Book Review: Beneath the Lake by Casi McLean

Reeling from her boyfriend’s indiscretions at a party, Lacey Montgomery escapes into the throes of a torrential storm. Her car spins out of control and hurtles into the depths of an icy, black lake. She awakens in the arms of a handsome stranger, in a place she’s never heard of—thirty-four years before she was born.

Bobby Reynolds is smitten the moment the storm-ravaged woman opens her eyes. Learning the truth about her origin does nothing to stop the passion taking root in his heart and leaves him torn between finding a way to return Lacey to her time and convincing her stay with him.

Will the couple be able to discover the key to a mysterious portal before time rips them apart? Or will their spirits wander forever through a ghost town buried beneath the lake?

 

This is the first book that I've read by Casi McLean and I believe the first that I've read about time-travel. I'm thinking that I'm wrong about that though ... 

Before sitting down to write this review, I really scoured other reviews to make sure that I wouldn't leak a secret that would really ruin the book for someone. This was not a fun task ... I absolutely hate reading what someone else thinks of a book right before I write my review, I don't want their thoughts to sway what I think, you know? Anyhow ... I ended up writing down my thoughts and then taking out spoilers. Worked out pretty well, I think. 

Okay ... it's no secret that this book is about time-travel. It's all over Goodreads and it's not something that everyone is keeping quiet. I'm a-okay with the idea of time-travel. Buuuutttt ... when the story jumps from 2011 to 2012 to 1949 ... it's a bit much. I almost got whiplash just trying to keep up with the times. The switching was so confusing at the beginning of the book that I almost put the book down a few times. It just really stole something from the book. I wasn't able to completely immerse myself into the story because I never felt like I was on steady ground because of the disorienting time changes. 

The meat of the story was good but then again, there was just so much going on that I couldn't fully enjoy the crux of the whole book. For it to read as slow as it did, you wouldn't think that there would be too many things going on. There was a lot of inner dialogue and explanations that were a little too lengthy for my taste. 

When you mash the POV flip-flops, the time changes, the slowness and the amount of plots and sub-plots going on ... it just didn't end up well for me. I wanted to like it and I did at some points of the story but those times weren't frequent enough to redeem the entire book for me. 

Also, at the end, there were quite a few typos. They came out of nowhere! There weren't any at the beginning of the book and then I'm on my last few pages and BAM! Typos. It was so weird and almost as if someone was editing and then chunked a deuce, said f-it and walked away ten pages from the end. Very strange. 

Not the book for me but it's a sweet story. Quite a few people have enjoyed it ... apparently, I'm the mutant at table 9 on this one. 

* I received this novel in exchange for an honest review *

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Review: Disturbingly Beautiful (A Paradox in Time #1) by J. Wells, L. Wells

Is it really possible that somewhere in time, the perfect paradox could be created? Does romance really stand a chance, and could it ever flourish amidst so many intricacies and broken lives? How can a nineteenth-century governess unknowingly cause so much devastation?

As Nell’s world opens up, we follow her on a complex journey, on which she discovers love, loss and betrayal, and is forced to play a dangerous game from which there appears to be no escape.

An intricate family plot slowly begins to unravel, in which she finds herself centre stage. She was never supposed to leave Haunchcroft estate, and he will do everything in his power to keep her there…

Could a possible rip in time be the salvation that Nell seeks?

“I find you disturbingly beautiful,” are the contradictory words bestowed upon the governess by her master.

Mr Buchannan’s infatuation is a shadow from which Nell cannot escape. The feelings he holds for her are not reciprocated, and though his lust soon turns to love, Nell’s feelings towards him turn to hatred. Dreams and a love of literature are Nell’s only escapism from the downtrodden life she leads as a governess in the nineteenth century.

One night, an intruder on the estate catches Nell off guard, but she gives chase; a decision that leads her through an opening in time between the centuries, where she finds equality, true friendship and a completely different outlook on life.

Despite using this to her advantage to escape the advances of her unwanted suitor, she is somewhat perturbed when she unexpectedly finds him at her side in the twenty-first century. Will love conquer all, or will time always stand in their way?

Before I even dive into this review, I think that it needs to be said that this cover is absolutely amazing. I loved it! Unfortunately, that's where my love for this book begins and ends.

Picking up this book, I had hoped for something like the historical romance novels that I love so much. But that wasn't what I got. The beginning was a bit boring and confusing, I never really knew why the character would be in one room one moment and then it would totally just skip to a part where she was in another room. It just didn't flow. At all. It was reminiscent of when I started driving ... pushing on the gas hard just to push on the brake hard and then I end up with whiplash, one less person willing to teach me to drive and the next door neighbor's cat is roadkill. The flow part made it incredibly boring. That being said, I think that the idea behind the book was really interesting. I haven't read anything like this and I ended up putting all of my eggs in one basket. Then the fluffy kid down the street sat on my basket and those eggs were toast. 

I also thought that the future part was ... yep ... boring. And random. It was just in the 1800's and then all of the sudden, you're in the 1960's with this weird dude who doesn't even know what he's talking about. It was just weird. 

I didn't connect with this one in the slightest. Not even a smidgen. I don't really have anything else constructive to say, so I'm going to stop while I'm ahead.

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Review: Endless by Amanda Gray

Jenny Kramer knows she isn't normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them.

When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumble on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought. Like a past life.

Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren't alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has travelled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back.

While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock - and the Order - Jenny and Nikolai discover a link that joins them in life - and beyond death.

So much potential. I had such high hopes for this novel because the premise was so interesting. But I guess I should have figured the book would turn out this way when the word "traveled" was spelled wrong in the blurb. Yeah, yeah ... I know that sounds mean but as a reader, I feel robbed. Robbed of the experience that I had so hoped would happen when reading this book. 

On with the slaughter! Haha ... mostly kidding. So the characters were okay ... I really didn't like Jenny. She seemed shallow and selfish and to be honest, her name drove me up the damn wall. I don't know why. I have friends that are named Jenny and it's never bothered me before ... but it really drove me crazy and I really couldn't remember who in the hell "Jenny" was when I would read it in the book. That lasted for close to 60 pages. Not good. 

I did enjoy one character and that was Ben. HE should have been the focus of the story because I loved ever Ben-moment that I got! He was just the perfect character, he had just the right amount of screwed up to make him interesting and urge you to root for him. I'll miss Ben.

The part of the book that I really enjoyed and kept me reading was the stuff about Nicholas II, the last Russian emperor because it was the most interesting out of everything on those pages. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to redeem the book. There were just too many coincidences that helped out the characters or freak accidents that happened out of no where for no explanation. Could I have missed the explanation? Sure. I was having a hard time focusing on pretty much everything in Endless, so there is a possibility that these things were explained. But again, having things spelled out for me wouldn't have made the book better. It was, in a word, meh. But the cover is pretty ... it does have that going for it. Not for me. OOOH. And I didn't like the ending. It was a cop-out and too simple for what had happened throughout this whole book. I don't care if it will take the author an extra 20-30 pages. You make that ending count! I don't have to like the ending, I just want it to stand up with the rest of the book and tie everything up or have an epic cliffhanger. I don't ask for much.

I should have consulted my Ouija Board before picking this one up.

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