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It Wasn't Always Like This

Joy Preble (Goodreads Author)

3.36 · Rating details · 508 ratings · 115 reviews

In 1916, Emma O’Neill is frozen in time. After sampling an experimental polio vaccine brewed on a remote island off St. Augustine, Florida, she and her family stop aging—as do the Ryans, her family’s business partners. In a way, this suits Emma fine because she’s in love with Charlie Ryan. Being seventeen forever with him is a dream. But soon a group of religious fanatics, ...more

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Hardcover, 245 pages

Published May 17th 2016 by Soho Teen

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Jun 20, 2016 Sasha Alsberg rated it really liked it

3.7/5 stars
Good story line but I wish there was more of a complete ending!

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Apr 11, 2016 jv poore rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery, buried-under-books, own-it-arc, legends-myths-fables

Before I even begin to address what this book is about, I must mention how it is presented. Emma shares her saga by keeping the reader with her for the present and reminiscing about the past. As a person who has been keeping secrets for a century or so, the deliberation and consideration with what and how much she reveals makes her seem like an unreliable narrator. An added layer of intrigue.

On the one hand, this ferociously independent young woman seems a bit self-absorbed, possibly paranoid. Before I even begin to address what this book is about, I must mention how it is presented. Emma shares her saga by keeping the reader with her for the present and reminiscing about the past. As a person who has been keeping secrets for a century or so, the deliberation and consideration with what and how much she reveals makes her seem like an unreliable narrator. An added layer of intrigue.

On the one hand, this ferociously independent young woman seems a bit self-absorbed, possibly paranoid. On the other, as Steve Earle says, “Just ‘cause you ain’t paranoid, it don’t mean they ain’t out to get to ya’ !”

“Emma O’Neill was like a lightning rod for weirdness, for the dark things that most people never saw.”

Initially, Emma seemed aloof….almost unapproachable. Perhaps, partly because of the unreliable narrator aspect, but more than that, an underlying, inexplicable anger-angst undertone emanated. Peculiar for a main character; perfect for this story. Not only does it subtly, yet surely, secure “Present-Day-Emma” and “Past-Emma” in the reader’s mind allowing the story to flow smoothly; but it allows the reader to truly develop an understanding of why “Present-Day-Emma” is precisely the person she is. Pure genius, Ms. Preble.

Although Emma alone could carry this narrative; the love of her life, Charlie, also forever seventeen, softens her edges. With the good, comes the bad and Kingsley Lloyd, sometimes-successful con-man-at-best and Glen Walters, leader of the Church of Light, could give the Boogeyman the creeps. Captivating characters tangled in a string of murders stretching out over the past century create a quick and compelling read.

Instead of attempting to articulate what the book is about, I’ll just put this out there:
The searchers for The Fountain of Youth seem to be seeking their own eternal life.

What if the families who drank from The Fountain thought they were drinking potential polio prevention?

This review was written for Buried Under Books by jv poore. ...more

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Dec 11, 2019 Aj the Ravenous Reader rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, fantasy, romance, historical-fiction, physically-owned-books, unexpectedly-good, mystery, young-adult

Certainly not something you read every day. It Wasn’t Always Like This is a captivating YA novel that complexly reads like contemporary, mystery, fantasy and even historical. I was quite impressed and a bit sad that the book is underrated here on GR. The main premise has something to do with eternal youth and how it is the reason for everything Emma had to sacrifice including her family and Charlie, the boy she loves and now she is constantly on the run because her past and the villains in it ar ...more

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May 18, 2016 Izzy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 4-stars, contemporary, young-adult, read-in-2016, historical-fiction, urban-fantasy-and-steampunk

Emma O'Neill had done many things over many decades. Sometimes she felt she could barely remember it all. Much of it had been sad. An equal amount hadn't.

At the beggining of the 20th century, two families in Florida drink a tea that is promised to protect them from polio—and not only it does that, but it also prevents them from ever getting sick (or getting a hangover) again, because it grants them immortality. Before they can wrap their minds about what's happening to them, the word gets ou
Emma O'Neill had done many things over many decades. Sometimes she felt she could barely remember it all. Much of it had been sad. An equal amount hadn't.

