Emily

The Gone World is a science fiction mystery that follows Shannon Moss, an NCIS special agent, through a high-stakes murder investigation spanning over 20 years. Shannon Moss is not just an NCIS agent, she has also been trained to travel through Deep Time to the future. When she is called in to investigate the murder of a sailor's family and his missing daughter, she is pulled into a complex web of secrets that threatens to unravel the world itself. She must get to the bottom of the mystery before it's too late.

While the premise of The Gone World is interesting, the book never really grabbed me. Some parts were a little slow and others were confusing, which distracted from the overall plot. However, the characters were interesting and many parts of the story were quite engaging. Fans of time travel fiction will probably enjoy The Gone World.

Invictus follows the life of Farway Gaius McCarthy, a boy without a birth date whose only goal in life is to become a Recorder like his famous mother and spend his days traveling through time. After failing his final exam, he is adrift until receiving an offer from a black market overlord to captain a time machine in order to retrieve valuables from the past. Farway and his team are enjoying their secret adventures until one day a strange girl appears during one of their heists and throws everything into turmoil. Where did she come from? What does she want? As the team works to uncover answers to these questions, they may discover more than they bargained for...

With its cast of quirky, lovable characters and fast-paced action, Invictus draws the reader in almost immediately. Focus on the female and male leads is nearly equal, which will appeal to all readers. The story tackles a question most people probably wonder about time travel - what would happen if someone from the future had a child with someone from the past? What about if a child were born during time travel? This exciting novel pulses with camaraderie, loyalty, adventure, and love until the very end.

Absalom's Daughters is a tale of self-discovery and the bonds between family members told through the lens of half-sisters, one black, one white, in the 1950s American South. The story shines on light on some of the ways in which racial tensions in America throughout history deeply affect the lives of individuals, which forces the reader to think about the issue while at the same time enjoying the sweet story of two young sisters sticking together through thick and thin. There is one fantastical element to the novel which feels slightly out of place in the otherwise realistic setting, but it serves a poignant purpose. Absalom's Daughters is an easy read that is quite relevant to current times despite its historical setting.

I love the Sherlock Holmes stories, and this is a fun modern take on the Holmes and Watson duo. In this universe, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson were real people, and Arthur Conan Doyle was the literary agent who helped Watson publish his stories. Charlotte Holmes and Jamie Watson are their descendants, and they both end up at a small boarding school in Connecticut, where Sherlockian mystery ensues. The story focuses a bit more on teen angst and drama than the actual solving of the mystery, but other than that it is an enjoyable read.