I have a confession to make. When I finished Sapphire Blue I went to the internet and tried to find a fan-translated copy of Emerald Green. I JUST HAD TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENED OKAY??? Please don’t judge me.
Anyways, the best I could find was a google translate and I don’t think you need to use your imagination to know that didn’t really help me.
So then I basically bothered one of the girls at Raincoast Books (the Canadian distributor for Macmillan) until she sent me an ARC. Technically I think I owe her a box of Girl Guide cookies now. I should remember to give those to her.
Gwen has a destiny to fulfill, but no one will tell her what it is.
She’s only recently learned that she is the Ruby, the final member of the time-traveling Circle of Twelve, and since then nothing has been going right. She suspects the founder of the Circle, Count Saint-German, is up to something nefarious, but nobody will believe her. And she’s just learned that her charming time-traveling partner, Gideon, has probably been using her all along.
This stunning conclusion picks up where Sapphire Blue left off, reaching new heights of intrigue and romance as Gwen finally uncovers the secrets of the time-traveling society and learns her fate.
Anyways, this book was SO MUCH FUN! In fact the whole series was. Gwen was such a pleasure to take this journey with. She had such a real voice. A part of her was a sixteen year old girl who wanted to only worry about clothes and boys and friends and homework. And a part of her was this time-traveling, ghost-seeing, smart as a whip girl who I wished I’d known in real life. And I liked how both sides of her meshed.
I found with this book, nothing was terribly surprising? Everything worked out pretty much how I thought it would. But I’m happy with that? Like I feel certain reveals weren’t meant to be surprising to the reader, just to Gwen.
And even though I felt Gwen and Gideon were young and well…I don’t know how to talk about this without spoiling it. Let’s say I felt their romance was more fun than most romance’s depcited in YA? It didn’t feel as everlasting, life or death, etc etc. Mostly because their interactions were always broken up with hilarity or time travel. So I was surprised by how things ended with them but I also liked it. I found we got more than I was expecting for them but upon further reflection I feel that they will probably do better with it than a lot of couples in YA who have similar endings.
Lastly there was one surprise I was completely shocked by. Mr. Bernard. That was perfect and lovely and made me smile for days. In fact I’m smiling now when I think of that reveal. It just perfectly explained him and made me giggle. It really brought home how much these books were about family and how no matter the nature of your relationship family is still family. That was probably my most favourite part of the entire series.
I really hope more books by Kersten Gier get translated because her writing is fun and laugh out loud entertaining.