Sixteen year old Gwen lives with her extended – and rather eccentric – family in an exclusive London neighborhood. In spite of her ancestors’ peculiar history, she’s had a relatively normal life so far. The time-traveling gene that runs like a secret thread through the female half of the family is supposed to have skipped over Gwen, so she hasn’t been introduced to the “mysteries,” and can spend her time hanging out with her best friend, Lesley. It comes as an unwelcome surprise when she starts taking sudden, uncontrolled leaps into the past.
She’s totally unprepared for time travel, not to mention all that comes with it: fancy dress, archaic manners, a mysterious secret society, and Gideon, her time-traveling counterpart. He’s obnoxious, a know-it-all, and possibly the best-looking guy she’s seen in any century…
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I first heard about this book after I watched the German movie ‘RubinRot.’ I heard it was a German novel that had been translated into English and that it was a fantastic read and because i thoroughly enjoyed watching the movie I decided to buy it. The cast did a perfect job of portraying the characters from the book. I highly recommend watching it if you really liked the book.
So the books starts off in 1912 where a man and woman are on the run, but it never truly goes into detail on who is running away or why they are running away. So my first guess was we’ll probably find out towards the end of the book and if no then maybe in the second book in the series.
“I still have a headache,” said
Charlotte, without looking up from the
floor.
“There, you see?” Aunt Glenda gave
a venomous smile.
“I have a headache too,” said Mum.
“But that doesn’t mean I’m about to start traveling in time.”
So I was never one for time traveling stories, I might enjoy a film or TV show every now and again but I’m not a huge overall fan. So when I first started reading the book I wasn’t too sure even though they did a good job of portraying the time machine in the movie. However, I fell in love with the whole having to change into fancy but also ridiculous clothes than match the time they are traveling back to so I finally came to like it by the end of the book.
Gwen. Where should I start with Gwen? I felt quite sorry for Gwen at the beginning of the book because only a handful of her family cared about her except her Aunt Glenda and Charlotte. I kinda hated Charlotte straight away, maybe it’s because she’s the “gene” carrier of the family because of that, that’s why she has turned out the way she has. I really liked Gwen, even though she wasn’t trained or had learnt anything about all the time-traveling stuff she still tried her hardest too.
Gideon… Gideon… Gideon…
Where do I start with Gideon? At first I kinda wanted to slap him. I don’t know what his problem was. or why he hated Gwen as much as he did. Maybe it had something to do with Charlotte or maybe it was his uncle and the society but I was really happy when he started coming round to her. By the end of the book I was rooting for him and her.
“He took a hairpin out of my untidy hair (by now my complicated arrangement of ringlets must have looked as if a couple of birds had been nesting there); he took a strand of it and wound it around his finger. With his other hand he began stroking my face, and then he bent down and kissed me again, this time very cautiously. I closed my eyes – and the same thing happened as before: my brain suffered that delicious break in transmission.”
The whole traveling back in time to a certain era and having to wear clothes, your make-up and hair to accommodate to that time really amazed me. I really had a good think when I was reading about what era I would travel back in time too, this rarely happens to me. So that was a surprise.
The whole romance aspect lived up-to my expectations. I was kinda sad (Yup surprising I know) that Charlotte didn’t have the time-traveling gene, I mean can you imagine being brought up your whole life believing you were going to be the next time-traveler in your family to find out a member of your family lied to let your cousin have a normal life even though they weren’t born too? down right devastating. But at the same time I was happy for Gwen because at least her family won’t look down on her as much anymore.
Overall I thoroughly enjoyed this book way more than I actually thought I would, considering I really liked the movie more than I liked the book to begin with. I can’t wait to start reading the next book in the trilogy, which is ‘Sapphire Blue.’ I have already watched the movie and it is AMAZING! I recommend both the movie and the book to anyone who loves a good time-traveling romance. I rate this 5/5 and I have moved it into my favorites folder on Goodreads.
– Leave me a comment on your thoughts on either the book or movie –
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