At the beggining of the 20th century, two families in Florida drink a tea that is promised to protect them from polio—and not only it does that, but it also prevents them from ever getting sick (or getting a hangover) again, because it grants them immortality. Before they can wrap their minds about what's happening to them, the word gets out to the rest of the town and a self-proclaimed prophet—leader of the Church of Light—decides it's his job to rid the world of this anomaly, and murders the O'Neills and the Ryans; with the exception of teenage lovebirds Emma and Charlie, who were away from their families when it happened and are forced to go on the run to escape the crazed cult who wants to kill them, and eventually separate on the road, hoping that one day they'll be together again.

This was honestly a super fun read! Very quick (you can easily read it in one sitting) and very entertaining. The story is mainly told from Emma's present day point of view, but there were chapters set in the 1910s and a chapter from someone else's point of view every now and again, and I feel like they really helped create a well-rounded story. A lot would've been lacking if it were just told by 2016 Emma.

(Then again, 2016 Emma reminded me a lot of Veronica Mars, so even if it had been a book solely with that point of view, it wouldn't have been bad cause I love me some VM.)

Emma was a great heroine. I was scared that the book would waste too much time on the romance between the star-crossed lovers, but Emma was focused on the task at hand and wasn't pining for her long-lost love all the time. She did pine a little, but it was during appropriate times, so I'm okay with that. She was very independent and had a good head over her shoulders, even though she could be a bit careless at times—although, seeing as she was a perpetual seventeen years old, it was understandable why she'd make the occasional stupid decision here and there.

I wish the fantasy aspect of it would've been more explored, though. This could've been an epic magical realism tale, but there wasn't a lot of thought put into the Fountain of Youth aspect of the novel, and it was disappointing for me, seeing as I'm a fantasy fan and I would've loved to read about it, but it didn't bug me a lot, and I still enjoyed this immensely.

It Wasn't Always Like This is a great book to consider picking up if you're trying to get out of a reading slump! ...more

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May 20, 2016 Emma Giordano rated it really liked it

I received a free copy of this book from Soho Teen. I had no obligation to review this book and all opinions are my own.

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May 31, 2017 Katherine rated it it was ok

Shelves: fantasy, young-adult, contemporary, instalove-express, mystery-thriller, romance

”’They have no idea. What it’s really like. To live forever.
‘Most people don’t.’”

I hate to say this, I really do, but Tuck Everlasting did it better.

Living forever may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but for Emma O’Neill, living forever with Charlie Ryan is well worth it. She and her family live in St. Augustine, Florida in 1916, and they run an alligator amusement park. Their business partners, the Ryans, live there as well. And it looks like they’ll stay that way forever, after they sample ”’They have no idea. What it’s really like. To live forever.
‘Most people don’t.’”

I hate to say this, I really do, but Tuck Everlasting did it better.

Living forever may not be everyone’s idea of fun, but for Emma O’Neill, living forever with Charlie Ryan is well worth it. She and her family live in St. Augustine, Florida in 1916, and they run an alligator amusement park. Their business partners, the Ryans, live there as well. And it looks like they’ll stay that way forever, after they sample water from a spring. But not if the Church of Light Revivalists have any say in the matter. They want the water all to themselves, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it from the O’Neills and Ryans. After they murder their families, Emma and Charlie find themselves on the run, eventually separated. Not immune to murder but immune from dying of sickness and natural causes, Emma keeps running from the church. But she can’t hide forever, and when girls who bear a remarkable resemblance to her start showing up dead, she decides to take action to save herself, and reunite with Charlie.

Where as Tuck Everlasting was a sensitive meditation on life and immortality, this book was about a girl obsessed with a boy, and caring about nothing else but finding him. Sure, she does some half-hearted investigative police work, but Charlie is all Emma really cares about.

”Emma O’Neill had let herself surface once again and now she was paying the price.
So were the dead girls.”

Her detectiving skills aren’t that great either to be completely honest. Nancy Drew could’ve done a better job.

I think the main issue I had with Emma was that there just wasn’t that much substance to her at all. She meets Charlie, she falls in love, that’s it. Even in the flashbacks before she drank from the spring, it’s Charlie this and Charlie that.

