Today in Jen's Library

What did I think? Hmmm. I'll have to think about that.

This was an interesting story. Great premise - alternate universes, and as I'm a sucker for time travel (which generally involves alternate realities), it was excellent on that count. The way the two realities differed provided the mystery and plot. And this was such fun because the characters were the same - just, different.

Cam was hard for me to picture at first. Former football star, popular, jock who then gets injured and withdraws. The whole juxtaposition of that kind of threw me at the outset, this odd compilation of details that didn't fit into a nice box. But this character didn't lapse into the stock bad-boy or the injured, fragile kid. He was just a guy who is dealing with a lot of loss and coping the best he can.

Viv is a character we only know through Cam's eyes until we meet her - and even then, it's not really her. So that contrast made it fascinating. This is especially true because Nina is new to Cam, and he only knows her as one person. Cam's mom and dad just frame him out, as does Mike. Owen is a wonderful surprise that I didn't expect.

The pacing seemed a bit slow in parts, but it always picked right back up. it would have been nice if the characters had asked some obvious questions or reached obvious conclusions without things being so drawn out. But, I never got bored. I will say this: Cam and Viv's relationship seemed shallow after a bit. And what I would have expected to be a more heart-tugging reunion turned out to be just what it should have been, based on the way the characters were. Without giving anything away, suffice it to say that the scenes lacking depth only reflected the characters in them.

The plot surprised me; I have to say that I did wonder who the bad guy really was. it wasn't predictable. And I did like the ending very much. I was afraid it would stop earlier, but fortunately it followed through to an appropriate point that didn't leave the reader wondering. It wasn't trite, but it was nice.

As always, I listened to the audio version. The narrator was ok - he didn't wow me at all. I think it could have been better done. But I say this because of the timbre of his voice. I think Cam should have had a more high-school, higher sounding voice. This narrator made him sound borderline whiny at times.

This is the author's debut, and it is a good one. While it didn't knock me down with emotional intensity or have me at the edge of my seat with suspense, it was a great story. I'm looking forward to more from her. If her next novel has this good a premise, it will definitely be worth a read.