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Publisher: Doubleday
Release Date: 25th October 2012
Genre: YA, Romance, Coming of Age, Time Travel
Rating: 4/5 stars
Source: Received from the publisher for review
Goodreads Summary:
"Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett has the unique ability to travel through time and space, which brings him into Anna’s life, and with him a new world of adventure and possibility.
As their relationship deepens, the two face the reality that time may knock Bennett back to where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate, what consequences they can bear in order to stay together, and whether their love can stand the test of time."
Review
When I first read the synopsis for Time Between Us and heard that it was being pitched as ‘The Time Travellers Wife for teens’ I knew that this was a book that I would enjoy. The Time Travellers Wife is one of my favourite adult novels and with YA being my preferred genre I felt sure that I was on to a winner, and this book didn’t disappoint!
Needless to say Time Between Us is definitely one for the romantics! Our heroine Anna is from 1995 and lives in Chicago - the same place she’s lived her entire life. Anna has big plans for the future and wants nothing more than to travel the world, enter Bennett. Bennett’s a seventeen year old time traveller from San Francisco 2012 and his time traveling has happened to land him in Anna’s time and place. As the couple get to know and trust one another Bennett reveals to Anna his secret and to her delight finds that he can take her to anywhere in the world at any time, as long as it’s during the seventeen years Bennett has been alive, at the blink of an eye.
Anna and Bennett were great characters who had a beautiful love story. Anna really stood out to me as a fantastic heroine and a good role model for teen girls. She’s ambitious, hardworking, and isn’t afraid to dream big or naïve enough to think that life will be handed to her on a plate. As well as being a love story Time Between Us is also Anna’s story as she grows as a person and takes charge of her own destiny.
Bennett’s version of time travel was unique to any other book I’ve read on the subject and was never confusing or hard to follow like some time travel stories tend to be. A key theme that was brought up was that of ‘the butterfly effect’. I thought it was very cool and considerate of Bennett that he had these rules not to change anything so as not to mess with the future. Like he says, sure it could make the future better but it could also make it a lot worse. I liked how Bennett believed he had to let people make their own choices, shape their own destinies. And that these things have to happen so people become who they’re supposed to be.
In a lot of ways this book was very different to how I thought it would be. Of course it’s very romantic, but it also has a lot of underling morals at its heart too. About how people have a knack of coming into your life precisely when you need them, and the importance of living life to the fullest. How when life’s kind enough to offer you a second chance you should grab it with both hands. This is a story about falling in love and letting that person enrich your life but not become your only means of existence.
Overall Time Between Us was everything I hoped it would be and more. If you like romance or coming of age stories this is a book you won’t want to miss. It’s a beautiful and unique story that I only wish I could travel through time and give to myself when I was a teenager!
