Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Title: The Here and Now

Author: Ann Brashares

Publisher: Delacorte Press
Publication date: April 8, 2014

Genre(s): YA (Sci-Fi/Time Travel)

Source: Publisher

Format: Hardcover

Pages: 288

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Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 

Take a look at this cover. Isn't it just gorgeous? Yes it is. The back also looks SUPER cool! The synopsis also sounds pretty interesting! If you haven't already noticed, Ann Brashares is the author of the sisterhood of the traveling pants! This book though, is about time travel. I was always a bit iffy about time travel books, but after having read All Our Yesterdays, I became really comfortable with them. The Here and Now talks about a group of people who travelled from the far future to escape a severe pandemic, and back to year 2014. (May to exact, which I though was pretty cool). Anyhow, as they travel over a hundred years back, they don't know how to talk or act like the people in the year 2014 act. This "group" of people is sort of like a big big BIG family. They all live in the same place, and the people have positions where some are responsible for different things. They also have a set of rules that all of them should follow. A set of rules that is supposed to help keep them unrecognizable to the other "normal" people of that year. 

Because of all of those rules, Prenna, the main protagonist, isn't supposed to get close to anyone is caution of others getting suspicious of her actions or etc. But despite trying to not close to any of her classmates, Prenna just can't seem to get rid of Ethan Jarves. I have to admit, the beginning of this book was so so good! I really loved the somehow dystopian feel of the rules and the "higher ups" and all of that stuff. Disappointedly, the book didn't go the way I really wanted it to go to. I guess as I continued to read on, I started to enjoy the book less and less. I'm not sure why exactly, but I'd say the plot kind of fell flat for me later on. I also really felt like the book was fast paced, and I wasn't able to connect to the characters because of that. 

Overall, it was an okay book. I'm glad I read this along two of my bookish friends, Audris and Jaq! It was really fun discussing the book, and all of us agreed that the book just lacked a few things. I would still recommend it to any sci-fi/time travel readers out there, because it was well written with an interesting story. It just wasn't the book for me though.