The Here and Now was one of those books that I really wanted to like more than I actually did. I struggled a lot with what to rate it… two stars seemed too low, but three stars seemed too high. In the end, I guess I settled on 2.5 and rounded up.
[click to read my spoiler-filled summary and unfiltered thoughts]
I struggled so much with this book. I loved the characters (well, Ethan and Prenna, at least), but there were just so many problems with everything that I couldn’t take the plot seriously. Why are they traveling back in time if they can’t fix the future? Why did they pick 2010 as the year they wanted to go back to? What was so great about that year? Why not go further back?
Something was weird with the dialogue, too, although that might be corrected in the final print version of the book. In the uncorrected proof that I had, the dialogue was very stilted and unnatural, with both Ethan and Prenna speaking very proper English without contractions or slang. I understand that Prenna comes from a different time where English may have evolved a bit, but Ethan (and Prenna’s other classmates) should speak like normal teenagers.
All in all, this book kept me entertained, but I really expected more from the author. I did read the entire Sisterhood series and it seems that those characters were much better-developed and the plot was more thought out. However, being that this was an uncorrected proof, I’m holding out hope that the final print version will be better.
Final rating: ★★★☆☆
The Bibliophagist 