About the Book:Title; Traveler (Traveler, #1)
Author: L.E. DeLano
Published by: Swoon Reads
Publication date: February 7, 2017
Genres: Fantasy, Young Adult
Pages: 352
Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Synopsis:
A teen writer discovers that every mirror is a portal into an alternate version of her life in this romantic YA fantasy by author L.E. DeLano.
Jessa has spent her life dreaming of other worlds and writing down stories more interesting than her own, until the day her favorite character, Finn, suddenly shows up and invites her out for coffee. After the requisite nervous breakdown, Jessa learns that she and Finn are Travelers, born with the ability to slide through reflections and dreams into alternate realities. But it’s not all teacakes, pirates and fantasy lifestyles…Jessa is dying over and over again, in every reality, and Finn is determined that this time, he’s going to stop it… this Jessa is going to live.
Author Bio:L.E. DeLano is a YA novelist rep’d by Barry Goldblatt Literary agency, author of the upcoming “Traveler” (Swoon Reads/MacMillan 2017) and lifelong writer. Her work has been featured on various online outlets and she lives in Pennsylvania with two very adventurous kids and two very ridiculous cats. In her spare time, she writes (of course) and binge-watches way too much Netflix.
Review:
I was going back and forth between 3.5 and 4 stars for awhile with this book because on one hand, I really loved this book, but on the other there were some predictable/run-of-the-mill aspects that I didn't enjoy as much. There is a lot to love about the story, and I think it was an excellent start to the series. Ms. DeLano set up the story perfectly for a sequel, and wrote a story that many will enjoy.
I'm very picky when it comes to my time travel books. Time travel itself can go in so many directions (<-- see what I did there :P), and if the author doesn't write it well, unfortunately the whole book is a thumbs down from me. But Traveler is a great example of what a time travel book should be. It was simple, but creative. Nothing too overwhelming and very straightforward. Ms. DeLano does an excellent job at explaining and showing just how the time travel works. So automatically, this made the story that much more enjoyable for me. Her writing is also superb and the pacing is almost perfect. There were a couple times in the beginning where I felt it was slow, but once it hit a couple chapters in (and the story really got going), there was never a dull moment. I was easily able to read this in one sitting because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. There are a ton of plot twists that I didn't see coming, and the ending blew me away! I definitely didn't expect the conclusion of the story, and there is such a clever twist at the end that sets up the sequel perfectly.
Jessa is our main character (btw...love the name!). I thought she was a good lead female character, and easily relatable. She reacted exactly how any person would react to the new situation she was forced into, and she had an excellent sense of humor. I can't say that I 100% love her, but that will come in time I think when she matures and we have more character development with her. Finn is super sweet and I really loved him (especially the pirate version). He's very mysterious throughout the entire book, but he's very caring toward Jessa. I definitely want to know more about him though because we definitely didn't get the full story yet. Ben, Jessa's friend, is the other major character in the story, and he was fun and lovable. He's very supportive of Jessa and I loved how he stepped up to the plate once stuff started going down. Finally, Danny, Jessa's brother, played an interesting role. I'm actually interested to see what the author does with his character in future books because he might play a bigger role than what we originally imagine.
There is romance in the story, and I thought it was done pretty well. However, it wasn't my favorite. There's an obvious love triangle that doesn't really happen (yet at least). Once you read the book, you'll see what I'm talking about, but I honestly do think Finn is a much better pick. I adored Finn and Jessa's banter and it was one of the aspects of their relationship that really cemented my love for the story.
The couple of things that I didn't like was that some of the story was very predictable and cliche (at least to me). With such an original idea, I expected a little more than to have the story fall back on such cliche things. Also, I didn't 100% love how Jessa treated Ben throughout the story. I felt as if she led him on with her feelings, and I hate when characters do that. Granted, it isn't always obvious to the person, but still, it was pretty clear Ben liked Jessa as more than a friend from pretty early on. Finally, this book features a character with autism (Danny). First and foremost, I applaud any author that chooses to include such a character because there is not enough representation of ASD in novels today (even though it's very prevalent). This being said, there were times that I didn't think it was as well done as it should have been. Obviously, this could be the medical professional in me coming out, and no, not every person with ASD presents the same, but there are certain things that didn't line up with his character as well as Jessa's feelings when her brother didn't have autism in another timeline. These are just personal feelings though, so I tried not to let it effect my rating. Nevertheless, I still am very happy that such a character was included in this novel.
