What do you think?
Rate this book
Evelina #1
Evelina and the Time Pirates
Librarian's note: There is an Alternate Cover Edition for this edition of this book here.
Evelina Crimm just wants to be normal. She has her life planned, until she spends summer vacation with two crazy Aunts and discovers she’s a Water Witch. Soon things get a little freaky and she’s living a double life, slinging hash during the week and dodging black magic spells every weekend. Not to mention a certain mysterious warlock she can’t seem to stay away from.
Frankie Holler is on a mission to catch a Time Pirate and he isn’t above bending a few rules to do it, but teaming up with a Novice Witch isn’t part of the plan. Time Keepers work alone. At least, that’s what he’s been told, and he agrees, until he meets Evelina. He’s not much of a talker, but it sure is hard to keep secrets with her around.
Evelina Crimm just wants to be normal. She has her life planned, until she spends summer vacation with two crazy Aunts and discovers she’s a Water Witch. Soon things get a little freaky and she’s living a double life, slinging hash during the week and dodging black magic spells every weekend. Not to mention a certain mysterious warlock she can’t seem to stay away from.
Frankie Holler is on a mission to catch a Time Pirate and he isn’t above bending a few rules to do it, but teaming up with a Novice Witch isn’t part of the plan. Time Keepers work alone. At least, that’s what he’s been told, and he agrees, until he meets Evelina. He’s not much of a talker, but it sure is hard to keep secrets with her around.
196 pages, Paperback
First published June 19, 2012
20 people are currently reading
2920 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
February 26, 2014
My 10 year old daughter received an ARC in exchange for review. Because she is too young for an account, she submitted the following review to me to share. "I liked the book Evelina and the Time Pirates! Evelina is a girl who finds out she's a witch. She works at a resturaunt and finds out one of her only friends from school is a witch. I liked how the author added details to make the story seem real even though it's a fantasy. It's full of adventure and a bit of mystery."
October 27, 2015
This book is sort of like an episode of a Ryan Murphy show. (Like Glee without the musical numbers, really. Not so much AHS or N/T, if that needed to be clarified.) R. A. Donnelly throws everything plus the kitchen sink into it, and some of it is good and some of it isn't, and overall the result on a good day is more good than bad; but it's also undeniably sloppy, and you probably wish you could fix it. I certainly do.
There's modern teen stuff. There's magic. There's comedy. There's time travel so there can be olde fashioned cosplay and anachronistic-yet-romantic waltzing. There are mean girls. There's sneaking about. There is a Trial/contest/challenge. There's forbidden love. There's a sad orphan with mysteriously dead parents. Need even more? There are actually a few other plot elements. Seriously.
Overall, I would tag this book with the descriptor "Lite." It's pleasant. It was a fast read. But it got more and more rushed as it went along. At one point I'd even say it feels like there's an outright missing chapter or two. At one point Team Good Guys loses a test, which means Team Bad Guys get access to a particular spell book both sides want. TBG cheated, though, so the mentor for TGG is going to fight the ruling and try to retrieve the spell book -- but there is no certainty she will succeed in doing so, because the bad guys are tricky and they lie a lot. And they might not willingly hand over the book regardless of the ruling, if there is a ruling. Also, as of when they lose the test, the good girls do not regularly or officially hang out with the boys they like. But suddenly, you're in the middle of a scene where they have the book AND they are playing "spin the bottle" with the spell book. With the boys. And there's kissing and these character are definitely in relationships. When did all that happen?
The rest of the book from there on out is rushed. It's not just that it moves fast. It's that it moves so fast it omits details that I'm not sure Donnelly is fully aware of glossing over or skipping completely. The climax of thwarting the bad guy in the past is rushed, and the final test against the swamp hag novices is rushed. It's really unsatisfying, and emphatically keeps this from being more than a three star book.
Oh, yeah. TBG are actually The Swamp Hags. Like, officially. That's what they call themselves. The most powerful of them all is named Nebula Sludge
That cracks me up, in and of itself, but it does make it hard to take the story at all seriously. Then there are random lines like this: "Even the Cheetums were dancing, though a little freaky, and with each other, but party on dude. Whatever floats your boat!" This wasn't dialogue (as in, said by a character, in that character's distinctive voice.) It was just... random descriptive prose. And my complaint, really, is that it's SO obtrusive when Donnelly writes something like that. She isn't writing a constantly zany Terry Pratchett novel with sentences and phrases in such a unique voice coming up all the time. It just happens a few times, so it seems awkward, and you never just settle into it to enjoy it and find it funny. Could Donnelly write a Pratchett novel? Come now, I speak not of blasphemy before breakfast. But I do think she should make a choice before publishing -- more silly, or less. I don't think this particular attempt at balancing silly and substance is very successful, but I think she might be able to pull off a darn good book with more commitment in either direction.
There's modern teen stuff. There's magic. There's comedy. There's time travel so there can be olde fashioned cosplay and anachronistic-yet-romantic waltzing. There are mean girls. There's sneaking about. There is a Trial/contest/challenge. There's forbidden love. There's a sad orphan with mysteriously dead parents. Need even more? There are actually a few other plot elements. Seriously.
Overall, I would tag this book with the descriptor "Lite." It's pleasant. It was a fast read. But it got more and more rushed as it went along. At one point I'd even say it feels like there's an outright missing chapter or two. At one point Team Good Guys loses a test, which means Team Bad Guys get access to a particular spell book both sides want. TBG cheated, though, so the mentor for TGG is going to fight the ruling and try to retrieve the spell book -- but there is no certainty she will succeed in doing so, because the bad guys are tricky and they lie a lot. And they might not willingly hand over the book regardless of the ruling, if there is a ruling. Also, as of when they lose the test, the good girls do not regularly or officially hang out with the boys they like. But suddenly, you're in the middle of a scene where they have the book AND they are playing "spin the bottle" with the spell book. With the boys. And there's kissing and these character are definitely in relationships. When did all that happen?