”Charlie Ryan. Loving Charlie Ryan was like breathing, an involuntary motion that would last as long as she did- which was forever.”

It was eye-roll inducing to say the least. And because of this, I couldn’t really get a feeling for either of the man characters. The only part of their identity was each other, so instead of getting a distinctive Emma and distinctive Charlie, we get them as a pair. The flashbacks of Charlie were pretty much the same as Emma’s which made it hard to get to know him either.

And the whole Church of Light thing was ridiculous. First of all, you’ll be sorely disappointed at the finale of the book, because the villain of the story in the beginning is different from the villain at the end. The Church of Light itself and the ‘message’ it was preaching was interesting and very telling of the time period (1910s), but the resounding aftermath of it was horrible. The Man in the Yellow Suit was a lot more terrifying than the preacher here, and the murders that the church is supposedly responsible for (and who is responsible for them?) Asinine.

I can see where this book was trying to go. It was solid, but mostly it was just a whole lot of boring. I couldn’t bring myself to care about any of the characters, and the plotting was ill-paced and extremely slow. For a more nuanced take on this kind of plot, read Tuck Everlasting; it does a much better job. ...more

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Aug 06, 2016 Anna Kay rated it it was amazing

Everything I could want in a book!!! I only wish it was longer and there was more -- but at the same time I don't, cause it was the perfect length. Full review to come! :)

Full Review

So, this is a book with very mixed reviews. My personal opinion on that score is that it's a book that either gets you or it doesn't. YOU don't get it. IT gets you! A lot of people probably went into this thinking "tru wuv 4ever" and yes, there's a love story. But at its core, like "Tuck Everlasting," it's a book ...more

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Mar 17, 2018 Michelle (Pink Polka Dot Books) rated it really liked it

Shelves: tbr-2016

Super fun to read!! I really liked the love lost through time story & the idea of immortal teenagers.

I don't read a lot of books like this, so it was really entertaining for me. I loved the idea of 100-year-old teenagers running around!! I mean, living forever and not aging didn't seem all that great, but if you were gonna do it-- I don't think late teens would be a bad age to pick.

Hands down the best part of this book was the "love lost through time" storyline. Emma and Charlie were soulmates Super fun to read!! I really liked the love lost through time story & the idea of immortal teenagers.

I don't read a lot of books like this, so it was really entertaining for me. I loved the idea of 100-year-old teenagers running around!! I mean, living forever and not aging didn't seem all that great, but if you were gonna do it-- I don't think late teens would be a bad age to pick.

Hands down the best part of this book was the "love lost through time" storyline. Emma and Charlie were soulmates separated by tragedy trying to make it back to one another without knowing if the other one was still alive. I adored going through history with Charlie and seeing where the journey took him. I wish there was more of that and a whole lot more of Emma's long life explained.

The thing about Emma was: She is a 100-year-old teenager, yet somehow is NOT wise. I get that she still has 17-year-old hormones and all that, but she has 100 years of life experience!!! She should've been way more knowledgeable and interesting than the 50-something cop she teamed up with, but that just wasn't the case. I know she's been busy looking for Charlie & dodging the church, but you would think after 100 years she would be the bomb dot com at SOMETHING. She was just existing.

The biggest problem with this book was the big bad guy. It was a cult-like church that believed hunting down the "evil immortals" would somehow get them closer to Heaven-- and okay, so far so good. But where it lost credibility was when it got passed down through generations. At this point, The Church of Light have no idea what Charlie and Emma look like, so you have to believe that this church went around killing girls that they felt COULD be Emma based on ???? Basically, they were picking out teenage girls with brown hair who didn't have parents and may have connections to Florida. Do you know how many of those there are??? They would never find her that way. Also, why was she going around using her real name if there are crazies after her?? Girl was not 100 years old, there's just no way.

Plausibility aside, this book was a fun read. It's short and has a cool premise, and I just had to know if Emma and Charlie would ever find each other-- which says something because I don't like romancey stuff!!

OVERALL: A quick read that has a cool teenage immortality premise. I loved the love lost through time & historical parts, but I wished Emma showed more of the 100-year-old soul she supposedly was living with.

