolia has fallen in love with one brother, Fallon, while the older brother, Ramsey, is on the front lines, fighting the wave of time travelers. As Fallon’s girlfriend, Magnolia is protected from the disdain and hatred of the townspeople who see her as the poster child for the evils of time travel. After a fire at the high school, Magnolia is determined to repair a time-travel suit and go back in time to prevent the tragedy. In the process, she grows closer to Ramsey and discovers that she may have been in love with the wrong brother all along. Unfortunately, Bailey’s first foray into SF romance is not a success, with both the worldbuilding and the plot underdeveloped. The mechanics of time travel are inconsistent, as are its effects in the story. Based on what any scene requires, supplies are either scarce or readily available, technology is either advanced or it backfires, and laws are either ignored or rigidly enforced. Magnolia thinks, acts, and operates like a 2026 teenager even though she grew up 50 years in the future. Bailey brings her characteristic heat to the romance between Magnolia and Ramsey, but he’s barely a character in his own right. Readers are unlikely to understand his devotion toward Magnolia or the dramatic sacrifices he makes on her behalf.

Sloppy worldbuilding undermines a high-concept romance.