The Here and Now

This book grabbed me from the very beginning and I could not put it down. I thought she'd hit her peak after "My Name Is Memory" because it was one of the best books I've ever read, but this followed suit. Incredible book, incredible author, and Ann Brashares truly is one of the greatest authors of our time. If you only know her as the "Traveling Pants" author, I urge you to read her other works. Fans of Science Fiction as well as romance will love this. It's the perfect marriage of the two genres. Truly a great read, and I'd recommend it to anyone.

Most novels (movies or shows) that involve time travel usually end awkwardly and a good portion have a tendency to end with "and it turns out she was her own grandmother".I really love how the book set up the premise that no future is perfect for everybody. One future led to environmental ruin and another led to financial ruin. That we, as a people, are so spoiled now but how quickly it can spin out of control. There is a delicate balance between everything and even a single person (or their loss) can tip that balance over the edge.What I really loved was the storyline of suppression. The people from the future are suppressed not only by the leaders that have come with them but also by the rules in which they are to live by. By the end of the novel the yolk of suppression is thrown off completely but then they are saddled with it once again.The plot was, at time, somewhat messy, but that's expected when dealing with time travel. The ending leads me to believe that there will be a sequel.

Time travel stories are hard to write and have them make sense. Branshares does a pretty good job with the explaining of how Prenna arrived in the current time. She wasn't an immigrant, she was a time traveler.Ethan knows Prenna - not from the now, but from the past. When he meets up with her, he knows there's something special about her but doesn't pressure Prenna to tell the truth. Instead, he accompanies her on her mission to save the future.I really liked the building of the relationship between Prenna and Ethan. However, with Prenna being on this super huge time relevant mission, I really felt that all of their side detours really took away from the urgency of what she was trying to do. It felt like there were two different stories happening within one plot.Definitely a different style that I'm used to seeing from Branshares, but not a bad one. I did like it and I am interested in what happens next with these characters.

References to plagues, dark futures, new hope. Great read! Read all novels by This author and love each of them. If you like this read "my name is memory"!

I often really enjoy literature in the youth genre written by award winning writers. I decided to give Here and Now a try as the story line grabbed my attention. This novel has a bit of science fiction, a smidge of romance and many lessons on communication issues between teens and their peers and adults. I did complete Here and Now, but found that it didn't totally satisfy my need for a good read. I'm guessing it was perhaps intended for a lighter read for younger readers.

This is one of my favorite authors and she has done it once again. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but she took things to an entirely different world.

I have loved every one of her books until this one. I was engaged in so much of the story but the ending was rushed and it felt unfinished. If there’s a sequel that might change my opinion.

This was a good read. A fan of the "sisterhood" series, I was a little disappointed there wasn't more character development and I didn't quite get the love connection that formed all of a sudden in the book. This could have been made into a series but the book just ended and I wasn't a fan of the way it ended. A good read but I hope her next book has a little more heart and substance.

Loved this book... it was a quick read, but that's really all I have time for at the moment, so it was perfect. Great story, a bit of a new take on time travel stories. I enjoyed it, and wanted more.

Certainly a good book for teenagers or even pre-teens. A nice blend of mystery, sci-fi and an interesting view into a future that is potentially similar to how our own may end up. Deals with issues of ethics, young love, responsibility to self, family and future, as well as some environmental problems similar to what we see today

This novel falls within the New Adult genre of fiction which to be honest I have grown out of, so no longer read. However it's premise intrigued me enough to give it ago.The plotline caught my attention from the first page and held onto to it throughout. The primary protagonists Ethan and Prenna were sympathetic and the antagonists suitably evil.My only quibble was that despite being advertised as a romantic thriller there was little romantic content in the novel, even for a New Adult. Also the ending whilst clever felt sudden and unresolved which left me somewhat dissatisfied, which is why I have given it a 4🌟 rating instead of a 5.

Prenna James moved to New York when she was twelve but not from a different country rather from a different time. A future where catastrophic conditions and a blood plague have left a world no one wants to return to.Prenna and the rest of the travellers follow a strict list of rules. They have to blend in, be part of society without ever standing out as different. There can be no interference in the past, no one can ever know when they are from, and they can never be intimate with anyone outside the community, known as time natives. She feels isolated and unprepared for the outside world. Who and what is being done to irradiate the plague of the future? She wants to make a point, be heard but no one is listening or are they?Ethan is a local boy who knows there is something different about Prenna, and it’s not just because he saw her enter his time 4 years ago. There are other people who know the truth, others who know that the leaders of the community are hiding rather than trying to rectify the problems of the future.With Ethan’s help, Prenna will take a stand, alter the future and hopefully change her destiny and that of her family.Time travel is always a hard thing to write about, the cause and effect of the simplest changes make mapping it out so difficult. This book doesn’t do a bad job, it paints the picture of the future and how Prenna turns it with the little things she does.The relationship between the main character and Ethan is very one sided at first, however she quickly falls for him and lets him influence her without much question. The bleak future and Prenna’s story telling when she explains it to Ethan was well written and at times it flows nicely.I wanted a little more from this read, it was gentle and not too taxing and I did want to know what happened to Ethan after reading the newspaper article, and it set it up for a possible second book. For me it needed something more for me to dig my teeth into but was enjoyable enough.