Michelle's Reviews > Here and Now and Then

Thank you to HARLEQUIN - MIRA (U.S. and Canada) and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book in exchange for an honest review.

*Please note there are some slightly spoilerish thoughts below.*

Kin Stewart is a secret agent from the year 2142 who time travels to catch criminals and due to a mishap - ends up stuck in the 1990s for 18 years. Despite his training where he is supposed to lead a solitary life, discard of any technology or trace that he is from the future and refrain from creating any event that could interfere with the future - he doesn't listen. He gets married, has a child and lives a pretty normal, everyday existence. Until the future comes to rescue him and he has to renounce everything he has built over the past 18 years and go back.

I gave this 3 stars, but to be honest I probably wouldn't have finished this if it wasn't an ARC. While I was extremely interested in the description (hence why I requested this), I unfortunately started to struggle around the 50-75 page mark because there just wasn't enough action to keep me engaged. There were some early signs that had me on the edge of my seat and then the opportunity fizzled and so did my interest. You can't always have action - you need dialogue and character development. However, there wasn't an equal amount to keep it as interesting as it could be. I also don't think the author spent enough time in the 1990s for me to feel the emotional bond about those characters the way that Kin did. So when he was forced to go back into the future (or where he originally came from) I wasn't nearly as gutted as I think the author intended me to be.

The other thing I struggled with early on was how it was a little too technical. While I completely appreciate the thought process from the author in explaining everything - I didn't always grasp the science. Some other books that I thought were very "sciencey" (Dark Matter by Blake Crouch and The Martian by Andy Weir) did a better job of explaining the science in more layman's terms. Maybe it didn't help that the time I was able to devote to reading this was later at night when my mom-brain is already tired, but I have read a few other reviews that mentioned the same thing.

Back to the action comment - please don't misunderstand me and think I'm one of those people that needs constant action - but I think there needs to be more of a give and take when you're asking the reader to invest their emotions with a character going through a journey like this. My concern with Kin's life in the future ringing hallow - I think the author intended on us living through what the main character did when he returned to the future. Kin struggled with connecting emotionally with his fiance and best friend, even though the memories were there and his brain told him he loved these people, he just didn't feel it. His heart remained back in the 1990's. I was experiencing the same problem, however with both time periods. I didn't get enough of the bond with either time period so the emotion just fell flat with me. It seems that many other readers did find it easy to connect so maybe I am the outlier.

I feel bad being so tough on this book because I think it had a lot of potential. I give so much credit to anyone who could write a book and this effort was good. Plus, the ending is what made this a 3 star instead of a 2.5. It was clever and I liked that. Sadly, the whole book just wasn't what I was hoping for. Best of luck to the author and I hope he finds success with this venture and continues to write!