Review: Timeless - Alexandra Monir

Synopsis: When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor's family, she is forced to move from Los Angeles to New York City to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she has never met. In their historic Fifth Avenue mansion, filled with a century's worth of family secrets, Michele discovers the biggest family secret of all - an ancestor's diary that, amazingly, has the power to send her back in time to 1910, the year it was written. There, at a glamorous high-society masquerade ball, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life. And she finds herself falling for him, and into an otherworldly romance.

Soon Michele is 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 - and to complete a quest that will determine their fate.

Review: There is not much to be said about this book, negative or positive. The writing is pretty, Michele is actually a fairly likable girl who isn't entirely scornful of history and the fancy life, Philip is a decent young man who did somehow manage to get on my nerves nonetheless after a time, the time traveling lends an interesting and mysterious element to the otherwise invisible storyline, and there is no inappropriate content beyond lots of kissing. For a "paranormal" or "otherworldy" romance story, Timeless isn't too bad. It did not make me scream and I was not inclined to vomit every five seconds, though I confess that after a while, it really started to get a Twilightish feel to it, and by the time I was done reading it, I wanted to watch a really bloody movie. However, because of the history aspect - which really was quite interesting - and the fact that there were no vampires, no werewolves, and Michele is way more tolerable than Bella, and Philip far, far easier to put up with than either Jacob or Edward (glare at me if you wish, Twihards; I'm being very gentle when it comes to addressing the horrors of Twilight), it wasn't nearly as difficult to stomach as that particular series, which I refuse to read entirely.

Timeless promises a sequel, which I am not particularly pleased about. It doesn't need a sequel. Why the Author could not just end it, I don't know, and unless she intends on stepping the storyline up (i.e. bringing it beyond the mushy-mushies and actually having some things happen), I can see the sequel being a disaster. I hope that it is not, but that is how I see things going.

Still, I enjoyed Timeless as much as I can enjoy a "otherworldly romance" book. The characters are, for the most part, likable, and the writing style is pleasing. Just don't expect too much to happen.

Overall Rating: KK

Others in This Series:
1)Timeless
2)Timekeeper