Margin Notes: The Here and Now

The Here and Now 

by Ann Brashares

An unforgettable epic romantic thriller about a girl from the future who might be able to save the world . . . if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.

Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except Prenna didn’t come from a different country. She came from a different time—a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins. 

Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth. 

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves. 

From Ann Brashares, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, The Here and Now is thrilling, exhilarating, haunting, and heartbreaking—and a must-read novel of the year.

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My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I had fun reading this book, though it wasn't as stop-everything-and-read-until-I-can't-read-anymore as Sisterhood. It was more of an action/adventure book than a feel good book, like Sisterhood. In general, I prefer feel-goods about friendship, but I enjoyed this book in the way that I sometimes enjoy changing it up and reading a mystery or action book.

Something about the main characters here just wasn't as full, round, and real as with the sisterhood gals. I actually thought the best characters in this book were on the periphery--(view spoiler)[I loved Poppy/Kenobi and was interested in getting to know him more, and even Prenna's mom seemed to have a story to tell. Ethan was interesting, though a bit predictable. Prenna fell a little flat to me--her letters to her little brother and the occasional outburst (the mosquito) or elation (the night sky, the ocean) seemed to want to give her an emotional depth, they didn't succeed in my opinion. (hide spoiler)]
That wasn't the point of this book, though. This was a different genre, and that's fun to see from authors--dabbling in other areas. (view spoiler)[This book was about the environment, the future, and love vs. the future for humanity. (hide spoiler)] I agree with some other reviews that Brashares excels a bit more in the Sisterhood type book, but I still thought this was a fun, quick read that could be a nice intro to sci-fi to fans of Brashares' other work.</["br"]></["br"]></["br"]>

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