This is the first book in the Ruby Red trilogy.
Book 1: Ruby Red
Book 2: Sapphire Blue
Book 3: Emerald Green
Gwyneth Shepherd has never had a normal life. She sees ghosts, has made friends with gargoyles, and has a cousin genetically predisposed to time travel. Charlotte is expected to make her first time trip at any moment; she keeps getting dizzy, a certain sign. Her life has been spent preparing her for this special gift. But as it turns out, Gwyneth has been getting dizzy too. One day outside their home Gwen learns the truth, she’s the one who can travel through time, not Charlotte. The discovery throws her family into turmoil and Gwyneth must quickly learn secrets that have been kept from her for years. Her new talent means exciting adventures, mysterious societies and working closely with a dreamy boy, Gideon.
The time travel by genetic predisposition system that Gier has created seems carefully thought out, there was nothing in it that really bothered me, aside from the fact that it’s limited to only a few families. Which means that all the people sort of end up related to each other. Which means that the aforementioned dreamy boy is a sort of relation, albeit a distant one.
For me the biggest downside of this book was that it was over almost as soon as it began. It’s only the first book in a trilogy, so there’s a lot of set up and just when the action was really getting me interested, there was the ending. And of course, the other two haven’t been released in English yet. Oh well, something to look forward to I guess!
Unpleasantness- There’s a male character who goes about saying that every male that the girls find attractive is gay. I’m not really clear on what the point of this is. He’s the only one who does it, the others all insist that the man in question is not gay (which is true). I just don’t like it. It’s clear you’re not supposed to like the character who goes around calling people gay, but on the other hand, why does that have to be part of his negative persona?
Great for: Teens and tweens. I’ve read a few reviews that found Gwen to be a bit young for a sixteen year old. As an adult, it wasn’t something I noticed. She wasn’t sexually experienced (I think she’s had a kiss) but I found that likable and I was also relieved that so far there’s nothing so overtly sexual that you would feel awkward about handing it to a tween reader. I’ll reserve final judgment until the rest of the series is here, but so far, I’m a fan.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – A kiss and a marriage proposal. Many female students are in love with their teacher. Lots of thinking about kissing. Avoidance of creeping hands. Mention of growing out of her B-Cup bra. A child may have been born out of wedlock. She thinks Gideon is staring at her breasts.
Profanity – “damn,” “jerk,” “hell,” “darn,” “dammit,” “ass”
Death, Violence and Gore –Gwen’s father died when she was a child. There are dangers in time travel. Gwen feels a man choking her. Gunshots fired. There’s a sword fight that leaves someone dead.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Lady Arista smokes cigarillos. Someone asks the girls if they’d been smoking something (they hadn’t).
Frightening or Intense Things – Gwen sees ghosts. Obviously, it means these people have died, and generally the ones she sees have died before their time.
