(The Girl from Everywhere, #1)
Release Date: February 16, 2016
Publisher: Greenwillow Books; 464 pages
Rating:
It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.
Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...
Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.
Listen. This was never originally on my radar until a few of my fellow YADCers were raving about it and basically told us all we had to read it. I caved and I read this. Mind you, one of these girls is Andye from Reading Teen. We don't see eye-to-eye on a lot of books so I was still hesitant. But I did it anyway. I can't say I loved this book but I didn't hate it either. I did hate the love triangle. It was unnecessary and it really makes me hate Blake, the second guy introduced because my love for Kashmir is out of this world. I didn't feel like we needed this interference and I still don't. It makes me nervous because the pattern I've seen in YA is most times our main character will end up with the second guy. It's so common that it terrifies me. It made me not enjoy this book as much as I think I could've.
I've never had a love triangle bother me like this before. I don't think I've ever latched on to a character as quickly as I had Kash, which might be why my hatred is so strong. It scares me. I rarely feel any physical sickness from reading a book but I felt it, in the pit of my stomach and I never want to feel that again.
If we put the awful love triangle aside, I can tell you how much I did enjoy this book. I was confused, at first, because I don't think it's really explained all that well how they can basically time travel and it left me scratching my head, wondering if I missed something. I didn't. It just comes throughout the book, the explanation of how this really works. I was confused but invested enough that I wanted to know more.
I enjoyed Nix a lot (and I freaking love her name). She's spunky, has a dazzling personality and is pretty independent. Her relationship with her dad is pretty strained in the beginning of the book but it grows and changes in ways I never expected throughout the story. Her shipmates are diverse (as is she) and a hoot to read about. The chemistry they all have together is perfection.
So, as I said, I hated the love triangle and I hated Blake BUT I didn't, at the same time. As a character, as an individual, I liked him a lot. He was a great character, I just wish he had his sights on someone other than Nix. He's a gentleman, through and through and I love reading about the behaviors of gentleman (and ladies) from this time period (we're mostly in the late 1800's for most the book).
Kash. My darling, beautiful, stealthy, sexy, bubbly, intelligent, sexy . . . oh wait, I said that already? Anyway, My sweet, Kashmir, how I love thee so. This guy is everything. His personality shines through the pages. His skills tears through the words. What I wouldn't have given to had this book in his perspective.
Would I recommend this book? Yes. But again, I would research this. I went in without reading much about this (as I do with most of my books) and just looking at the description again, there's no hint of a love triangle. I'm hoping there actually isn't one BUT who knows. Once you read the book, you might understand the previous sentence a bit more by something that was said by Nix later in the book. Just go in to this book with an open mind regarding the romance (which, to be honest, there wasn't a whole lot physical romance...ie: kissing).
Thank you so much to Harper Collins for allowing me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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