Friday, April 18, 2014

Book Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares


Title: The Here and Now
Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publishing Date: April 8th 2014
Length: 288 pages
Keywords: YA, fiction, time travel, romance, action
Source: Netgalley

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. 


Summary by Goodreads






Ethan is your regular nice guy from the present and Prenna the girl from the future who is contained by her community of time travellers. Together they are reckless and ready to save the world. There's no possible future reading scenario in which you are not falling in love with these two!

You might have guessed by now that time travelling is involved in THE HERE AND NOW. I've been used to single individuals being able to travel through time under certain limitations. In this story it's a group of people from the future that comes to the present in order to save themselves, the old world and humankind's future. Like they are fugitives of time itself, awesome and complex concept!

Prenna and Ethan have their magic moments. Their moments that have been destined by fate. And they have their absolute ordinary teenager moments. You are going to love that their relationship is off to such a natural start because Ethan and Prenna have known each other for some time now. They go to school together and fall in love just like any other couple would.

Well, that doesn't say that there aren't tons of problems pre-programmed. A big conspiracy is brewing and Ethan and Prenna are determined to save the world. There are some dangerous leads Ethan and Prenna are following. The story could've used some additional explanations here and there, one or two chapters stealing time for Ethan and Prenna to actually be together, buying them time for some sweet romance.
Ann Brashares really did think up a horrible future scenario that is to be prevented at all costs. When you are not scared about it you are fascinated trying to puzzle over how it could all come to this future. THE HERE AND NOW is an intricately spun story about our world's future with all its possibilities and dangers. So you can expect big action scenarios, the bad guys being really corrupt and scary and more than a few conflicts between Prenna's desire to be with Ethan and her strict community standards. 






4/5 **** THE HERE AND NOW - Conspiracies, time travel and a timeless love story. What else do you need?

When I got a copy of THE HERE AND NOW I read it believing Ann Brashares a debut author. Well, she's only the author of the very famous THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS series. Ann's writing is practiced, love and suspense aren't battling for the reader's attention, they are complementing each other. I can easily count THE HERE AND NOW to my favourite time travel stories and new releases of 2014! So all we've got to do now is hope for a sequel!







"He closed his eyes for a time, and when he opened them again, the river was mostly in its banks, and the air went back to being invisible and the sunshine had reassemled itself. He sat up and gradually reoriented himself to basics like up and down. The storm produced a scoured, sparkling look through the trees, and it also produced a girl."― p.2-3







THE HERE AND NOW you might enjoy TEMPEST by Julie Cross, ALL OUR YESTERDAYS by Cristin Terrill and HOURGLASS by Myra McEntire. Be prepared for time travel grandiosity!








* Have you read SISTERHOOD EVERLASTING, the last book in Ann Brashares' SISTERHOOD series?

* Click here for an excerpt of THE HERE AND NOW.

* For more information about Ann and her books visit www.annbrashares.com.

* Thanks to Delacorte Press and Edelweiss for the chance to review THE HERE AND NOW!

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