The Loop by Karen Akins

Rating 4 out of 5
Reading Age 15 and above
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (October 21, 2014)
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Language: English
ASIN: B00J6U7K1C
ISBN: 1250030986

Summary

At a school where Quantum Paradox 101 is a required course and history field trips are literal, sixteen year-old time traveler Bree Bennis excels…at screwing up. After Bree botches a solo midterm to the 21st century by accidentally taking a boy hostage (a teensy snafu), she stands to lose her scholarship. But when Bree sneaks back to talk the kid into keeping his yap shut, she doesn’t go back far enough. The boy, Finn, now three years older and hot as a solar flare, is convinced he’s in love with Bree, or rather, a future version of her that doesn’t think he’s a complete pain in the arse. To make matters worse, she inadvertently transports him back to the 23rd century with her. Once home, Bree discovers that a recent rash of accidents at her school are anything but accidental. Someone is attacking time travelers. As Bree and her temporal tag along uncover seemingly unconnected clues—a broken bracelet, a missing data file, the art heist of the millennium—that lead to the person responsible, she alone has the knowledge to piece the puzzle together. Knowledge only one other person has. Her future self. But when those closest to her become the next victims, Bree realizes the attacker is willing to do anything to stop her. In the past, present, or future.

This was such a fun book. It was exactly what I needed to kick of the New Year. It had a little bit of everything; sci-fi, time travel, romance, action, and humour. I enjoyed it immensely. This will be a short review as it is hard to say much without giving the plot line away. 

Most of the hilarity comes from Bree and Finn. Her snarky sassyness and his wonder at time travel. There were so many laugh-out-loud moments it is hard to pick just one to show case. I enjoyed Bree always commenting about kicking future Bree's ass. As the story is told from Bree's point of view her internal voice is hilarious. 

It is an intricate storyline and a mystery as well as a sci-fi time travel book (what did you expect with a time travel story), this is also why I am struggling to review this book as everything that happens is linked or interwoven with a bigger picture which all comes together at the end. Unlike some sci-fi stories that seem to beat you down into unconsciousness with big science words and explanations, Akins keeps the science stuff pretty easy to understand and I can only think of one long winded explanation (which kind of had to happen). Also the sciencey stuff was easily understandable especially with Finn "dumbing" it down for the reader. Some parts of the story did seem odd (hair scanners as way of ID verification) but hey what would I know.

My only quibble is the story Bree had been fed about the microchip. It seemed incredibly flimsy yet no one seemed to question it till Finn comes along?

This was a hugely entertaining book for me and I read it virtually in one night (and paid the price the next day with a reading hang over, not so fun when you have to go to work and function) and I would recommend this book to anyone really as there is so much going on in the book. But if you really dislike time travel stories then this is probably not for you.