Tuesday, April 8, 2014

REVIEW: THE HERE AND NOW

The Here and Now
by Ann Brashares
** 2 of 5 stars

Delacorte Press
Release Date: April 8, 2014
Genre: YA, Romance, Science Fiction
Pages: 288
Amazon | Indiebound | Goodreads

Synopsis: 
An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to. 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. 

 From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.


The premise was really great, but the plot execution didn't live up to it. I got hung up on some really critical plot points that were resolved seemingly out of nowhere (or were the result of characters not doing things any rational person would have done), and the whole relationship between the two main characters seemed like it sprang up out of nowhere--it would have been nice to see more of a build up to that.

I would have loved to seen more of the back story. It could have really been great: the idea of people time traveling back to the past because the future has become a climate-change pandemic-disease mess is really fascinating and plausible, but the book has very little of this--instead focusing on the romance part. Which, by the way, was able to do silly things like play cards at the beach or go out for mexican food with no real sense of urgency when the plot situation called for extreme urgency. The time traveling from a diseased future idea was interesting and realistic enough for a bit of a thrill--hopefully there'll be more of that in the next book.

An advanced copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review.

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