Here and Now (Brashares) - Book Reviews

Book Reviews
Contemporary dystopian fiction often forsakes larger issues for an intense focus on individuals, and that's true here. The science behind climate change, sexually-transmitted microbes and environmental disaster is skimmed over, but the narrative's strength remains in the small, observed details of the everyday…While primarily an appealing romantic thriller, The Here and Now also serves as a potent reminder that we inherit the future we buy with our actions today.
Cassandra Clare- New York Times Book Review


From the author who brought us The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants come the gripping page-turner about a girl who’s willing to risk it all for love and the fate of the world.
Teen Vogue


[A] fast-paced, gripping, and romantic novel about a girl from a future that seems eerily possible.... Brashares focuses on Prenna and Ethan’s burgeoning romance, rather than the nitty-gritty details of her time-travel premise, and her fans will be happy to find that her prose is as resonant and realistic as ever (Ages 12–up).
Publishers Weekly


Prenna is smart, self-deprecating, and believably mesmerized by a first love characterized by mutual respect and intimacy. The less detailed female friendship subplot, though, is all the more disappointing.... In terms of sci-fi, Brashares crafts a plausible future and satisfyingly metes out time-travel plotting. Much of the science is foggy, though, and the exposition-heavy denouement feels rushed. —Nicole R. Steeves, Chicago P.L.
School Library Journal


Brashares...builds on her adroit adolescent characterization and ear for teen dialogue and transports them into an exciting time-travel adventure complete with murderers to thwart and mysteries to solve.
Booklist


[A] lightning-paced sci-fi time-travel romp.... Unfortunately, [Brashares] relies too much on dei ex machina.... Those willing to overlook such shortcuts will surely be swept into the whirlwind romance and breathlessly turn pages.... [This] quirky tale of love and time travel demands that readers totally suspend disbelief to enjoy some of the more contrived plot elements (Ages 13-16).
Kirkus Reviews