Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet. Why would they? Anna is sixteen in 1995, fiercely determined to leave her quiet town and finally travel the world. Bennett's seventeen in 2012, living in San Francisco and trying to control his ability to travel through time - an incredible gift, but also an unpredictable curse, which constantly threatens to separate him from the people he loves.
When Bennett suddenly finds himself in Anna's world, they are inescapably drawn to one another - it's almost as if they have met before. But they both know, deep down, that it can never last. For no matter how desperate Bennett is to stay with Anna, his condition will inevitably knock him right back to where he belongs - and Anna will be left to pick up the pieces.
Time Between Us is possibly one of the most adorable books I have ever had the good fortune of reading. This is what I call a pick me up book with just the right amount of bittersweet romance, cute teenage first love looks across a room and just a sprinkling of crazy time travel on the top. I really couldn't get enough of it.
What irritates me so much with a lot of popular teen books is that authors feel the need to create so much superficial angst with characters who have too many love interests and are stuck wondering which person they would rather be with or something similar to that. Time Between Us is the romance between two individuals who can't be together because time - like actual proper time.. I'm talking Dr Who space continuum time... yeah, this shit is real - separates them. If that's not star-crossed lovers I don't know what is.
Speaking of said star-crossed lovers, Anna and Bennett are too cute for words. I've probably said this already (probably more than once) but wow, so adorable. This is cheesy grin inducing, a basket full of kittens, rainbows and unicorns adorable. Really.
I loved that I also like Anna on her own, when she wasn't with Bennett. If Anna decided to jump out of fiction and have a little gander in the real world, I would be honoured to be her friend. (The fact that her family owns a bookstore has nothing to do with my feelings, of course not.) Stone creates Anna as a very relatable character (she blushes over the littlest of things, she is my soul sister) who always tries to think of her friends and her family but also has ambition and dreams of her own which I absolutely adored about her. A lot of Anna's inner dialogue is really enjoyable to read and there so many thoughts that really resonated with me e.g.:
“I stood there and stared at it—this colorful expanse of paper, with its topographic mountain ranges and changeable shades of blue to depict the various depths of the ocean—and saw a map of the world, but knew it wasn’t mine. My world was much, much smaller”
This novel is too sweet to pass up. Yes, the ending was a little too perfect and not very likely but this is a teen romance about time travel, who really needs a perfectly believable ending? Overall, the characters are truly lovable, the writing is lovely and the story line, addictive... that's all you need from a book to let you effectively escape from your world for a little while.
Music choice: There's something about Time Between Us that really does scream proper Love Story. What better song to sum up all that then Taylor Swift's Love Story that speaks of star-crossed lovers and lonely characters? Here it is.. Love Story by Taylor Swift. :)
I just haven't had time to check out this blog for a while, but I am so glad that I am back to reading your reviews. Great review and I think I will check this book! It just seems sweet and refreshing.
ReplyDeleteAha, why thank you! I hope you like it as much as I did! :)
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