YA Buddy Readers' Corner ♥ discussion

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.

While fleeing from an unexpected assassin herself, Kendra escapes into a stairwell that promises sanctuary but when she stumbles out again, she is in the same place - Aldrich Castle - but in a different time: 1815, to be exact.

Mistaken for a lady's maid hired to help with weekend guests, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the time period until she can figure out how she got there; and, more importantly, how to get back home. However, after the body of a girl is found on the extensive grounds of the county estate, she starts to feel there's some purpose to her bizarre circumstances. Stripped of her twenty-first century tools, Kendra must use her wits alone in order to unmask a cunning madman.

Ch 1
(view spoiler)[ I like Kendra a lot already! Her technology sounds really interesting and im honestly really excited to see where this book goes. (hide spoiler)]

Oh no, I totally forgot about this! I'll grab it from the library tomorrow. :)

Page 128: (view spoiler)[Is it just me, or does all the British slang sound a bit forced? Do people really still say knickers? I mean, I'm not British, so I suppose I wouldn't know, but still.

Besides that, I love Kendra so far. I'm interested to see where this is going. (hide spoiler)]

Page 256: (view spoiler)[The writing is a little ... simplistic. Kind of feels like an unedited first draft. I found myself rolling my eyes at some bits.

The story is intriguing, though. I do wish it would move a bit faster ... I feel like McElwain's been rehashing the same points about Lydia's death over and over. When are we gonna find out more? (hide spoiler)]

Page 372: (view spoiler)[Gabriel and Harcourt were at the killer's weird cavern party at the beginning of the book, weren't they? That's pretty obvious. I can see why they wouldn't want to admit where they were.

It was careless of Kendra to slip up and name-drop Jane Austen ... even I know that she was alive in 1815. I didn't know that she had first published her books anonymously, but even so, I would have been careful. I feel like Kendra is often uncharacteristically careless with her speech, just so McElwain can build up the suspicion around her character.

I wonder if Kendra is ever going to reveal that she's really from the twenty-first century. She'll have to go back at some point, right? ... Right? What's going to happen then? (hide spoiler)]

Page 386: (view spoiler)[Holy shit ... if Rose dies, I will legitimately cry. (hide spoiler)]

Page 416: (view spoiler)[Oh, no. (hide spoiler)]

Havent been having a ton of time to read but I should be able to read more tonight

Ch 3
(view spoiler)[ the scene with her dad is heartbreaking! Frankenbabies??? So strange and kind of messed up! And of course he cant be impressed that she is in the freaking FBI!!!! (hide spoiler)]

I'm a bit late, but I hope you don't mind me joining!

End of Chapter 7

(view spoiler)[I'm not quite sure where the story is headed. Now that Kendra's stuck in 1815, I believe the greatest priority is going back to the present. The logical way is going through that passageway again, but how? The Duke and his nephew are now some new characters in the book. I do hope Kendra would find a true friend with all that's been happening. Rose is definitely potential but who would believe you when you say you're from the future? I'm enjoying the story so far. (hide spoiler)]

I have to admit that this is getting more interesting.

End of Chapter 16

(view spoiler)[I love what has been happening so far! The murder in the beginning now connects with all the has been happening. I'm glad that the Duke has decided to have an open with all that has happened, especially allowing Kendra to become a part of the team. It seems like the killer is just in the castle based from his POV. I'm curious to find out who he is! (hide spoiler)]

Ch 10
(view spoiler)[ the accent is a bit ridiculous for some of these people. 'Avin and all that. A little annoying. Also am i supposed to know french or is it okay to just google it? I like that they corrected Kendra to act like a lady (hide spoiler)]

Ch 26 (view spoiler)[ im still not really sure how I feel about Alec. Sometimes Im really into him but i kind of hate the way he speaks. I kind of hate how they all speak? I dunno. Old timey lingo I guess. (hide spoiler)]

End of Chapter 25

(view spoiler)[I like Rebecca. She's smart and opinionated. I think her involvement in this case would speed up the process of identifying the killer. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 43 (view spoiler)[ ok the killers perspective was so so so creepy at the end there! Im worried about Kendra now. She is definitely in trouble (hide spoiler)]

Couldn't put the book down!

(view spoiler)[I really enjoyed the book, but I'm not sure how the lovers would turn out. How are they supposed to be together when they're from different eras? Would one just simply abandon the life he presently lives? I would most definitely read the next book! I really liked how the story turned out. (hide spoiler)]

Finished (view spoiler)[ well i kind of liked it. Once things started getting going it was a pretty good mystery. I didnt love Kendra even though she was a mega badass frankenbaby whatever. The past characters accents pissed me off so much. (hide spoiler)]

Finished. (view spoiler)[Such a good concept, but I feel like it was sloppily executed. The slang was awkward, the switches in POV were weird, the dramatic bits felt forced and TV show-fake. I feel like it tried so hard to be what it could have been that it failed, you know what I mean? I still enjoyed the story, but in my opinion, it could have been so much better. (hide spoiler)]

I'm here now! Thanks Jennifer!