My Blog:
Pink Polka Dot Books ...more

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May 05, 2016 Ally rated it liked it

Shelves: young-adult

3 stars.

This was kind of a cute read if you’re into the eternal love, mating for life type thing. Emma and Charlie have a secret worth keeping, and someone is after them, prepared to kill them because they are ‘abominations’. They split up for decades, each hoping the other was still alive, while they continue to be hunted.

Emma was a pretty cool character, if a little dumb after living for over a century. I liked her attitude though. She’s not waiting for anybody, as much as she wishes he might ...more

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Mar 31, 2016 Alisha Marie rated it liked it

Shelves: fantasy, arc-s, young-adult, read-in-2016

It Wasn't Always Like This has alternating past-present chapters. I'm not a huge fan of timelines like this since I tend to find them scattershot and annoying. However, the thing that made It Wasn't Always Like This a slight bust for me was that it always felt like I was reading two separate stories and the alternating chapters weren't weaved into one storyline in a way that I liked.

The Good: I really liked the present day storyline. I'm a huge fan of Veronica Mars and the present day chapters s ...more

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Feb 05, 2019 Cecily Kyle rated it it was ok

Shelves: unopart2

I am just not a huge fan of historical fiction, I really tried to like it but it was just too boring for me. I kept waiting for it to get good but it just didn't happen. I also expected it to be written out completely different, so that kind of threw me off. I just wasn't a fan.
Meh read! ...more

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Jun 01, 2016 Shreyonti Chakraborty rated it it was ok

I am giving it two stars because:
1. The book had a serious, grown-up feel to it.
2. The friendship between Emma and Pete.

I am deducting three stars because:
1. The love story seemed a little too perfect, and Emma and Charlie seem to think each other perfect. Sometimes, the physical perfection described in the book put me off, as if they wouldn't even be together if the boy wasn't messily handsome and the girl wasn't delicately beautiful. The two of them don't seem to have any life outside of each ...more

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Jun 10, 2016 Robin rated it liked it

At 17, Emma and Charlie are given a tea that is supposed to prevent polio. Every member of each ones family drinks the tea as well. The tea makes them immortal and sets a fanatical religious group on them. After a devastating attack by this group, Emma and Charlie run and are separated. For 100 years, they have no word of one another.
Emma becomes a PI, looking into the disappearances and murders of girls who beat a striking resemblance to her. She moves a lot and tries to operate under the rada ...more

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Jul 04, 2016 hailey rated it it was ok

2.5 stars at the most. I just. Ehh. I didn't find myself caring about the characters. I would've been fine putting it down in the middle and never picking it up again... The plot of this book looked good, but it didn't really live up to the hype. I kept getting confused, and I pretty much skimmed the last half. The ending, while it was sweet, wasn't really an ending. It didn't feel like the end of a story, and it left me with no real emotions. I was happy for them I guess but I honestly didn't c ...more

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Jan 29, 2017 Martha Schwalbe rated it really liked it

I like the idea of observing serial killings over a century. I kept coming back to this idea as I read the book. Initially, I was bothered by how close it seemed to the other book that I can't remember right now with the family that drank the water and becomes immortal. That's really all the two books have in common so the originality was novel.
Preble revealed the characters through over a century so that while their appearances remained the same, they were really shaped by their experiences.
I w ...more

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Jun 03, 2016 Domissiak rated it liked it

It wasn't that bad. I kinda like it. ...more

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Aug 19, 2016 Krys rated it liked it

Read it for the "Tuck Everlasting" plot more than for the character development. An easy, breezy read! ...more

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Jun 08, 2017 Teenreadsdotcom rated it really liked it

Joy Preble is a writer known for her young adult novels. She has written multiple books with components of fantasy, mystery, historical fiction and more. Preble has written a standalone contemporary novel titled FINDING PARIS, published in 2015. She has completed a fantasy trilogy, Dreaming Anastasia, with the final installment published in 2012. She has also completed a duology titled Sweet Dead Life, the second book published in 2014, which has elements of a fantasy, the paranormal, mystery an Joy Preble is a writer known for her young adult novels. She has written multiple books with components of fantasy, mystery, historical fiction and more. Preble has written a standalone contemporary novel titled FINDING PARIS, published in 2015. She has completed a fantasy trilogy, Dreaming Anastasia, with the final installment published in 2012. She has also completed a duology titled Sweet Dead Life, the second book published in 2014, which has elements of a fantasy, the paranormal, mystery and more. Preble’s newest novel, IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS, originally published May 2016, has many similar elements to her Sweet Dead Life series. This book is a young adult fantasy, historical novel, romance and mystery novel all in one.

The story follows a 17-year-old girl named Emma. She is young, in love and happy. Perfect, right? Not exactly. Emma is immortal and does not age, along with her family and her boyfriend Charlie’s family. They became immortal after drinking a tea they believed would make them immune to polio, not immortal! This wreaks havoc on their lives and changes everything. An evil man named Glen Walters has noticed that Emma, Charlie and their families do not age. He thinks it is his duty to root the evil out of the world and he thinks that being immortal is unnatural and wrong, so he kills both of their families. Luckily, Emma and Charlie are not in the building when Glen Walters burns it down, killing everyone inside. Therefore, Emma and Charlie must go on the run, and they do so for over a century. They get separated at the beginning of their journey and Emma is now alone and must begin searching for Charlie. She never stays in one place too long for the fear of people noticing that she always looks the same. However, she knows that Glen Walter’s followers and descendants are still after her.

The story alternates between the present and past, telling both a historical story and a contemporary one. In the present, Emma is a private investigator investigating murders of girls who look strikingly similar to herself. The story alternates between telling both Emma’s and Charlie’s story.

I really enjoyed this book. I always found it gripping and interesting. I am a sucker for a mystery and historical fiction, so naturally I was excited about this book. Preble did a great job portraying the immortality and showing how it has affected her characters and she made it seem very real. Emma and Charlie seemed believable and it was really cool to see their character development and how they changed over the course of a century. I also enjoyed their cute love story and the family dynamics at the beginning of the story.

IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS had multiple moments that literally caused my jaw to drop. I loved all of the little surprises this book packed in and how it always kept me on my toes. I also enjoyed the short chapters, so the story never got too boring or seemed to drag on. The alternating between the past and present, and Emma’s and Charlie's stories, also helped to keep the story fast-paced and fresh.

In my opinion, IT WASN'T ALWAYS LIKE THIS was a fun, unique story with an exquisitely beautiful writing style that I loved. As much as I enjoyed the book, I didn't feel a strong or emotional connection to the characters as much as I loved them, which is why I gave this book four stars as opposed to five. Overall, I did really enjoy it though and do recommend it. I was satisfied with the ending and overall plot.

I think this story is best for teenagers who love fantasy, historical fiction, mystery, and/or romance novels. There is some strong language and brief sexual references, so that is something to keep in mind. This story is one that is always very exciting and will keep the reader wanting more. It is so unique to have a novel that can be categorized as so many different genres, so anyone who would love a fresh and unique novel, is sure to love IT WASN’T ALWAYS LIKE THIS.

Reviewed by Shannon C., Teen Board Member ...more

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May 22, 2020 Sasha rated it did not like it

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Admittedly, I am bias as I had hopes of this being more a crime story than a YA. Nevertheless, I have many issues with this book.

1. The Church of Light - I never felt like I got a true grasp of who they were, and what their motivation for hunting down those who had drunk from the fountain of youth. Emma says near the end something about it being unnatural to live that long, but you never get that sense from the church themselves. Their writing is lazy and they never really feel like a true threa Admittedly, I am bias as I had hopes of this being more a crime story than a YA. Nevertheless, I have many issues with this book.

1. The Church of Light - I never felt like I got a true grasp of who they were, and what their motivation for hunting down those who had drunk from the fountain of youth. Emma says near the end something about it being unnatural to live that long, but you never get that sense from the church themselves. Their writing is lazy and they never really feel like a true threat to the reader.
2. The characters felt completely flat to me. I felt no connection with any of them. The only character I thought had any depth to him Was Kingsley Lloyd, who I felt was a bit of a pointless character anyway. Emma's family could have found the fountain of youth without him and it felt like he had just been written in to save Emma later. Which brings me to
3. Matt - I felt like Matt had no true motivation. The kidnapping scene was rushed and careless, and over way too quickly for there to be any sort of tension. And how on earth did Matt end up on fire??? It seemed like Kingsley Lloyd just threw a match at him, which would clearly not work. I was also unclear what happened to Kingsley during this scene as it seems he was shot, but it just said that the gun fell to the floor without having gone off, but then Emma later mentions having a mark on her cheek from where the bullet had grazed her.
4. Why did all these other girls have to be murdered? Apart from it being unclear as to why those who have drunk from the fountain of youth are unaffected by poison but will die by any other means (i took an educated guess and thought they probably had some sort of super immune system - but then Kingsley still mentioned being ill at the end?). Surely if they didn't want to murder the girls they could have given them some sort of non toxic poison and see how that affected them, or just dump them at a hospital once they saw how sick they were getting rather than murder them (I know it wouldn't make it anywhere near as interesting but just makes sense to me)
5. Charlie and Emma don't seem to be all that effected by their families being murdered?
6. The fire in Emma's apartment - I don't know if this book is meant to be part of a series, and so left some things unsolved, but why did Emma's apartment getting set on fire? Did Matt really try to burn down a whole block just to get to her? I think it was really just a device used to introduce Pete.
7. Emma does not have the wisdom of someone who is over 100 years old. How on earth did it take her that long to even consider Kingsley Lloyd still being alive??
8. The romance - I just wasn't convinced by it. Fair play, if I was still a teenager, I probably would have been convinced but it just felt like a normal relationship to me rather than 'love of my life' kind of thing. Preble really should have exploited the whole 'we're the only ones who are immortal' destiny stuff.
9. Pete just believes Emma upfront without any real proof. Someone not really changing in how they look for 4 years from 17-21 isn't that unusual.
10. There just wasn't really much of a plot to so much of this book. It took way too long setting up the action and trying to explain what had happened in the past, and the kidnapping, the climax of the story was over in like 5 pages.

I'm probably being too harsh on this book, but I can probably think of more issues I have with it. Ultimately, it could be a good first draft, but so much work needs to be done to make this book even vaguely interesting to me. ...more

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Jan 10, 2017 Ashley rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: retellings, owned-books-read

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This is definitely a retelling of Natalie Babbit's "Tuck Everlasting." While both have the element of immortality, and it is done somewhat similarly in both books, they are still different. I'm going to start off with what is similar. First, families drink things that make them immortal. In "Tuck Everlasting" it's water from a well-type system by a tree in a forest owned by the Fosters. In "It Wasn't Always Like This" the immortality drink is in the form of a "tea" made by a man who comes into t This is definitely a retelling of Natalie Babbit's "Tuck Everlasting." While both have the element of immortality, and it is done somewhat similarly in both books, they are still different. I'm going to start off with what is similar. First, families drink things that make them immortal. In "Tuck Everlasting" it's water from a well-type system by a tree in a forest owned by the Fosters. In "It Wasn't Always Like This" the immortality drink is in the form of a "tea" made by a man who comes into the lives of the families of the two main characters, Emma and Charlie. I definitely had suspicions of this guy and his "tea" which he marketed as something that will protect them against polio.

On to the differences, in "Tuck Everlasting" a guy discovers the secret of the water by the tree, wants to buy the forest and make money off of the water. He pretty much wants to make the forest a tourist destination. In "It wasn't Always Like This," a "cult-like" religious group leader overheard the families talking about the "tea" and didn't like what he had heard. (I know not all religions/religious groups are "cult-like" however the one in this book is). The leader of the group went after the families who owned an alligator farm/museum, burned the farm/museum and the families alive, leaving Emma and Charlie the only survivors.

I did not like the burning of the families, the farm/museum or how the religious group leader went about things, I think he could have done things differently. I also didn't enjoy that Emma and Charlie, who truly love each other had to separate and go on the run. Another thing that I didn't like, was how abrupt the ending was, I wanted more to the story.

