Time Travel for Love and Profit | ARC Review

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Synopsis

When Nephele has a terrible freshman year, she does the only logical thing for a math prodigy like herself: she invents a time travel app so she can go back and do it again (and again, and again) in this funny love story, Groundhog Day for the iPhone generation.

Fourteen-year-old Nephele used to have friends. Well, she had a friend. That friend made the adjustment to high school easily, leaving Nephele behind in the process. And as Nephele looks ahead, all she can see is three very lonely years.

Nephele is also a whip-smart lover of math and science, so she makes a plan. Step one: invent time travel. Step two: go back in time, have a do-over of 9th grade, crack the code on making friends and become beloved and popular.

Does it work? Sort of. Nephele does travel through time, but not the way she planned–she’s created a time loop, and she’s the only one looping. And she keeps looping, for ten years, always alone. Now, facing ninth grade for the tenth time, Nephele knows what to expect. Or so she thinks. She didn’t anticipate that her new teacher would be a boy from her long ago ninth grade class, now a grown man; that she would finally make a new friend, after ten years. And, she couldn’t have pictured someone like Jazz, with his deep violet eyes, goofy magic tricks and the quietly intense way he sees her. After ten freshman years, she still has a lot more to learn. But now that she’s finally figured out how to go back, has she found something worth staying for?

Review

I think this might have been the strangest book I’ve ever read. I’m really not sure where even to begin with this review so forgive me if it’s a little discombobulated.

Strange….so strange. I thought the more of this book I read, the more I would understand, but that wasn’t the case. The more I read, the more confused I became. The storyline, the main character, all of it was so odd. But, weirdly enough, I was so intrigued that I didn’t even realize I’d read half of the book until I did.

While we’re talking about the first half of the book, I should point out that it’s slow. The whole book is kinda slow, but the beginning is especially so. I think part of the pace has to do with the face that there is not too much dialogue exchanged. It’s mostly the main character talking to herself and thinking about things.

This book was written pretty well though. That’s why I decided to give it 2 stars instead of one. It was just everything else that I didn’t like.

Honestly, I’m not even sure what I just read. The synopsis only gives the smallest of glimpses into this book. If you like books with an odd voice and premise and don’t mind taking a wild mind trip, then I guess this book is for you.

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Rating

To check out my other reviews, click here. Or to check out more books by Sarah Lariviere, go to her GoodReads profile or her website.