Review: The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Title: The Girl From Everywhere

Author: Heidi Heilig

Series: The Girl From Everywhere #1

Publication: February 16th 2016

Genres: Historical, Time-Travel, Young Adult

Goodreads / Amazon

Summary: It was the kind of August day that hinted at monsoons, and the year was 1774, though not for very much longer.

Sixteen-year-old Nix Song is a time-traveller. She, her father and their crew of time refugees travel the world aboard The Temptation, a glorious pirate ship stuffed with treasures both typical and mythical. Old maps allow Nix and her father to navigate not just to distant lands, but distant times - although a map will only take you somewhere once. And Nix's father is only interested in one time, and one place: Honolulu 1868. A time before Nix was born, and her mother was alive. Something that puts Nix's existence rather dangerously in question...

Nix has grown used to her father's obsession, but only because she's convinced it can't work. But then a map falls into her father's lap that changes everything. And when Nix refuses to help, her father threatens to maroon Kashmir, her only friend (and perhaps, only love) in a time where Nix will never be able to find him. And if Nix has learned one thing, it's that losing the person you love is a torment that no one can withstand. Nix must work out what she wants, who she is, and where she really belongs before time runs out on her forever.

Heidi Heilig has created a very complex and fascinating world. The time-travel in addition to the mysterious backstory created a nice book that I think many readers will enjoy.

The characters were one of my favorite aspects of the book. Nix is the girl with the brains. She develops plans to help her father and his crew acquire (re: steal) objects. Although she doesn't approve of Slate's, her father's, plan, she continues to help him, even when she is aware of the consequences. Nix is very loyal to her father and will do practically anything for him, even though he isn't the world's greatest father.

I had a hard time liking Slate. I thought he was selfish, stubborn and obsessive. I can't imagine growing up with such a father, but I understood Nix's desire to please him regardless. In the end, I couldn’t fault him too much and started forgiving him for some of his reckless decisions.

Kashmir was my favorite though. He is the rogue, charming highly-skilled thief. I loved his relationship with Nix and the cute banter they took part in. It's obvious they have feelings for each other and I was rooting for Kashmir the entire time.

Which leads me to a problem I had with this book. This story includes a small love-triangle. I wish that I was forewarned about it, but since romance doe play a big role in the plot, I got over it. But I am disappointed that there is no mention of Blake, the other guy, in the summary.

Blake was the complete opposite of Kashmir. He tries to do the right thing and he has very high morals, compared to Kashmir. Honestly, he felt a little boring next to the dashing thief, so I can't say I fell in love with him.

Another problem I had with the book was the terminology, but that has more to do with my lack of knowledge about ships. I am not familiar with the mechanisms of a ship so I had some trouble understanding a few scenes that involved steering it.

Overall, the story was captivating and the action was fast-paced. The terms slowed me down little and the love-triangle was an unfortunate surprise, but that doesn’t take away from the great story. I recommend this book to historical and time-travel lovers.

*I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.*

#historical #ya #youngadult #review