Young Adult Book Review: Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins
Until We Meet Again
by Renee Collins
On Sale Date: November 3, 2015
Juvenile Fiction \ Love & Romance \ Time Travel
Ages 14 to 17, Grades 8 to 12
Source: Sourcebooks Fire
Pages: 336
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Amazon | Goodreads
They exist in two different centuries, but their love defies time
Cassandra craves drama and adventure, so the last thing she wants is to spend her summer marooned with her mother and stepfather in a snooty Massachusetts shore town. But when a dreamy stranger shows up on their private beach claiming it's his own—and that the year is 1925—she is swept into a mystery a hundred years in the making.
As she searches for answers in the present, Cassandra discovers a truth that puts their growing love—and Lawrence's life—into jeopardy. Desperate to save him, Cassandra must find a way to change history…or risk losing Lawrence forever.
Until We Meet Again opens with a timeless tale of boy meets girl, only in this story, the boy and girl are from different time periods. Unexpectedly, one magical night on the beach, they chance to meet in a place where time seems to stand still, and they begin to fall for each other. But, of course, there's a mystery and danger that threatens both, and time itself.
From the moment, I saw the gorgeous cover and read the synopsis for Until We Meet Again, I knew I wanted to read this lush and romantic sounding time travel by Renee Collins.
Told through alternating perspectives, Lawrence who's from 1925 and Cassandra-living in the present, the reader is treated to an interesting mix of time frames, with a mystery that connects them together.
Cassandra took some warming up to. She's adventuress and a little self-absorbed at first, with a touch of teen angst that, thankfully, seemed to taper off once she met Lawrence. Before long, I ended up liking her vivacious spirited personality.
Lawrence has that old world charm you would expect from someone living in the 1920's. He's poetic and uses romantic phrases that can easily sweep a gal off her feet. Thoughtful and sweet, I don't think Cassandra had any hope of resisting his charm for very long.
I enjoyed the romance for the most part but had a few issues. The fact that Lawrence and Cassandra can only meet in that *one* magic spot on the beach, where it seems time itself is bound by no rules, made it hard for (me) to connect with them as a couple and feel the relationship build.
I did enjoy the mystery and the glitzy 1920's vibe complete with mobsters, blackmail, and plottings to keep the pages moving swiftly in Until We Meet Again. The ending wrapped up everything nicely. It was so nice to have a standalone story for a change, one that left me satisfied and all my questions answered.
With beautiful writing, and a combination of danger, mystery, romance, and the element of time travel, Until We Meet Again is an entertaining and bittersweet read.
Notable Swoony Scene
His eyes intense, he pulls the folded sheet of paper from his coat pocket and presses it in my hand. “Read this first.”
“No.”
“Please, Cassandra.”
“You’re making this more difficult than it has to be.” I pull away from him, my heart pounding. “Look, it’s been really amazing getting to know you. But this is where it ends, okay?”
He shakes his head. As I hand him back the poem, you’d think I was slapping him across the face, “I wish it could work, Lawrence. I mean that.”
“I’ll wait for you,” he says, his voice tight. “I’ll come out every day and night, and wait on this beach.”
“Please don’t.”
“I will.”
“I have to go.” Band-Aid, Cass. The faster the better. I turn away. “Good-bye, Lawrence.”
And then, all at once, he catches me in his arms. For an electric moment, he holds me, staring into my eyes with a power that could light up half the Eastern Seaboard. Then he presses his lips to my cheek.
“I will wait for you,” he whispers into my ear, sending a shiver over my entire body.
