ARC Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Author: Ann Brashares
Publisher: Delcorte Press
Number of Pages: 288

Synopsis:

"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. "

My feelings on this book are pretty mixed. On one hand I thought that it started off very slow and I didn't enjoy the beginning, but as the book continued it picked up and I did enjoy the rest of the book for the most part.

This is another time travel book which felt oddly uncomplete when I was finished reading it. I'm fairly sure that this is a standalone and a reader shouldn't feel like there is a huge gap missing from this story. The whole time there is this issue with time and we've all learned that you shouldn't mess with time.

Yet for this characters it was like a free for all and messing with the way time worked was a good thing. LISTEN TO HERMIONE! 

I liked the character though. Prenna was pretty cool with her strong independent self and Ethan was just this really sweet nerd. They worked well as a team and it was definitely like they belonged together. The other characters secondary characters though...I feel like they all were under developed and Mr. Roberts was just a wuss. He's supposed to be this great leader of this community and he just seemed like a wimp that gave up easily to me. 

Besides the whole time messing with, character thing I was just like 'meh' for that, but my biggest peeve here would have to be the ending. Ann Brashares literally left this book off in a way that made readers think that there would be a sequel. I, naturally, opened up my Goodreads app and looked for the sequel and when it would come out. I GOT NOTHING! This is a standalone and that just slapped me. The ending was such a major disappointment. 

The premise of this book was great and exciting but ultimately it feel short. I felt that the whole thing was rushed and underdeveloped. Ann Brashares is an author that I've read all of her books, and compared to all those this was a disappointment. I got a bit nervous just looking at the length of it....the book is pretty short.

Overall, I guess this book wasn't bad but it wasn't what I was expecting from the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series. I would definitely give this book a try and you might end up enjoying it much more than I did. I really want to talk to someone about this so...

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars!

*A copy of the book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.