Timeless is a YA contemporary fantasy by Alexandra Monir.Michele Windsor has always lived a modest, but content, life with her Mom in LA. She has two best friends and a passion for writing song lyrics. Other than healing a recent hurt over an ex-boyfriend – her life is a happy one.
But then tragedy strikes and she’s uprooted to New York City to live with her wealthy, aristocratic grandparents that she’s never met – and who broke her mother’s heart many years ago.
When she moves into the historic Fifth Avenue mansion, she can’t help but be amazed by her surroundings. Nothing, though, can lift her from the sadness that has taken hold of her.
That is, until she finds an ancestor’s diary that – unbelievably – has the power to send her back in time to 1910. There she finds a distraction from her pain as she travels, ghostlike, amongst the glitz and glamor of the Gilded Age. Because it is there that her eyes meet the sapphire blue eyes of the handsome young man that has haunted her dreams since she can remember – and he is one of the only ones that can see her.
They fall into a romance of otherworldly proportions – but how could it ever work when they’re 100 years apart?
And as family secrets and time travel begin to clash with her time in her modern high school, Michele begins to wonder if there is a bigger reason she’s traveling through time than finding an impossible love…
I struggled with Timeless. I’ll tell ya why.
First off, the sad beginning that turns into a fairytale change of circumstances for our heroine is marred by a heartbreaking loss that feels real and lingering. A sense of mystery loomed quickly, as well, so I was happy to start. Not to mention slightly envious of Michele’s new bedroom that adjoins to a private library!
My issue was, though the time-traveling and family secrets were intriguing, the romance element was coming across as forced for me. There are times that insta-love works for me in books. In all honesty, this one should’ve. They talked, they had a lot in common, all great ways to build a more legitimate love story – yet it kept feeling disingenuous to me.
However, with time and tragedy I did begin to become more charmed by their almost epic love. Many of my doubts and questions regarding the plot did get answered in a satisfactory manner, which made my enjoyment of Michele’s journey through time meeting her ancestors much better – for sure.
I guess, maybe, at times it just felt a bit forced and cliché. I think that’s why I had a tough time. But, in the end, I did find myself invested – and the cliffhanger end definitely made me sure I’d want the second book!
So, a bit of a mixed bag for me this time around. Yet I was relatively pleased. What about you?
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