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Date Changed. Restarting February 10th 2018. Happy Reading ☺

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I had to work ALL DAY yesterday, and couldn't read. Ugh! I have another book I'm finishing up, but will probably get to this one tomorrow. It looks good!

Jennifer it's totally okay since I was gone all weekend driving 8 and a half hours to Lexington, KY! I am only on Chapter 6 right now I believe.

(view spoiler)[She just went back in time and she hasn't realized it yet. I'm like GIRLFRIEND. Clearly you are in the past haha (hide spoiler)]

uuughhhhhhhhh I'm getting annoyed with Kendra.

getting a later start than I thought, been driving in the car too much myself and I totally passed out last night instead of reading. I'll catch up though!

Chapter 29
(view spoiler)[Okay now I'm confused. Is Gabriel the one that killed that girl?? Or does he know who it was and just can't say anything? Maybe I'm just getting confused because I want to know who the heck the murderer is! Also, since I know that this is a series and the last book doesn't come out until later this year, I'm kind of bummed that Kendra doesn't get to go back to her time at the end of this book. Technically not a spoiler since if you read the synopsis of the second book, it says that she doesn't go back. I wonder why Kendra was sent back in time like this. What made the universe send her back of all people? Because she's a prodigy? (hide spoiler)]

(view spoiler)[ I didn't realize that Jane Austen didn't take credit for her books until much later?? That's what messed Kendra up actually. Now they know she's lying about something. (hide spoiler)]

OH SNAPPPPPP
(view spoiler)[Gabriel is choking the crap out of Kendra! Is he the murderer?! But the book isn't even done yet! She really pushed his buttons though and I'm so glad she did but dang. I wish this was a movie or something so I can see it in person. Good job Kendra. You found out something (hide spoiler)]

Ch 6 - (view spoiler)[ It must be hard being an author and trying to write a time-travel scene. I thought this one was laughable. I also think someone as smart as she is wouldn't be dumb enough to go after the guy by herself. Um - go back to work, discredit his "arrangement" with the feds, nail him to the wall. Much more honorable and smart. (hide spoiler)]

Ch 16 - (view spoiler)[ I get that women weren't given the time of day back then, but I think it is ridiculous that NONE of them respect her at all.

Oh, and I think Alec has something to do with the murder. He was all "throw her ass out" until she sounded like she knew what she was talking about with this murder, then he was all "let me hold back the branches for you". Seems like too much of a 180 to not have some ulterior motive. (hide spoiler)]

Totally agreeing with you on everything that you said! Alec was just annoying to me honestly but he may get better? Not sure.

I got to an intense part (view spoiler)[Rose the tweenie is missing. I think it's the killer. Kendra is breaking because she's worried that Rose is already dead (hide spoiler)]

OH MY GOSH WE FINALLY KNOW WHO THE MURDERER IS! (view spoiler)[ i definitely did not realize that it was this person. I won't even say it until you get to it. I think I'm on Chapter 59 or something but I'm kind of at work so I forget sometimes. (hide spoiler)]

Finished! That was really good! Thanks Jennifer for choosing this :)

My review is here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Ch 43 - (view spoiler)[ WOW, Gabriel is a mess! I honestly thought it might be him. I feel like the author did a good job of setting me up to expect a brother vs. brother battle at some point.

That stuff w/ Mr. Morland and his mother - really? a bunch of greek references? I thought that part was really odd, like the author was trying too hard. The mom could have just been mad, why the greek stuff? (hide spoiler)]

Finished - Whew! I really zipped through the last 1/4! It was intense! (view spoiler)[ I felt really badly for Rose, but that part did a lot for me because Kendra was able to show some real emotions instead of being the cold, detached FBI agent. It didn't hurt that it led to falling into the arms of Alec either. I shipped them hard at that point (of course if he had turned out to be the murderer, I was going to throw the book across the room).

All in all, I enjoyed this book quite a bit. There were some awkward parts, but I think that has more to do with the struggles of writing a mystery (and a time travel one at that) - you have to give us just enough info to make us think that we know who did it, but still keep us wondering, right?

Like you, I was a little upset by the ending. I mean, glad that Alec loves her!!!, but also confused that she didn't return to her own time. There is a lot of unfinished business there. I think I would have liked it to end with her at least trying to get back on the full moon - if it failed then she knew she had more work to do in the past, etc. Oh well, I'm not the author! I think I will keep an eye out for the next book, you? (hide spoiler)]

Yes I'll have to get the next book so I can know how it all ends. I know that it's a trilogy and I still have to wait for the final book to be released but I just want to know what the heck is going to happen! I'm glad that I want to know rather than just leave Kendra where she is lol.