The rest of the book from there on out is rushed. It's not just that it moves fast. It's that it moves so fast it omits details that I'm not sure Donnelly is fully aware of glossing over or skipping completely. The climax of thwarting the bad guy in the past is rushed, and the final test against the swamp hag novices is rushed. It's really unsatisfying, and emphatically keeps this from being more than a three star book.
Oh, yeah. TBG are actually The Swamp Hags. Like, officially. That's what they call themselves. The most powerful of them all is named Nebula Sludge
That cracks me up, in and of itself, but it does make it hard to take the story at all seriously. Then there are random lines like this: "Even the Cheetums were dancing, though a little freaky, and with each other, but party on dude. Whatever floats your boat!" This wasn't dialogue (as in, said by a character, in that character's distinctive voice.) It was just... random descriptive prose. And my complaint, really, is that it's SO obtrusive when Donnelly writes something like that. She isn't writing a constantly zany Terry Pratchett novel with sentences and phrases in such a unique voice coming up all the time. It just happens a few times, so it seems awkward, and you never just settle into it to enjoy it and find it funny. Could Donnelly write a Pratchett novel? Come now, I speak not of blasphemy before breakfast. But I do think she should make a choice before publishing -- more silly, or less. I don't think this particular attempt at balancing silly and substance is very successful, but I think she might be able to pull off a darn good book with more commitment in either direction.
October 5, 2014
The author has a way with words. I read a newly revised copy of Evelina and the Time Pirates, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The perfect blend of magic, conflict, love, mayhem, and beautiful imagery, all rolled up into a YA/Teen novel that kids from 8 to 80 will adore. I can't wait to read the next novel in the series! P.S. My grandniece loved this, too!
October 5, 2014
Well done YA fantasy. I enjoyed the author's wry sense of humor and imaginative scenes. A good read for anyone, not just YA.
March 5, 2017
I got to beta-read this book and thought it good
September 21, 2015
https://koeur.wordpress.com/2015/09/2...
Publisher: RA Donnelly
Publishing Date: October 2014
ISBN: 9781500552985
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 1.2/5
Publisher Description: Evelina Crimm just wants to be normal. She has her life planned, until she spends summer vacation with two crazy Aunts and discovers she’s a Water Witch. Soon things get a little freaky and she’s living a double life, slinging hash during the week and dodging black magic spells every weekend. Not to mention a certain mysterious warlock she can’t seem to stay away from.
Review: Evelina is, you guessed it, extra-extra super speshul. She goes from schoolgirl orphan to super-witch in a summer at her aunties witch cottage. Ok, forget the story-line for now. Lets talk about for whom this was written for. YA/Teens. I am pretty positive that YA’s would more than likely be insulted with the actions and dialogue of this novel. Take for instance her insta-love for Frankie the Magic Pirate. Page after page of descriptive like how his golden eyes tug deep inside of her and his glistening chest and tanned body. All the while her heart or stomach does flip-flops and her cheeks turn hot.
The scenes within gradually succumb to this Disneyesque scene progression where the fantastical and serious become comedy. For instance their lives are threatened at one point and the bullet fired becomes a stinging butt missile with a mind of its own that chases the shooter away while stinging him in the ass. HARDY! HAR! HAR!!!!!! Fug.
This read like a children's book with a horny 17 year old witch trying to get banged by a 20 year old. So kinda inappropriate. Read this if you happen to get tossed in coach sitting next to a farting sociology major.
Publisher: RA Donnelly
Publishing Date: October 2014
ISBN: 9781500552985
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 1.2/5
Publisher Description: Evelina Crimm just wants to be normal. She has her life planned, until she spends summer vacation with two crazy Aunts and discovers she’s a Water Witch. Soon things get a little freaky and she’s living a double life, slinging hash during the week and dodging black magic spells every weekend. Not to mention a certain mysterious warlock she can’t seem to stay away from.
Review: Evelina is, you guessed it, extra-extra super speshul. She goes from schoolgirl orphan to super-witch in a summer at her aunties witch cottage. Ok, forget the story-line for now. Lets talk about for whom this was written for. YA/Teens. I am pretty positive that YA’s would more than likely be insulted with the actions and dialogue of this novel. Take for instance her insta-love for Frankie the Magic Pirate. Page after page of descriptive like how his golden eyes tug deep inside of her and his glistening chest and tanned body. All the while her heart or stomach does flip-flops and her cheeks turn hot.
The scenes within gradually succumb to this Disneyesque scene progression where the fantastical and serious become comedy. For instance their lives are threatened at one point and the bullet fired becomes a stinging butt missile with a mind of its own that chases the shooter away while stinging him in the ass. HARDY! HAR! HAR!!!!!! Fug.
This read like a children's book with a horny 17 year old witch trying to get banged by a 20 year old. So kinda inappropriate. Read this if you happen to get tossed in coach sitting next to a farting sociology major.
July 31, 2016
I received the book for free through Goodreads. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and would recommend it to anyone that wishes a fast and fun read.
December 7, 2017
Just whimsical! I really enjoyed this unique book and quickly fell in love with the characters. Magic, adventure, friendship, new love, this YA has it all. This is my first book from this author and won't be my last.
November 19, 2018
Very easy and fast read. The story is about a witch that didn't she was a witch until she spends her summer with her aunts. It's great for teens and little kids. There's some warlock romance, and a lot of Evelina finding out what being a witch is about.
May 1, 2017
You probably had to be a middle school student to really enjoy this book.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews