I'm the second Tynga's Reviewer to read The Here and Now by Ann Brashares. For Helen's take on the novel, click here!
The Here and Now takes place in our current time, but the main character, Prenna, is from the future... about 75 years into the future. She's part of a small group of "immigrants" who have traveled from the future to the here and now because things have gone sharply south- there's a blood plague that's killing millions of people and a shortage of food and runaway inflation of currency. In order to save her new future she must work to save her current time.
I really enjoy books that involve time travel, like Helen, but sometimes they can get so bogged down in trying to explain the time-space continuum that the plot gets buried. Not so in The Here and Now! Ann Brashares does an excellent job of working little bits of information into the plot and dialogue to explain the time-space continuum play without ever having a character awkwardly explaining it all to another, or any lengthy flashbacks. Even better- it was all understandable! I'm definitely not a physicist, and I had no trouble following the logic explaining Prenna and her community's presence in our time.
Another great aspect of this book is the character line-up. They're all great! Well, I mean, all the good guys are good! (The bad guys are written well, too. They're not over-the-top goofily evil.) I love Prenna and her strength and intelligence, and I love Ethan for his quirkiness and kindness and intelligence. I love them together, too! They "fit" together so well. I agree with Helen's description: they're "cute."
The writing in The Here and Now is also pretty good. The pacing was great- I had trouble putting it down, but I was never so tense that I felt anxious. There are also some letters interspersed in between chapters from Prenna to another character. (Can't tell you who! No spoilers.) I like it when an author mixes things up like that. Unfortunately, a few plot points weren't really fully explained, and a few other plot points got wrapped up a little bit too tidily.
Overall, a really solid time-travel YA light romance. I could definitely see myself recommending this one to library patrons.
I listened to the audio book version of this and loved it. I haven't written a review for it yet, but I agree with your point about the time issue -it was perfectly explained and not confusing at all. I met need to relisten to this audio before I write my own review as its been a while. Love your review!
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