Time travel » Birdbrain(ed) Book Blog

REVIEW: What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown

Posted by Anastasia on March 6, 2012 No Responses »

Mar 062012

040. What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
Publication: Sourcebooks Casablanca (May 1, 2009), ebook, 355pp / ISBN 1402218311
Genre: Historical Fiction, Romance

Read: February 26-27, 2012
Source: Freebie

Summary from Amazon:

When a modern woman goes back to Jane Austen’s time, she needs to know…

Everything! Eleanor agrees to travel back in time to prevent a deadly duel, but she doesn’t know how to behave, what to say, and most importantly…

How to tell a villain from a rake

The captivating, infuriating, and mysterious Lord Shermont is a renowned rake and womanizer—but is he also a dangerous cutthroat and spy? Eleanor has to get up close and personal to find out…

Otherwise, she could fall into a most shocking scandal…

Thankfully, Miss Jane Austen herself arrives on the scene, with sage guidance and a twinkle in her eye, to help Eleanor navigate countryhouse society and the dangerous terrain of her own heart…

From the author of Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake, a new time travel romance featuring a modern day career woman swept back in time to Regency England, where she thwarts a Napoleonic spy, chats with Jane Austen, and falls in love with a notorious rake.

Review

Apparently I was a Regency romance fan all along and never knew it! I mean, I knew I liked Jane Austen’s books, but I didn’t think I’d be a fan of modern Regency romances for some reason. After reading What Would Jane Austen Do?, however, I think I need to change my mind about that. Continue reading »

MINI-REVIEWS: Dust, My Fair Godmother, Wish

Posted by Anastasia on February 28, 2012 8 Responses »

Feb 282012

034. Dust by Arthur Slade
Publication: Dava Enterprises (February 5, 2011), originally published 2003, ebook, 192pp / ISBN 0385730047
Genre: MG Horror, Historical Fiction

Read: February 19-20, 2012
Source: Bought

Mini-Review

This was way scarier than I thought it’d be for some reason. It reminds me somewhat of The Boneshaker and how that was scary, how it deals with the power adults have over children physically, emotionally, and so on. I liked the writing in Dust a lot more than I did in The Hunchback Assignments, my first Arthur Slade book, and I liked the story more, too. It’s less of an action, kick-ass, “kid saves the world” kind of a book and more of a magical realism/”weird things happen in small towns” book, which I liked. Plus! There’s stuff about the importance of imagination and reading and thinking outside of the box! Defeating baddies through the power of your mind? Awesome! I love that, especially when it’s in a “boy” book. They don’t seem to get that sort of thing a lot in their books, to be honest. Continue reading »

REVIEW: The Time Travelers by Linda Buckley-Archer

Posted by Anastasia on November 28, 2011 6 Responses »

Nov 282011

137. The Time Travelers (The Gideon Trilogy #1) by Linda Buckley-Archer
Publication: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (September 11, 2007), originally published 2006, Paperback, 416pp / ISBN 1416915265
Genre: YA Sci-fi, Historical Fiction

Read: October 31, 2011
Source: Bought

Summary from Amazon:

Gideon Seymour, thief and gentleman, hides from the villainous Tar Man. Suddenly the sky peels away like fabric and from the gaping hole fall two curious-looking children. Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century, thanks to an experiment with an antigravity machine. Before Gideon and the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the machine — and Peter and Kate’s only chance of getting home. Soon Gideon, Peter, and Kate are swept into a journey through eighteenth-century London and form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery.

Review

For some reason, whenever I think about this book I can only remember the abysmal beginning, which is slow and boring and nearly caused me to get rid of The Time Travelers before I gave it a proper chance. I don’t know what it is about that beginning, but it throws a cloud over the rest of the book, which is MUCH better than that beginning would make it seem.

So, okay. Bad beginning. But after that bad beginning there is much joy to be found, and most of that joy is found in the characters. Though they were occasionally annoying and impotent, I thought that Peter and Kate were excellent kid leads. They had real kid emotions! Including crying! They didn’t have all the answers and they couldn’t fix things all by themselves. They had to connect with people and ask for help, and that’s kind of unusual in a YA action book, don’t you think? Continue reading »