3.5 stars!
"I didn't want to leave my friends, didn't want to leave this place of hope, actually, but we had responsibilities - ones that no longer felt too much for my small shoulders."
So, I can't say much about this book without spoiling the first novel, but this book suffered a serious case of the sequel syndrome. Return Once More was one of my favorite, favorite reads from last year, and I'm undoubtedly the biggest sucker when it comes to time travel and historical fiction. The ending of the first novel was set up perfectly for the story to continue in a sequel, so I was so excited for that possibility, but this sequel was really underwhelming and I had very high hopes for it.
I loved seeing Kaia again and watching how she dealt with having to keep her head down for a while. She's a character that I can really relate to because we both have to always be doing something, and we both would do anything for our family and for our friends. It was interesting to see the new dynamic between Oz, Sarah, Levi, and Kaia without Analeigh, but I really missed the original dynamic from the first book. This sequel focused a lot on dealing with the consequences and moving forward, which was nice to read about, but I also feel like it caused the story to drag on a bit.
The romance was something that I saw coming from a mile away but I just wasn't here for it. I love Oz and Kaia as separate characters, but I see them more as friends instead of lovers. They had their cutesy moments, but the subtle love triangle between Kaia, Oz, and Sarah made it a little more difficult for me to really get behind Kaia and Oz because I feel like the issue with Sarah was never really resolved. Or at least it wasn't resolved in the best way, in my opinion. I also so desperately wanted to see Caesarion again. Every time he was mentioned my heart clenched, and despite the fact that his romance with Kaia in the first book was a little insta-love ish, I just wanted to see him come back somehow because he's SO GOOD FOR HER. I'm seriously forever sad about this. But it's okay because in some alternative universe, Caesarion is well and alive and he and Kaia travel the universe together and live happily ever after. That is all.
Anyways, I loved the writing and thought this was a decent sequel, but I was just expecting so much more from it. I liked that this book dealt with a lot of moments in history that are so relevant to what's going on now, and I thought it was so interesting to see those moments written in. Leigh has a fantastic writing style and I just love the entire concept of this series!
"We weren't there yet, but as long as we were traveling in the right direction, we were getting closer to the world Martin Luther King, and people like my grandfather, believed was possible."