Review: Loop by Karen Akins

Book Blurb: At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up. After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he’s in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her. Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tagalong uncover seemingly unconnected clues—a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium—that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self. But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future. My Review: 4 Out of 5 Stars

Genre: Another- World Bree is a time traveler, able to jump between the centuries to complete assignments for school. In an act of desperation, she takes a job to smuggle electronics back in time in an effort to get her mother’s hospital bills paid for. Her easy seeming mission ends up being very complicated when she runs into another traveler and his family. She flubs bother her school assignment and the illegal mission, and the consequences start unraveling around her. I had fairly low expectations going into this story, expecting a light hearted fluffy romance mainly due to the cover image. But I was pleasantly surprised by everything in the book. I really enjoyed the storyline about the future and the time traveling laws, the take on the past (history as they reference it), how the society is set up with time traveling being a crucial part of everyday life, and Finn. I loved Finn. Yes this story has some romance, but that is not the point of the book. It’s a scifi- action-mystery mash-up, sure to entertain most readers. Bree is one tough kid. Her mom is in a coma for unknown reasons while people speculate that it was self inflicted, yet Bree tries to keep her life from falling apart. She wants to do the right thing, but sometimes she flails about more often than she would like. I had my theories about her mom and her own background and was interested to see if they matched up to the book. I was not a huge fan of her at the beginning of the story, but she grew as a person and finally learned how to lean on others which I really liked. Finn is not what I usually want in the romantic interest in a story. Bree meets him when he is an awkward 15 year old, super short, loves action figures, and is incredibly rude. And then here comes Finn three years later and he has morphed into an incredibly attractive man, who is still that nerdy boy at heart but tries to be the white knight. I thought I liked the angsty bad boys, but I am completely in love with this sweet, funny, unflappable man-boy. I found myself laughing out loud at some of the things he did and said, and the scenes with him were by far my favorite. I really wanted Bree to stop being a jerk to him (yes I know he was a jerk to her to begin with, but he tries so hard to protect her!) and just grab him and kiss him. There were a few times I thought it was the end for them, yet something surprising would happen. I liked that nothing was really changeable; this was how the story played out regardless of their individual choices. And I was floored by the bracelet reveal, just fyi. Overall I was incredibly pleased with this story. It was fun, fast paced and unique enough to keep me on my toes. The story appeared to wrap up, so I don’t need another book, but I would certainly love one. I will read more from this author in the future, be it about Bree or anything else. I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.