Young Adult Review: Emerald Green by Kerstin Gier

Emerald Green (Ruby Red #3) by Kerstin Gier

Hardcover, 464 pages

Published: October 8th, 2013 by Henry Hold and Co.

Source: Amazon Vine

Gwen has a destiny to fulfill, but no one will tell her what it is.
She’s only recently learned that she is the Ruby, the final member of the time-traveling Circle of Twelve, and since then nothing has been going right. She suspects the founder of the Circle, Count Saint-German, is up to something nefarious, but nobody will believe her. And she’s just learned that her charming time-traveling partner, Gideon, has probably been using her all along.
This stunning conclusion picks up where Sapphire Blue left off, reaching new heights of intrigue and romance as Gwen finally uncovers the secrets of the time-traveling society and learns her fate.

Oh how I love this series!  I absolutely adore so much about it I don't even know where to start!  I'll start with Gwen I suppose.  She's such a fun character.  She feels like an authentic teen in modern London. She has spunk and class.  She isn't a rebel, but isn't necessarily a rule follower either.  She's  realized a lot about herself and the Circle in her weeks as a time traveler and fortunately she's finally piecing things together in this book.  Her friend Lesley is a great load of fun as is her wonderful family with her lovely mother, her adorable siblings and her quirky aunt Maddy.  Of course then she has the awful side of her family with her aunt Glenda and cousin Charlotte, but Gwen is a force, she can handle them!  I can't not mention her wonderful gargoyle ghost who lends even more humor to this wonderful tale.  He's always there with witty and hilarious remarks, but the love he shows Gwen is absolutely lovely.  Love him!

Talking about the romance is rather spoilery for the previous books, so I'll settle on saying this- I loved it!  I felt completely satisfied, and ever so happy, with how things wrapped up with that aspect.

I love time travel books but they can be rather confusing.  This series feels less confusing, of course I've had three books to get use to it, but I feel like I can wrap my head around it all.  It makes more sense to me I suppose.  Plus they aren't traveling about willy nilly, there's very much a point to it all and they have goals each time.  I like the way the author took the time traveling theme in the end, it's twisty and I never expected things the way they ended up.  I'll just say, there are some surprises and I certainly never saw them coming!

Overall I'm very happy with this conclusion.  Except the fact that I WANT MORE!  Absolutely lovely series that I look forward to revisiting in the future.  Oh yes, this is one of those rare finds, books I will actually reread!   Highly recommend!

Disclosure: I received this book for review purposes, all opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.

Review: Sapphire Blue by Kerstin Gier

Sapphire Blue (Ruby Red #2) by Kerstin Gier

Hardcover, 368 pages

Expected publication: October 30th, 2012 by Macmillan

Source: Amazon Vine

Gwen’s life has been a rollercoaster since she discovered she was the Ruby, the final member of the secret time-traveling Circle of Twelve. In between searching through history for the other time-travelers and asking for a bit of their blood (gross!), she’s been trying to figure out what all the mysteries and prophecies surrounding the Circle really mean.

At least Gwen has plenty of help. Her best friend Lesley follows every lead diligently on the Internet. James the ghost teaches Gwen how to fit in at an eighteenth century party. And Xemerius, the gargoyle demon who has been following Gwen since he caught her kissing Gideon in a church, offers advice on everything. Oh, yes. And of course there is Gideon, the Diamond. One minute he’s very warm indeed; the next he’s freezing cold. Gwen’s not sure what’s going on there, but she’s pretty much destined to find out.

I absolutely adore this series!  It's been a long time since I read the first book (a year and half) so all the details of it really faded from my memory.  And while it was a bit of an issue it really didn't affect my overall enjoyment of this book.  

I love Gwen!  She's got such a great personality.  She doesn't let people walk all over her, yet she's pretty good at holding her tongue.  At times I really wanted her to start screaming at people to stop calling her stupid and making fun of her because it just felt so wrong and she mostly just put up with it.  But for the most part she speaks up and says exactly what she thinks.  She just avoids getting in too much trouble.  Most of the time.  

In the first book, Ruby Red, Gwen discovers that she has the time travel gene in her family, not her cousin Charlotte.  And Charlotte is the one that has been trained her whole life for time traveling and knows the history, customs, etc.  And Gwen, well she knows nothing about history and customs and for this reason everyone just treats her like some idiot girl that they have to deal with.  This is rather hard to explain if you haven't read the first book, but time travel in this series is very organized.  They all plan the trips down to every last detail and it's overseen by a whole staff of stuffy men.  There's much more to it then that, but you'll just have to read the books.

There's a bit of romance in this one as Gwen and Gideon have traveled together a few times and have started getting to know each other.  But Gideon runs hot and cold.  Normally I hate this but for some reason it worked in this book.  I really had no idea what to make of him and the whole not being able to trust anyone thing made it unpredictable as to whether she should be with him or not.  Whether she should trust him, or not.

All the other characters in the book were great as well.  Lesley, her best friend is awesome.  She's everything a person should have in a best friend.  And she's hilarious.  The family, staff and people she deals with daily all have little quirks and personalities that stand out just enough to keep them all easily separate in our heads with no confusion, without them taking over.  Except for one character, Xemerius.  Xemerius is a gargoyle.  A ghost/demon/gargoyle.  Only Gwen can see him.  But he stole the show.  He was absolutely hilarious!  I cracked up every time he was in a scene.  He said the most perfect, funniest things ever.  And he had Gwen's back, seeking out answers when she couldn't.  I absolutely loved that quirky little gargoyle.  

The book was really hard for me to put down.  I could have sat back and read it all at once if I had been able to.  Even though I didn't remember all the details from the first book and this one has no recap at all, the slight confusion somehow didn't really take away from the story for me.  I wish I could have read them back to back, but I still loved the book.  And as I read things clicked into place as I started to remember.  

I very highly recommend this book!  Of course you must read the first one first and being able to read them back to back would make it even more enjoyable, I'm sure.  Don't let the history aspect of it stop you from reading them because the time in the past is very limited.  This takes place mostly in modern day London.  Oh, and I must point out that I loved all the British aspects of it.  I adore books that feel authentically British and while it's a German that wrote the book it did feel authentic to me (though I'm American and maybe not the best judge of that!).  

LOVED!

Disclosure: I received a copy of this book for review purposes.  All opinions expressed are my own and I was not paid or influenced in any way.