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Still mourning the loss of her beloved grandmother and shaken by her mysterious, dying request to “find the baby,” Abbi has just arrived at UW Madison for her freshman year. But on her second day, she wakes up to a different world: 1983. That is just the first stop on Abbi’s journey backward through time. Will is a charming college freshman from 1927 who travels forward through time. When Abbi and Will meet in the middle, love adds another complication to their lives. Communicating across time through a buried time capsule, they try to decode the mystery of their travel, find the lost baby, and plead with their champion, a kindly physics professor, to help them find each other again ... even though the professor gets younger each time Abbi meets him. This page-turning story full of romance, twists, and delightful details about campus life then and now will stay with readers long after the book’s satisfying end.
*Source: e-galley provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review
Abbi arrives at her new home for the next four years - UW Madison, a school that her beloved late grandmother went to. She feels strongly connected to her in this place and is glad that she chose to do this. As she's settling in, she receives a mysterious box that belonged to her grandmother and within it, finds a note from her that makes no sense at all. One night she goes to bed and the next morning she wakes up in a different time. Completely disoriented, she attempts to understand what is happening, even going to classes to behave as normally as possible without arousing suspicion. However, it gets more complicated as she keeps travelling further back in time. At some point, she comes to the realization that there's a mystery to solve and that she is somehow connected to it. Finding this connection becomes the goal and with some help, she hopes to solve this mystery and return to her own time.
Stories about time travelling can be tricky. Some can get too science-y and lose your attention while some can be too flippant. At first, the time travel moments reminded me of another novel from over a decade ago except this isn't as convoluted and hard to grasp. I mean that in a good way! The straightforward premise in Waking in Time meant that I could participate in the mystery and the friendships and romance that were developing without feeling like the story was over my head. Because ultimately, you want to enjoy the story, right? I also delighted in Stanton's description of the college campus. I've only ever been to Madison once a long time ago and I got to visit the campus then. It was summertime and the city was so vibrant and the campus simply breathtaking. So when Stanton added a bit of history to it, I was excited.
I'd like to add that from reading Stanton's books in the past (Royally Lost being one of them), I've noticed that her stories remain relatively chaste and with Will, chivalry is safely intact. Last thing I'd like to add is that at the end of the book, Stanton mentions the story that inspired Waking in Time. It's kind of bittersweet and I like that Staton's spin on it has a happy ending. So there you have it. If you're up for a bit of time travel, romance and a mystery to boot, check out Waking in Time.
~ Bel
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