Book Review and #BlogTour #UltimateBlogTour @The_WriteReads – Crossing in Time (#1 Between Two Evils) by DL Orton (4.5 stars)

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Title: Crossing in Time (#1 Between Two Evils)

Author: DL Orton

Published: 21^st of April 2015 – Rocky Mountain Press

Format: Kindle Edition – 412 pages

“It’s not our abilities that show who we really are, it’s our choices.” – Crossing in Time

Hello Hello! How are you?

Happy Saturday! It’s still wet, cloudy and cold in France, otherwise known as the perfect book and blanket weather, so I’m taking advantage of the weather and staying snuggled up reading for as long as I can this weekend!

I’m so glad to be bringing you my second #UltimateBlogTour of the month that I’m doing for this super duper book! I’m so glad Dave invited me on the tour for this one and if you haven’t ever participated in any of his tours, what are you waiting for? I’ve enjoyed all the books he has featured so far these past months and this one is no exception! Keep on reading to find out my thoughts on my latest read!

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS

The past isn’t over, it’s an opening. The future isn’t hidden, it’s a trap. If she ever wants to see him again, she’ll have to take the risk.

When offered a one-way trip to the past, Isabel sacrifices everything for a chance to change the rapidly deteriorating present–and see her murdered lover one last time. When she arrives twenty years in the past, buck naked and mortally wounded, she has 24 hours to convince a stunned but enraptured nineteen-year-old to change their future. Definitely easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that’s a heart breaker, save the world or not.

This offbeat tale is about falling madly in love when one is too cynical for such things, letting go of pessimism when it’s the last life jacket on a sinking ship, and racing against the clock when one doesn’t have the proper footwear. It’s a coming-of-age story for old fogeys, a how-to-make-love guide for diehard celibates, and a laugh-out-loud tragedy with a hopeful twist.

MY REVIEW

Crossing in Time by DL Orton is the first book in the science fiction dystopian series called Between Two Evils in which Isabel and Diego have to embark on a mission, racing against time to save the world from mass extinction, and the only solution is linked to their relationship.

Now if that doesn’t sound super cool, I don’t know what does. I read the blurb a few months back and completely forgot about it once the time rolled around for me to pick it up, so I went in fairly blind, but I loved it so much more for it. You’ve probably read the blurb and you decided you wanted to give it a shot? Wait a month or two so you forget what it’s about and then dive in! I wasn’t expecting any of the things that happened and even the start was a complete surprise to me and I was totally hooked from page 1.

This review is probably going to be all over the place because my brain is struggling to put thoughts into comprehensive sentences because I enjoyed this book so much, so just bear with me please!

SETTING

This book is set in America, and the first chapter is actually set a little in the future when things have already happened (but I won’t say what). The story then goes back to the start and progresses chronologically, circling back to the events of the prologue and then continuing on again.

I would definitely say that the setting was reminiscent of dystopian books, it had everything that I like from a dystopia, the whole world was literally crumbling apart and it really had an eerie, atmospheric feeling, I can imagine these events happening so easily, it’s actually quite scary! It’s hard for me to explain things without giving anything away, but it was really cool and I thought that the author did a great job of setting the scene, I think that was one of the most important parts of the book because it was so believable that you can’t help but be engrossed and enjoy it!

CHARACTERS

Obviously, there are many characters in this book, but let’s face it, the two most important ones are Isabel and Diego.

Isabel: She is the first character we meet and I immediately loved her. She is so head-strong, she is intelligent, determined and strong-willed, but also emotional and human. My favourite genre is fantasy, and a lot of the time, strong female leads are strong, but don’t have many feelings and just fall flat on the emotional side of things, but Isabel had everything going for her, I was rooting for both of these characters from start to finish and I ended up reading the last few chapters with tears in my eyes and nearly launching my Kindle to the other side of the room. Both of these characters go through so much, but I really felt for Isabel, she has it so hard but she just keeps pushing through and I cannot wait for book 2 to find out more about her past because it seems really important.

Diego: Diego is the second main character and I also loved him right from the start, I bet that wasn’t a surprise though! He is Costa Rican and that part of him really shines through, I loved his little quirks and sayings, they made him much more relatable and I’m so glad that we have some diverse characters in this book. Diego is so sweet, he cares for Isabel deeply, he would go to the ends of the earth for her, or rather the universes (wink wink).

THEMES

I’m worried that I’ll end up saying too much, so I’m going to just try to blather on for a while in usual Ellie style. This book has some strong stuff, and by strong stuff I mean, a lot of things happen that are happening at the moment and it can seem a bit scary at times. The world is in a really bad state when the book starts and it just seems to get worse and worse, to the point that you think the apocalypse is going to happen. Both of the main characters are highly intelligent and work in science, physics backgrounds, so when things start to happen, they know they have to take shelter.

If you don’t like to read books with natural disasters, nuclear disasters, fatal viruses, death, destruction, attempted rape and heavy scientific elements, this might not be the book for you because it’s heavy on all those fronts and I get that at the minute, it might not be the best choice. Saying that, I don’t have a problem with end-of-the-world scenarios, I’ve actually been reading a lot of them lately and enjoying them all. I have always loved dystopian novels and the added time-travel element to this story completely won me over.

I will say that this book has all the feels, I was angry, I was sad, I was scared, I wanted to scream, I nearly did scream multiple times, I nearly threw my Kindle across the room and I ended up teary and my brain in a muddle when I finished it, yes, as you can tell, I loved this book.

MY THOUGHTS AND RATING

I’m aware that my review probably doesn’t make sense and it isn’t really like my usual ones, but guys, this book made my brain go BLAH, I’m in one of those moods where you finish a book and you are sort of lost and I really want to just binge-read the whole series.

Right from the start, I thought this book was very original. Okay, it’s a dystopia, how can it be original I hear you say? Well, I don’t really know how to explain it, but I promise it is. I’ve read loads of dystopian books since I discovered the genre as a teenager and they all felt quite similar, but this book doesn’t, and I think the reason for that is that you see the change happening progressively and the world in the process of changing with the characters, whereas in other dystopias, most of the time, the damage is already done. This probably doesn’t make any sense to you, but you’ll know what I mean when you read it.

I also really enjoyed the cute little drawings at the start of each chapter and actually ended up really loving finding where the drawings came into the story. I thought that the whole book was just really well executed, the writing style was immersive and emotive, I was really drawn into the story and couldn’t stop turning the pages.

I gave this book 4.5 stars, I really enjoyed it, the characters were awesome and I was rooting for them the whole way, there were just a few things like the science side and some inside jokes that went over my head though, but overall it was a great book, and I’m saving the 5-star rating for book 2 because that ending nearly killed me. You really need to pick this book up, it’s great!

Thank you to Dave and the author for letting me take part in this blog tour, it was such a great experience and I’m looking forward to continuing the series!

That’s all for now, I hope you enjoyed this post and made it to the end (sorry for my blathering, my brain is half-dead now!). See you soon, stay safe,

Ellie xx

ABOUT THE AUTHOR – DL ORTON

DL Orton, the bestselling authorof the BETWEEN TWO EVILS series, lives in the foothills of the Rockies where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops. In her spare time, she’s building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.

Author links: Website – Amazon – Goodreads

If you would like to purchase this book, you can find it here: Amazon UK (affiliate link) – Amazon FR (affiliate link) – AbeBooks (affiliate link) – The Book Depository (affiliate link) – Audible FR (affiliate link) – Amazon US – Audible UK – Kobo