Review: Timeless by Alexandra Monir

Title: Timeless
Author: Alexandra Monir
Release Date: January 11th 2011
Publisher: Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought


Description from Goodreads:

When tragedy strikes Michele Windsor’s world, she is forced to uproot her life and move across the country to New York City, to live with the wealthy, aristocratic grandparents she’s never met. In their old Fifth Avenue mansion filled with a century’s worth of family secrets, Michele discovers a diary that hurtles her back in time to the year 1910. There, in the midst of the glamorous Gilded Age, Michele meets the young man with striking blue eyes who has haunted her dreams all her life – a man she always wished was real, but never imagined could actually exist. And she finds herself falling for him, into an otherworldly, time-crossed romance.



Michele is soon leading a double life, struggling to balance her contemporary high school world with her escapes into the past. But when she stumbles upon a terrible discovery, she is propelled on a race through history to save the boy she loves – a quest that will determine the fate of both of their lives.

My Thoughts:

Michele Windsor and her mom, Marion are not only daughter and mother but are also like best friends.  She tells her mother everything from her song lyrics she writes to the dreams she has of a mystery guy that keeps appearing in her dreams.  They may come from a wealthy, high-class family in New York, but are perfectly happy with their simple way of life away from the well known family name.  It is just Marion and Michele and she is content that way.

  Michele is supposed to be picked up at school to go out to lunch with her mother, but Marion never shows.  A police man pulls in and tells Michele of the accident that took her mother's life.  Michele's world is turned upside down.  In her will, Marion stated that her daughter's new guardians will be her parents in New York.  So Michele has no choice but to move across the country to live with her grandparents, whom she has never met and live the life of the rich and famous.

  This is where the story gets addictive.  Michele is alone in her mother's old room (which also belonged to the previous Windsor daughters that resided in the house) trying to write lyrics that just wouldn't come to her since Marion's death.  She uses a magic skeleton key from her dreams that she now has in reality, thanks to her going through her mother's personal belongings, to open a locked drawer in which she finds an old journal.  When she opens it, she is soon transported back in time to 1910.  From then on, Michele is able to travel back in time to see the way life was back then and also meet her Windsor ancestors.  She also meets the boy she's been dreaming of her entire life.  They connect with each other instantly but how can they be together when they live 100 years apart.  Michele will try many ways to be with him but there could be consequences to her actions if she messes with the past.

  The cover is what attracted me to this book.  It is a beautiful cover.  If you look closely, you will see the skeleton key hanging as a necklace on the girl's neck.  The colors are very eye catching and soft which blend perfectly together.
 
  At the beginning of the story, I was already drawn in to the characters' lives.  I actually got emotional and teary-eyed when Michele found out about her mom's accident.  It was heart breaking to learn that she would no longer have her mother and would have to live with her grandparents.  She couldn't even continue to stay with her best friends and that having to start off brand new in a new place with a new school, she knew it wasn't gonna be easy but she moved anyway to start her new life.  It would have made it a little easier on her if she would have known that this new life would bring her the answers to a lot of unanswered questions.
 
  Michele is a strong character.  She tries to give up a future with her mystery guy when she learns the consequences of them being together.  She is also very brave.  She travels back in time not knowing what she is going to encounter when she gets there.
 
  Timeless is breath taking!  It is beautifully written with a unique and creative storyline.  There was a lot of thought put into the writing of the plot and the author's imagination took the story to somewhere I've never been while reading a book. 
 
  After reading the last page, you will be anticipating the sequel and counting down the months till the story can be continued.  If you like reading stories containing romance, family secrets, heart break, time travel, and love that will stand the test of time (literally), then this is definitely the book for you.

5 Stars