The Here and Now by Ann Brashares Review

The Here and Now by Ann Brashares
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Publisher: Delacorte Press; 388 pages

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.

So I am going to start this review out by saying that I have never read any of the Sisterhood of Traveling Pants books.  I watched the first movie when it came out because Amber Tamblyn was in it, and at the time I was a huge fan of the soap opera General Hospital.  So I went into this novel without any expectations from the author's previous works.

The Here and Now tells the story of Prenna.  Prenna is from the future.  After a deadly virus spreads across the world, Prenna escapes to the past with a select number of people.  Together they form a community to try to change history, so the virus won't be created.  This community has very strict rules, and it's leaders watch their every move.

This is a good book.  I want to point this out now.  The heart of the story is Prenna and Ethan, which made it a very quick and easy read.  Their relationship was very believable.  From a contemporary aspect, it has your basic love story.  I found myself rooting for both Prenna and Ethan to some how make this work.  Ethan was easy to like and has this sense of humor that translated well on page.  But from a science fiction perspective, this book pales.  I was left with many questions about time travel and this deadly virus.  This book would have benefited if it was told from Ethan's perspective, as opposed to Prenna's.  To leave the reader with so many unanswered questions, would have made more sense if it were him not fully understanding.

The title of this book is just forgettable.  A few times while reading this book, I had friends ask me what I was currently reading.  I would have to take out my kindle and check because for the life of me I just couldn't remember it.  And to be honest I wasn't really feeling the cover either.  I think it's because both the title and the cover gave me a more contemporary than science fiction vibe.

In the end, while this book is enjoyable.  I can't ignore it's flaws.  It's hard to have such a short novel be a standalone science fiction book.  I'd like to see the book continue as a series.  If it's weren't a standalone, I could forget the unanswered questions and hope for more in the sequel.  Let's hope that the author decides to continue, so us readers can have our questions answered.