Making its US debut in May 2011, German YA best-seller Ruby Red is a perfect mix of mystery, supernatural fanasy and romantic adventure. Gwen is a typical 16 year old girl living with her mom, siblings and her extended family in a posh London neighborhood. She’s a spunky, skeptical teen who’s managed to live a fairly normal life despite the time-travelling gene that runs in the women of her family (although Gwen isn’t without some supernatural abilities of her own – she can see and converse with ghosts). This generation’s carrier is her haughty cousin Charlotte, whose been through years of secret training to prepare her for her destiny. So no one is more surprised than Gwen when she starts getting dizzy spells that send her hurtling back in time. Gwen is, of course, completely unprepared for the time travelling experience – she’s bewildered, lost, physically sick, and not sure how to tell her family what’s happening, knowing full well that her grandmother, aunt, and cousin will all be furious. But the fear Gwen feels is interlaced with a sense of excitement and danger as she tries to get her bearings in this strange new world of a secret society of time travellers, a dangerous mission to stop someone from making irreparable changes to the past (and the future), deadly threats to her life, and perhaps most unsettling of all, a time-travelling guy who’s as obnoxious, pompous and smug as he is completely, absolutely gorgeous.
Humorous, romantic and suspenseful, Kerstin Gier’s Ruby Red contains everything a lover of supernatural romance craves: a smart, relatable heroine; a sexy guy hiding dark secrets; a romantic triangle; danger, mystery and suspense; great clothes and well-visualized places; and most of all, a chemistry that draws you in and intoxicates you with every page turning. The pace of the book is quick, but the mystery is unraveled slowly, with clues and miscues left throughout the book to tantalize and, on occasion, misdirect both the reader and Gwen as she tries to get a grasp on what’s happening, whom to trust, and what her role in the larger scheme of things is. Ruby Red is the first book in a series and I for one am looking forward to my next trip back in time! Ooh-la-la!
- Posted by Cori