Friday, January 3, 2014

Review: Neverwas by Kelly Moore, Tucker and Larkin Reed

Goodreads Summary:

"I was sixteen the second time I had my first kiss...."

At the end of AMBER HOUSE, Sarah made a choice that transformed everything--and now she must choose it all again.

Things are very different--better--for Sarah and her family: her Aunt Maggie grew up; her parents are happily married; her grandmother died after a long, productive and respected life. But other things are different too, and not for the better.

After growing up in the free country of the Pacific Northwest, Sarah Parsons has settled in at Amber House, the stately Maryland home that's been in her family for generations. But the world surrounding the House feels deeply wrong to Sarah. It's a place where the colonists lost the 1776 Insurrection, where the American Confederation of States still struggles with segregation, and where Sarah is haunted by echoes of a better world that she knows never existed.

Her friend Jackson shares these visions of a different world--and together, they manage both to remember the way things ought to be, and to plan a daring mission that will reset the universe once again. Sarah must figure out what has changed, and why, and how she can fix it--how she can find her way to another otherwhen.

Publication Date: January 7, 2014


At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d love this second installment of the Amber House trilogy. It was a huge departure from the first book and I found the beginning to be a little confusing. Once it was revealed what was going on, I was able to appreciate the story more and get into Sarah’s journey to fix what was broken when she saved her family members in the last book.

Sarah was once again a good narrator and I do like her character a lot, I particularly enjoy her relationship with her brother. It is also interesting to see how many obstacles Sarah faces in this new world because of her romantic feelings towards Jackson.

There’s a lot of history involved in Neverwas and it became overwhelming at time. Readers learn not only a lot about Sarah’s ancestors but also must become acclimated with the new world Sarah lives in. Racial segregation is one of the major issues in this alternate universe and the world Sarah now lives in is horrifying.  

I would probably recommend reading Amber House and Neverwas back to back to avoid some of the confusion I experienced. I love the descriptive writing in the book and also enjoyed that the plot is centered on a gothic manor able to hold onto the echoes of the past.

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

Thanks to the authors for a copy of this novel for review!

2 comments:

  1. The history would prob overwhelm me, but glad to hear you enjoyed overall

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  2. Very well written review, Heather. Thanks for sharing with us. Sounds like a good weekend read. :) WRITE ON!

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