Book Review: Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Pages: 268

Genre: YA Historical Fiction/Fantasy

Pub. Date: January 11, 2011

My Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads says, "When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance. Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives."

Michele Windsor lives with her mom in a small house in laid back California.  Her life is pretty ordinary except for the fact that she has recurring dreams about a dreamy guy with striking blue eyes.  On a seemingly ordinary day, Michele's world is turned upside down by an untimely death and consequently, Michele is sent to live at her grandparents house in New York City.  Keep in mind, we are not talking about normal grandparents-- Michele's grandparents are extremely wealthy and live in a mansion on Fifth Avenue.  To top it off, Michele has no idea why her mom would want her to live here as her mom hasn't gotten along with her grandparents in many, many years.  Michele is trying to adjust to her new New York life of privilege and while doing so, she comes across a diary which transports her back to New York City one hundred years ago!  While in 1910, Michele encounters the good looking guy from her dreams, Philip, and cannot deny her real attraction and connection with him.  While time traveling, Michele also makes a discovery about her own life as well as his and needs to make one of the most important decisions of her life.  Timeless by Alexandra Monir is a romantic debut that is mesmerizing and will transport readers to another time.

I've said it before in many of my reviews and I'll say it again: I LOVE the idea of time travel. I've been obsessed with the idea ever since I watched Michael J. Fox climb into the his DeLorean with the flux capacitor. (If you don't know what I am talking about, you must go rent Back to the Future immediately.)  Monir takes readers back to New York City through various decades and as a fan of time travel in literature, I was in all my glory.  Monir created such a vivid picture of each decade Michele experienced; it felt so authentic.  In fact, Michele meets many of her relatives while time traveling and it had me thinking how incredible it would be to go back in time to meet my own relatives.  Needless to say, I love this concept and it's no surprise since I am such a fan of historical fiction.

This book is so romantic. Seriously. I was sighing left and right.  Michele and Philip's relationship is the stuff of fairy tales.  Simply beautiful.  Another aspect that made Timeless so romantic was how  Monir incorporated her love of music in the novel and since I am such a fan of jazz, big band, and swing, I enjoyed each and every second.  Also, Monir incorporates a lot of lyrics in Timeless and what is even more incredible is the fact that readers can download two of the songs from the book.  I think that really brings the book to life and what is even more shocking is the fact that Monir not only wrote the songs, but she also sang them!  I was really impressed.

When it comes to historical fiction, I find that it's important authors do their research and Monir definitely did. At the end of the book, she includes various resources and book recommendations, which I really liked.  Readers can easily see how much time and effort she put into researching this novel.

Timeless was definitely a puzzle and some parts were easier to put together than others.  In sum, I enjoyed Michele's journey immensely.  The ending of this novel had me screaming with anticipation.  I can't wait till the sequel comes out and sadly, readers will have to wait until 2012.  I highly recommend this book to fans of historical fiction and romance; Timeless is going down as one of my favorite reads of 2011! 

*Buy Timeless

*Watch an interview with Alexandra Monir

*Watch the book trailer