Timeless by Alexandra Monirpublisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
release date: January 11, 2011
hardcover, 288 pages
intended audience: Young adult
source: from publisher for review
rating:
description:
When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.
Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.
Review: Timeless is a love story spanning ages in just a few short months. Through the magic of a key that belongs to the father that she never knew, Michele finds herself jumping through time to come to the aid of her ancestors and meet the love of her life.
Alexandra Monir proves herself to be quite a storyteller with this debut. I kept thinking to myself how fun it must have been to research and write this story. We get to experience the elegant Victorian age with horse-drawn carriage rides, pristine white gloves, and ballrooms, as well as the swinging 20's with speakeasies and feathered flappers. The descriptions of the costumes and surrounding were wonderful, although a few times it felt just a little overdone. (i.e., with the dialogue when we first meet Lily in the 20s---it felt a little like the author researched every slang saying used in that era and threw it all in at once.) You can see how the authors musical background makes its way into her writing---I love how big a part music was to the story.
Michele was a sweetheart. I loved her close relationship to her mother, and her fierce defense of her mother against her grandparents. I did also love how the relationship with her grandparents grew and transformed as she finds out more about them. I was a little confused about what little was revealed about her dad, but I'm sure there will be more explanation about that in future installments! She was a smart cookie, too! Despite being in a new school and thrust into this crazy life of rich society families, she kept her head and didn't fall for any other the snobbery. She had a good, solid friend in Caissie...she definitely proved it by not writing Michele off as insane even when she is not quite sure she believed her impossible stories!
The love story is enchanting and I found myself holding my breath, hoping that it all worked out and even shedding a tear or two as the story wound its way to it's inevitable conclusion. The ending throws in quite the cliffhanger and I can't wait to see where it leads! She left us with so much hope!!
Read this one, and soon!!
Visit the Alexandra's site here. (No, really, check it out!! She is a musician as well as a writer and she has even recorded songs that were for this book!)
Purchase Timeless at: Amazon • BN.com • BookDepository
Trailer:
