The Immortal Descendants

by April White

** Marking Time is the winner of the 2016 Library Journal Indie E-Book Award - YA **

A limited edition boxed set of the first three books in the time travel fantasy series with over 1200 five-star reviews. Includes the exclusive short story "The Gift."

“A rich, satisfying mix of romance, horror, and time travel." - Kirkus Reviews (Marking Time)

Saira is a young woman who has no idea she’s “special”. No one has explained to her that she is descended from a unique family, and if she were to trace one of the strange spirals she finds, she could end up lost in time. So when her mother disappears, Saira survives as she always has – until one night she finds herself transported back to Whitechapel, London in 1888, on the night of Jack the Ripper's double murders.

And that's just the beginning...

"An enthralling mystery, wrapped in a thriller, tied with a romantic bow." LitBuzz Reviews

"April White is a consummate story teller who weaves historical events into a fast paced story through time. A great plot, intriguing characters that you'll instantly care about, and beautiful writing that is some of the best I've ever read." G. Elliot, Author

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Young Adult, Historical, Fiction, Paranormal Romance

1437 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 27, 2016

About the author

APRIL WHITE has been a film producer, private investigator, bouncer, teacher and screenwriter. She has climbed in the Himalayas, survived a shipwreck, and lived on a gold mine in the Yukon. She and her husband share their home in Southern California with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books.

Her first novel, Marking Time is the 2016 winner of the Library Journal Indie E-Book Award for YA Literature, and all five books in the Immortal Descendants series are on the Amazon Top 100 lists in Time Travel Romance and Historical Fantasy. Code of Conduct is an RWA Vivian Award finalist for romantic suspense, a Next Generation Award finalist for romance, and RONE Award finalist for suspense. And Death's Door is a Grand Prize winner of the Next Generation Award, and a Foreword Reviews Award finalist. More information and her blog can be found at www.aprilwhitebooks.com.

Reviews

[Wendy'sThoughts · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 Let Your Imagination Lead the Way Stars
* * * * * Spoiler Free
If you have just discovered the wonder of April White's writing through Code of Conduct (Cipher Security, #1) through Penny Reid's Smartypants Romance Publishing, then you are in for an amazing treat.

April White is an award-winning author who has the ability to take you anywhere...time travel, a small town...mystical ventures...you name it, she will create a world and you will want to know everything about it.

This bundle from The Immortal Descendants series is a huge gift. I read each of these books, actually in the spirit of this season, I gobbled them up as soon as they were released.

And now LUCKY YOU can have all three, together...no waiting.
Please take advantage of this and I am a wee bit jealous because you will be experiencing all the wonder for the first time. Enjoy.


Marking Time (The Immortal Descendants, #1)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Tempting Fate (The Immortal Descendants #2)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Changing Nature (The Immortal Descendants #3)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...

Waging War (The Immortal Descendants #4)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Cheating Death (The Immortal Descendants #5)
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
The Immortal Descendants (The Immortal Descendants #1-3) https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3...

For more Reviews, Free E-books and Giveaways

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

For anyone who likes bundles - or deals - here are the first three books of The Immortal Descendants series, bundled together into one volume, and including the short story, "The Gift."

Book one - Marking Time - is the 2016 Library Journal Indie e-book winner in the YA category, and was described by Kirkus Reviews as "“A rich, satisfying mix of romance, horror, and time travel."

Goodreads super-reviewer, Wendy's Thoughts gave book two - Tempting Fate - "5 Making History Real, Touchable and Seriously Swoony Stars," and Book Blogger, Kara-Karina compares book three - Changing Nature - to the paranormal fantasy in Deborah Harkness' trilogy.

The series is now complete with books four and five, set in during World War II and in the Vatican, respectively. Take a chance on the series readers call ""The perfect mix of action, romance, suspense, and fantasy," available on all major e-book retailers.

[Angela Whitmore · Rating 5 out of 5]

Immortal Descendants 1-3

I bought this box set knowing that the first book is actually free at the moment, however the price for these 3 together was less than the individual prices for books 2 & 3 together. What a fantastic bargain!

As the books progress the action gets faster and non-stop. Saira discovers a whole new world of immortal descendants and it turns out that she is one herself, giving her the gift of time travel. But where immortality and special gifts are involved, of course there are going to be some nasty, slimy types with their own ideas about how they should be used.

April White combines a mix of fantasy fiction with historical fact aimed at the young adult market (there is romance but nothing overtly sexual) but I am nearer pension age than my teenage years (just) and I couldn't put these books down 📚😀📚

[Julie Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have posted separate reviews for these books so will just say that this series is immensely enjoyable, well-written and engaging. It may be meant for a YA readership but its themes encompass important issues such as difference, fear, corruption and power alongside friendships, family and love - very well done.

Easy to read writing style and plenty of action and snatches of history...albeit with a twist to suit the story.

Highly recommended.

[Alyssia Cooke · Rating 3 out of 5]

Whilst this series started well, it fell into numerous traps of young adult writing in the second and third instalment and ended up being somewhat of a disappointment. In Marking Time I was pleasantly impressed with the writing, the characters and the world building; indeed I thought I’d found a new author to follow. It is undoubtedly fairly easy reading, but the merging of science and fantasy is really quite neatly done, allowing the world building to be both more realistic and detailed. Reading, I could almost see the corridors and dark alleyways of a modern school and Victorian London both. The entire thing is really evocative and propels you into the times and the places.

The characterisations are exceptionally well portrayed and Saira makes for a strong female lead, whilst the issues of gender in the Victorian ages are cleverly adhered to. The cast of characters is quite reasonable, and each of them is individualistic without being caricatured. I particularly enjoyed the portrayal of Saira’s grandmother and Mr Shaw, both of whom are wonderfully strong characters in and of their own right.

It’s well paced and the narrative never quite went where I thought it would, the characters leap off the page and I felt truly invested in where this tale was going. Even with the split between future and past, events get murky yet not overwhelmingly confusing. Most importantly for me perhaps is that the underlying love story isn’t shoved in your face; it’s there, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a single strand rather than the rope that ties everything together. Personally, I’d have ‘shipped’ a completely different couple than the author, but that’s very much down to personal reading.

Things started going wrong once we hit Tempting Fate however and whilst it picked up in the final third, the first two thirds lag hugely and the novel simply doesn’t seem to know where it is going. When combined with a lot of filler and vomit worthy romance gunge, this was a distinctly disappointing read considering how much I enjoyed the first in the series. When it finally gets moving, it becomes a rollercoaster of events and emotions, it’s just a pity it takes so damn long to get to the point where it’s interesting.

I was also disappointed that so few awesome characters are used here; you are more or less down to Saira, Archer and Ringo for huge swathes of the novel. Out of the three, Ringo wins on interest levels as Saira has gone ditzy with love and romance and bleh and Archer is too busy being the handsome love interest to be interesting. Tom is brought in briefly, but disappointed me with how quickly his involvement was brought to a close. Other brilliant characters like Millicent, Mr Shaw, Ava and Adam are utterly sidelined and that’s a real shame.

Whilst it’s good to see a strong female protagonist and all that jazz, when you have her going soppy eyed you need a better supporting cast. The final third took the hint and played with old and new characters well, but before that it was as though no one else really existed, and the novel as a whole suffers for it. As an aside, I’d love to see a strong female protagonist who doesn’t spend swathes of time goggly eyed for a boy, but hey. The author managed to straddle a decent line in the first novel, but veered too heavily toward the love interest here for me and it became tiresome to say the least.

Changing Nature was far more gripping than the second for several reasons; firstly, more characters were used here, meaning that the focus wasn't eternally on the romance sap that took over the second book. Secondly, the plot was far tighter, the pacing far more efficient and the novel seemed to know where it was going from the very beginning. It generally felt as though it was a book that was held together far better and allowed for more in-depth character development and exploration.

The dabbling around in different time zones is quite interesting and April White picked an interesting period of history in which to set this. Her detailed knowledge of events that I had no awareness of really do bring the time and the place to life. I have to admit, I can't quite work out what real damage this time split was to cause in the current time stream, but it made for entertaining reading regardless. The focus of the novels has very much become going back in time and fixing the bits that other Clockers have upset and whilst this is interesting, I would have enjoyed more of a focus on the present day and the Family politics. The modern day politics seem to take somewhat of a backseat in this instalment, and we don't actually see much of the interesting stuff because we're following the key characters back in time.

The writing style periodically becomes incredibly infantile though and it sticks out like a sore thumb from what is otherwise a well drawn together narrative. When they start talking about the poopy corpse for example, it forces me out of what is going on to shake my head in bewilderment. Many of the popular culture references could also easily have been left out, and would in turn ensure the book wouldn't sound out of date as quickly as it is going to. I suppose the author is trying to orientate the characters in the 'real world', however personally I would prefer it to be a fantasy world and therefore doesn't need references to Buffy, Harry Potter and the likes to make it relevant.

I do wish the author would knock it off with the overly sentimental love story sap though; it gets tedious, boring and increasingly cringe worthy as these books go on. I get it, our lead character is in love with a hundred year old vampire, now shut up and get on with the story. I don't need to read about how much she wants to rub herself over his knuckles or any other incredibly vomit worthy sections where she is mooning or horny. It's shoved in your face way too much and is the main reason for me knocking a star off here. I found this could be said for some of the other sentimental aspects of the books as well, and whilst I only really noticed it here, looking back I can see the heavy-handedness elsewhere as well. This is particularly noticeable in scenes where friends are like brothers or parent-child relationships. It's just ladled on a little bit thick.

Whilst I have quite enjoyed these novels, I'm not sure if I'm going to go out of my way to purchase the next two however. If the romance aspects of it weren't shoved quite so forcefully down my throat, I would be far more tempted. As it stands, they aren't books that I would go out of my way to avoid, but I don't think I'll make a special effort to locate the follow ups either when all is said and done.

[kc_chaoticreader · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal!

This series has been fantastic so far. I normally don't read anything in the YA or paranormal genre, but April White's Immortal Descendants series has turned me into a junkie. I've neglected real life and sleep and the only air I've inhaled is the breaths between pages that are packed full of action with extraordinary characters and exciting plots that are interwoven between historical fabrics of time.

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable series and engaging characters. Very YA romance but I really enjoy the author’s research and weaving of historical people into her plot lines. She incorporated Joan of Arc, Elizabeth Tudor, and Jack the Ripper in the first 3 books. I recommend for the adventure, plot lines and well developed characters.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating mix of history and magic with an interesting cast of characters.
My favourite character was Ringo, who now has his own book series.

[Just_ann_now · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book 1 review: Oh, this could have been so good. The premise was a killer - hearty peasant stock (with a few broad-minded intellectuals thrown in) brought through via time travel to rebuild society following a devastating worldwide plague. The political and social worldbuilding - city states, warring future factions sneakily making the time-travel possible was really thought provoking. Alas, the narrative was absolutely flat, and the characterization of the time travelers was ridiculous. The whole read more like a clean first-draft of a novel, rather than a finished work. So disappointing.

Book 2-3 review: I feel bad giving only two stars, since this series did provide hours of entertainment, but, yeah, two stars.

[Phil Evans · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this three-book set from Amazon via Bookbub for about £1.99, and, unusually for such books, went on to really enjoy it.

The premise follows a young Saira, who, via attempted kidnapping a missing mother and a bitch of an aunt finds that she's something rather special, and indeed can travel in time. I found the books engaging and interesting, and kept me turning the pages. The characters on the whole are well defined and believable (except Doran), the plots have a good level of tension and excitement, and I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.

Of course, I have a few gripes: the way Sarai immediately gives everyone a nickname when she meets them (to deal with the whole problem of how to refer to third parties of unknown name in a first-person narrative) get really irritating pretty fast. But my biggest criticism is Doran. He's someone we know almost nothing about who randomly turns up to give useful information (how he got this, we don't know) but never to help. Maybe this will get resolved later but it feels like a short-cut put in by the author to help explain things or move the story along when it couldn't happen naturally.

But, notwithstanding Doran, and the nicknames, this is a series I'm glad I started, and I'd certainly recommend it.

[Globalt38 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and good but mixed feelings

Actually more if a 3.5 stars
I was introduced to April White with Death's Door: An Edgar Allan Poe Time Travel Novella and loved it. Based on that I immediately bought this Immortal Descendents collection. I'm not sure if it's because these were earlier works than Deaths Door or just meant for a different, younger (?) Audience but this reminded me of Harry Potter, Charles Xavier's mutant academy, and some serious angst ridden romance novel rolled into one.
I did enjoy it and liked the characters and will probably read more if them, I'm just hoping that maybe she lets up on some of the constant heart throb gushing.
Also, the Monger (descendants of war) nasty bad guys in these books raised some serious questions about the different picture given of the main character in Death's Door.

[Bonnie Dale Keck · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not kindle unlimited, can be bit pricey {I read a LOT} but did find the 3 book set {#1-3} on sale for 99 cents. Was a bit too reminiscent of other books some {Harry Potter and some others} but there's nothing new under the sun type thing.

Individually reviewed on page{s} for book 1, 2, 3, and 3.5

Marking Time (Immortal Descendants, #1)
Tempting Fate (The Immortal Descendants #2)
Changing Nature (The Immortal Descendants #3)
The Immortal Descendants: Books 1-3
The Gift (Immortal Descendants, #3.5)
Waging War (The Immortal Descendants #4)
Cheating Death (The Immortal Descendants, #5)

Note: I found The Gift online at writer's site {webpage} This story takes place between Changing Nature and Waging War, the link is on that book page on goodreads.

[Picky Virgo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I struggled to finish this trilogy. The main problem is mine: I have zero interest in European history, so had no frame of reference for what was happening. I couldn’t fit characters or occurrences into any sort of slot and decided I didn’t care. I realize there are (at least) two more books in the series, but I won’t purchase them unless my husband is interested in what happens next.

I remember liking the first book very well, which was the reason I ordered the trilogy, but now I don’t recall what I found so appealing. All the characters seemed two-dimensional by the time I dragged myself to the finish line.

[Monika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read and reviewed all the books in this series individually. What can I say that hasn't already been said? Well, let me just point out a few things.
- This series is epic!
- I love the history woven into it!
- The characters are complex and amazing!
- The storylines are out of this world!
- The philosophical thoughts/debates pull you in!
- The harsh reality of war brutality takes your breath away.
- I am in awe!
THANK YOU, APRIL!!!

[Myla L A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow Amazing

Not really into time travel romances but this is so much more because it has supernatural beings and the time travels is action packed adventure not just romance. I am really impressed with this series and I cannot wait to read book 4.

[Margaret Pizzi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hard to put down

After reading the first 3 books in the series I cant wait to read the rest. The characters are so interesting and the tale so rich with detail I ended staying up reading way later at night than I should have most nights

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Travel back in time

I enjoyed this book from beginning to end. Great story on time travelling. I gave a 5 star rating because book is worth it. I recommend it.

[Books_at_Tiffany’s · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome series!

[Elizabeth Lambert-Waggoner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a good read.

I loved it. Took me to another place and time where I could take a break from the world around us.

[Christina Blake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brill

I love this series, so much adventure, action and history. I love the characters, amazing and strong. Simply brilliant. Now into the next in the series

[Tolk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is amazing! I should not have liked it as much as I did. Well, if it was written by someone else I might not have liked it as much. After all, I am not much into time-travel, nor into historical romance. I also don't like mixing up universes. Either give me vampires or shapeshifters or werewolves. But not all mixed! Yet, it worked and I LOVED it. I guess that also has to do with the heroines and heroes in these books. The things they value, what the strive for, what they consider right, are the same as the things that are important to me. So yes, I can relate to them. I want to be friends with them (ok, not all of them). I loved this series. I hope you'll enjoy it, too.