[ TIME BETWEEN US ] by Stone, Tamara Ireland ( Author) Oct-2012 [ Hardcover ]

Perfect

With a similar kind of concept to The Time Travellers Wife, Time Between Us was a moving and captivating YA read that despite a few hiccups, I ultimately enjoyed. Told from the point of view of sixteen year old Anna, Time Between Us is a story of love and adventure, all mixed in with a twist of the impossible. Inexplicably drawn to Bennett, the new guy at her school Anna can’t help but feel like there is something ‘different’ about him. Therefore when he saves her from knife point by teleporting her into the past, she realises just how different their lives really are.Bennett is a time traveller and Anna knows that realistically, they were never meant to meet – yet she can’t help but fall in love with him. Born nearly 17 years apart between two different times, Anna and Bennett must find a way to keep Bennett from returning to the future, but fate is determined to pull them apart. The only question is, is their love strong enough to beat the divide of time and space…?I enjoyed this book but felt like it got off to a slow beginning. There were also times where not everything made sense, but I assure that this is one of those books that if you persevere, everything will eventually fall into place and the story does pick up after the first hundred or so pages.Anna is a very level headed main character. She has a loving family and great friends, slightly above average grades and a future all planned out. I liked that she is just a normal kind of girl. Bennett on the other hand wasn’t your typical mysterious, good looking type. Sure he had elements of mystery but apart from the whole time travel thing he was mostly a, ‘what you see is what you get’ kind of guy which I really liked.I enjoyed how the romance between the two developed and their relationship was sweet and believable. The trials and conflicts Bennett and Anna had to face as a couple were harsh and I was quite often surprised by how the storyline played out. The ending was also not at all what I expected – but in a good way.The secondary and supportive characters such as Anna’s best friend Emma were also really well written, some of the characters even having small storylines of their own. I also enjoyed how Bennett was careful with his gift, knowing that changing the past in even a small way, can have huge consequences in the future that at first you don’t see at all. These little consequences made for some great plot twists.So overall I thought Time Between Us was a pretty good read, although my main hiccup with the book was that the pacing could be rather slow. However I will also say hands up that this isn’t the type of book I typically go for. Therefore my rating is 3 stars!

Check out my other reviews at the book review blog: [...]I loved the whole concept of this book, I absolutely loved The Time Traveller's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and have always been looking for another amazing time travel romance. I really adored Time Between Us and am really happy I can jump straight in to the sequel Time After Time (review coming soon!)The romance in this book seemed really real to me. There was none of the stupid insta-love you see so much in romance. You know, where the characters are around each other for all of two seconds and are already head-over-heels in love with one another. No, this has real romance. Where it takes time and getting to know one another. Where you can still find fault in a person, even if it is just the length of their hair. I loved that about this book, that they made the romance realistic (if you take out the time travel that ).Anna. Where can I start with Anna? I found her to be a really strong character, she had her goals - she wants to get a scholarship through her running and she wants to travel the world one day. I really rooted for her the whole book, I wanted her to get everything she wanted. But most importantly, I really wanted her to get Bennett. Bennett, a romantic male lead that I can really root for. He is trying so hard to be there for Anna and you feel like he really, really does care for her.This book handled the time travel storyline really well, as it can lead to lots of unanswered questions. But I was satisfied with this part of the storyline, there wasn't too much of an explanation which I actually preferred. Too much explanation on how the time travel works can usually just lead to too many ways you can poke holes in it.I am really glad that there is a sequel as when I finished reading it I needed to know what came next. I still needed to know more about Anna and Bennett's story and what happens to both of them. This book was really great and I highly recommend it to all who are fans of romance or just looking for a good young adult book to get stuck into.4/5 StarsCheck out my other reviews at the book review blog: [...]