Overall, I would recommend checking Traveler out when you get the chance. It has a lot of potential to be an excellent series, and I'm excited to see where the story goes from here! The ending will blow you away, and with so many twists and turns...you truly never know what to expect in the next chapter! Definitely add this to your TBR right away!
I'm very picky when it comes to my time travel books. Time travel itself can go in so many directions (<-- see what I did there :P), and if the author doesn't write it well, unfortunately the whole book is a thumbs down from me. But Traveler is a great example of what a time travel book should be. It was simple, but creative. Nothing too overwhelming and very straightforward. Ms. DeLano does an excellent job at explaining and showing just how the time travel works. So automatically, this made the story that much more enjoyable for me. Her writing is also superb and the pacing is almost perfect. There were a couple times in the beginning where I felt it was slow, but once it hit a couple chapters in (and the story really got going), there was never a dull moment. I was easily able to read this in one sitting because I wanted to find out what was going to happen next. There are a ton of plot twists that I didn't see coming, and the ending blew me away! I definitely didn't expect the conclusion of the story, and there is such a clever twist at the end that sets up the sequel perfectly.
Jessa is our main character (btw...love the name!). I thought she was a good lead female character, and easily relatable. She reacted exactly how any person would react to the new situation she was forced into, and she had an excellent sense of humor. I can't say that I 100% love her, but that will come in time I think when she matures and we have more character development with her. Finn is super sweet and I really loved him (especially the pirate version). He's very mysterious throughout the entire book, but he's very caring toward Jessa. I definitely want to know more about him though because we definitely didn't get the full story yet. Ben, Jessa's friend, is the other major character in the story, and he was fun and lovable. He's very supportive of Jessa and I loved how he stepped up to the plate once stuff started going down. Finally, Danny, Jessa's brother, played an interesting role. I'm actually interested to see what the author does with his character in future books because he might play a bigger role than what we originally imagine.
There is romance in the story, and I thought it was done pretty well. However, it wasn't my favorite. There's an obvious love triangle that doesn't really happen (yet at least). Once you read the book, you'll see what I'm talking about, but I honestly do think Finn is a much better pick. I adored Finn and Jessa's banter and it was one of the aspects of their relationship that really cemented my love for the story.
The couple of things that I didn't like was that some of the story was very predictable and cliche (at least to me). With such an original idea, I expected a little more than to have the story fall back on such cliche things. Also, I didn't 100% love how Jessa treated Ben throughout the story. I felt as if she led him on with her feelings, and I hate when characters do that. Granted, it isn't always obvious to the person, but still, it was pretty clear Ben liked Jessa as more than a friend from pretty early on. Finally, this book features a character with autism (Danny). First and foremost, I applaud any author that chooses to include such a character because there is not enough representation of ASD in novels today (even though it's very prevalent). This being said, there were times that I didn't think it was as well done as it should have been. Obviously, this could be the medical professional in me coming out, and no, not every person with ASD presents the same, but there are certain things that didn't line up with his character as well as Jessa's feelings when her brother didn't have autism in another timeline. These are just personal feelings though, so I tried not to let it effect my rating. Nevertheless, I still am very happy that such a character was included in this novel.
Overall, I would recommend checking Traveler out when you get the chance. It has a lot of potential to be an excellent series, and I'm excited to see where the story goes from here! The ending will blow you away, and with so many twists and turns...you truly never know what to expect in the next chapter! Definitely add this to your TBR right away!
Happy reading :)
~Cassie
Time travel books are so much fun, but I agree that it has to make sense and be well written. Seems like this one is worth a try! Great review, Cassie! :)
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