There were things that I did enjoy. I really enjoyed how Emma and Charlie never stopped thinking about or looking for each other. The time jump aspect between the past and present was something else that I enjoyed, which is rare for me to enjoy something like this. While I didn't like how the ending was abrupt, I did love how Emma and Charlie's lives come full circle. This book had its ups and downs, but I still liked it. ...more

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Feb 22, 2019 Amaris rated it it was ok

At a certain point Preble starts veering away from telling a good story and settles just for keeping the plot moving along while dropping paragraphs upon paragraphs of wisdom about immortality as told by a 17-year-old who still has no idea what she's doing with her life. The large amount of unwarranted and useless confusion, indecisiveness, and sadness swirling through Emma's mind at all times makes her character fall flat instead of appearing more realistic and poignant. The only person she con ...more

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Jul 04, 2016 Emma rated it really liked it

Shelves: historical-fiction, romance, fantasy, beautiful-covers, mystery, beautiful-writing, need-to-reread, 4-stars, magical-realism, summer-2016

This was a fast, well-written, romantic, mysterious, and exciting story. This book had a lot going on, skipping around in between genres and times and settings and points of view. And it's short. But I liked it a lot. I definitely wanted more story, but at the same time I think that this book told what it wanted (or was meant) to tell. I liked the characters (though I didn't necessarily get that attached to them…), I liked the pacing of the story, the narration (especially when narrated by the m ...more

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May 28, 2017 Alyssa Bryan rated it really liked it

Overall I really liked this book. It was a very intriguing and unique approach on immortality and true love. My favorite parts of the book were always the ones taking place in the past or when the chapters switched to the points of view characters other than Emma. I liked the way other characters described Emma and talked about her actions, but not always when the story was told from her perspective. When it was told from her perspective I found it repetitive and sometime just kinda boring. I fe ...more

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Nov 30, 2018 Laura rated it it was ok

Shelves: paranormal

I picked it up and for about 50 pgs. I couldn't put it down. But when I did I didnt want to pick it back up. This caused a disconnection between me and the main protagonist and her plight. Also resulted in an unemotional ending.

Not my style, I think. The book goes back and fourth between past and present and when in the present the author tends to digress to other significant points in Emma's past.
Definitely not enough time spent in the present. Then there is the one main POV, with one chapter ...more

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Feb 15, 2019 Magical_Bookworm rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites, 2019-reads

I absolutely loved this book. I've been going back and forth on whether or not to this was a 4.5 star or 5 star read for me. I decided to give this a 5 star rating because I can definitely see myself rereading this book in the future. It is now a favorite of mine. This book reminds me of one of my favorite movies The Age of Adaline . I like the ambiguous ending but I also want to see more of these characters and this world. I love the multiple timelines that took place throughout this book. I ...more

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Jul 25, 2017 Sidny rated it really liked it

This review can be found at www.booksmyquietfriends.blogspot.com

So this book wasn't at all what I expected. I couldn't remember what it was about and since it was so short I refused to read the description. And I was very impressed with how well this short book completed the story. Overall I really enjoyed it. I will say that I didn't like some aspects of the characters, but other than that I found the mystery theme that took place throughout the book interesting. I also really enjoyed the idea ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Morgane rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2021-wait-already

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Mar 04, 2019 Lorelei rated it liked it

3.5
I wanted to read this because I loved Tuck Everlasting growing up, and this rang similar.
Overall, I enjoyed the story. Although, there were times when Emma's love for Charlie felt more like needy obsession? It bothered me that she was always more concerned about him than her family. But in the end, of course I was rooting for them.
The ending to the actual mystery was kind of whelming. We're left wondering if there could be more out there. ...more

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Feb 23, 2018 Mike Day rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction

I struggled whether to give this 2 or 3 stars. On some level, this was a good book, but no way a four star book. At other times, it was redundant and boring. But it had moments. Certainly the premise was great, it just fell flat for more on several levels. But it had such potential!

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Dec 13, 2020 Hamna rated it it was ok

Shelves: alt-world-dystopia

This whole book alternated between absolutely nothing happening and then (wow!) something miniscule conveniently happening. The premise was cool but it fell so flat it's embarrassing. I'm pretty sure 75% of it was just the author waxing poetic about what it would feel like to be immortal.

Snooze ...more

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Sinopsis en Español // Synopsis in Spanish	1	1	Dec 25, 2017 11:15AM

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