Throwback Thursday: Remembrance by Michelle Madow

Some of you may know that I originally had my own blog, Beauty but a Funny Girl, prior to joining Bookish (now Bookish Lifestyle). I was thinking the other day about all those reviews I left behind when I transferred and thought they should get some love too - no matter how badly written and newbie they come off! So I present to you: Throwback Thursday Reviews! Every once in a while I'll post an old review from Beauty but a Funny Girl, unedited in terms of content, with the exception of any spelling or grammatical mistakes. It's definitely going to be fun and interesting to see how my tastes and writing style have changed over the years!

Series:	Transcend Time Saga #1
Genre:	Young Adult, Romance, Time Travel,
Publication.Date:	July 27, 2011
Pages:	324 (Kindle)
Published By:	Dreamscape Publishing
Website:	Michelle Madow
	Remembrance on Goodreads
My review copy:	Bought

Where to get:

Lizzie Davenport has been reincarnated from 1815, England ... but she doesn't realize it until she meets her soul mate from the past and he triggers her memories to gradually return.

When Drew Carmichael transfers into Lizzie's high school, she feels a connection to him, like she knows him. But he wants nothing to do with her. Reaching Drew is more difficult because she has a boyfriend, Jeremy, who has become full of himself after being elected co-captain of the varsity soccer team, and her flirtatious best friend Chelsea starts dating Drew soon after his arrival. So why can't she get him out of her mind?

Lizzie knows she should let go of her fascination with Drew, but fighting fate isn’t easy, and she’s determined to unravel the mysteries of the past.

(Goodreads)

Originally posted March 19, 2013 on Beauty but a Funny Girl

Can somebody please go back in time and yell at my former self for debating about whether to read this book or not? Seriously. I’m not kidding.

There’s not much about this book I didn’t like. Madow did a fabulous job creating believable characters, events (for those of you who don’t believe in reincarnation), and imagery. I could picture everything Madow described perfectly, even those intricate details of Lizzie’s dress, mask, and necklace – which OMG I WANT!!!

I took an immediate liking to Lizzie and hatred to Drew, while Chelsea (the best friend) and Jeremy (the boyfriend) fell somewhere in the middle between the two. Yes, I hated the love interest! *gasps of horror* Okay, but in my defense, he was being a bit of an a-hole. For good reason, yes, but I won’t spoil that for my dear readers who have yet to dive into this fantastic series.

I thought Lizzie to be a very sweet and innocent character, while everybody else was kind of… well, selfish. With the exception of Hannah, who we saw very little of, but I liked a lot. She tried to fight her feelings for Drew (especially seeing as how she was dating Jeremy and Drew was dating Chelsea, bumbumbum), but something always kept her from moving on from those feelings.

One of the things that really bothered me involved a rather important plot point – that I won’t disclose – but I have to get it off my chest. I’m not angry at Madow, I’m angry at the characters. Where do they get off?! The last time I checked, it was Lizzie’s life, not yours. Some “best friend” you are. Aren’t you automatically supposed to take their side and not the other persons? Oh, she didn’t come to you before hand? Boo-freaking-hoo. She doesn’t need to run her life decisions by you. You are there to support, not to criticize and be the huge bitcha that you’re acting like! Ugh.

Side note, did anybody catch the Buffy the Vampire Slayer reference in my rant?

Anyway, as you might have guessed this is when Chelsea went from middle ground to complete dislike! Jeremy went to that side too for acting like a total butt head. Luckily, Drew took his moment in the sun and I finally understood where he was coming from. Hooray for being able to root for the main romance!

The ending, however, let me feeling… empty? Unfulfilled? If this had been a standalone novel, the ending would have killed it for me and I would have been very disappointed. Luckily, it’s not. I know some bad stuff is going to go down in Vengeance and (hopefully) it will all be righted in Timeless.