Review: Clockwise by Elle Strauss (Blog Tour Stop incl. Giveaway)

Clockwise by Elle Strauss
Series: Clockwise #1
Publisher: Self-Published
First published: November 21st, 2011
Source: Received from author
Format: eBook
Pages: 290

Goodreads Summary:

Casey Donovan has issues: hair, height and uncontrollable trips to the 19th century! And now this --she’s accidentally taken Nate Mackenzie, the cutest boy in the school, back in time. Awkward.

Protocol pressures her to tell their 1860 hosts that he is her brother and when Casey finds she has a handsome, wealthy (and unwanted) suitor, something changes in Nate. Are those romantic sparks or is it just “brotherly” protectiveness?

When they return to the present, things go back to the way they were before: Casey parked on the bottom of the rung of the social ladder and Nate perched high on the very the top. Except this time her heart is broken. Plus, her best friend is mad, her parents are split up, and her younger brother gets escorted home by the police. The only thing that could make life worse is if, by some strange twist of fate, she took Nate back to the past again.

Which of course, she does.

My Rating: 3.0 / 5

First thoughts:

Cute and refreshing, Clockwise will be the perfect read for everyone who is looking for a time travel novel to pull them into a different world where everything seems possible. Especially fans of Middle Grade literature will enjoy this novel and cross their fingers for Casey's adventures to turn out alright.  

More detailed:

I started reading Clockwise without really knowing what to expect and was positively surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Actually I should start this review by explaining, why my rating isn't higher, because I definitely really liked this novel. But as I already stated above, it has more of a Middle Grade feel to it, which made it a tiny bit hard for me to identify with the situations and expectations of the characters.

Other than that, I really liked Clockwise and Casey is a really refreshing character. Not being able to control her time travelling into the 19th century tends to take a toll on her, but accidentally taking Nate, her crush, back in time, is a recipe for disaster. But nontheless she manages to fight for herself and everything she believes in and breaks through every obstacle in a very heart-warming and amusing way.

Nate, Casey's love interest, becomes more likable with every chapter I read and I couldn't help myself but cross my fingers for their happy ending. Clockwise has a wide range of supporting characters and everyone of them contributes something different, and important, to the story. Some things surprised me thoroughly, some made me laugh, some made me angry - and all of them kept me turning this book's pages.

But, like I said above, I would recommend this either for a younger audience or people who are able to completely appreciate Middle Grade literature. As someone who prefers to read Young Adult literature suitable for an "older" audience, I felt more like a witness than someone emotionally invested in this story. 

At the same time though, I'm really glad that I didn't know that Clockwise might turn out to be for a younger audience, because otherwise I might not even have picked it up. But I definitely don't regret reading it - I enjoyed it and loved Elle Strauss' entertaining writing. Her plot has wonderful twists and turns and surprised me more than once.

This review is part of Clockwise's blog tour,

hosted by AToMR Book Blog Tours.

And because Elle and her writing group are so incredibly generous, every tour stop during this tour will offer you an awesome book for giveaway - so don't forget to check out the other tour stops here. At this stop you can win an eBook of The Secret of Spruce Knoll by Heather McCorkle - it sounds like a fantastic novel and if you want to read more about it: the lovely Giselle from Xpresso Reads has reviewed it here.

Goodreads Summary:
Following the tragic death of her parents, Eren Donovan moves to Spruce Knoll to live with an aunt she’s never met. Little does Eren know the entire town of Spruce Knoll is filled with “channelers”—a magical group of people who immigrated to the small Colorado town when they were driven out of their own lands.

Channelers are tied to the fate of the world. As the world slowly dies, so do they—and they alone have the power to stop the destruction of Earth. Soon, Eren learns she not only lives among them, but she is one. When she meets local boy Aiden, his charm convinces her that being a channeler may not be all bad though.

As Eren and Aiden’s relationship develops, so too does a mystery in Spruce Knoll. The town holds many secrets—and many dangers. It soon becomes apparent that the untimely death of Eren’s parents was no accident and that her life might be in danger too. Only time will tell if Eren can embrace her unwanted power and protect the only family she has left.

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