Review: Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier

Where I got it: Library
Rating: 5 stars
Cover Rating: 4.5 stars (I'm disappointed that the girl on the front does not have a birthmark on her face.)
Genre: Young Adult
Publication Date: May 10, 2011
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Page Count: 324 p.

Gwyneth's cousin Charlotte, has had classes in dancing, fencing, horseback riding and the like all in preparation for when her time traveling gene kicks in. For days Charlotte has been having dizzy spells, one of the symptoms that time travel is soon to come, and her mother and grandmother have whisked her away in preparation. However, one day Gwyneth finds herself transported to a different time. That night, Gwyneth again wakes up in a different time period. After the third instance of her time traveling she tells her mother, and gets ushered to the secret hall where her other family members have been awaiting Charlotte's travels. Gwyneth has not been prepared for a life of fulfilling her duties while traveling through time. At least there is Gideon, fellow time traveler from the de Villier family, he has been trained as Charlotte was. Gideon is not to keen on the change of companionship at first, but they will have to learn to work together, since Gwyneth is in fact the Ruby.

I loved this book and I can not believe the second one does not come out until spring 2012. Seriously all of you must, must MUST buy this book, or at the very least borrow this book RIGHT NOW! Ruby was a great character, a little ditzy at times, but fantastic nonetheless. Gideon, was fairly swoon worthy, especially wearing breeches ;) The book is set in London, which makes since, as the United States wasn't really the developed yet. London is such a great place to time travel back into, granted there are a lot of diseases, and the smell is quite awful, it still seems romantic. The characters all played their parts quite well, and I loved the secret society. All the hush hush secrets, and mysteries that most of the characters haven't even begun to uncover, help make this book even more fascinating. Gwyneth's friend Lesley seems  one who has the most idea of the whole picture, but that's only what she could find through her research. Lesley is a great supporting character for Gwyneth, and I am excited to see what role she plays in the next book too! Even though the start of this novel takes place in modern day, I think that thoughts of the past have clouded many of the people's brains, because most of them are quite old-fashioned in their beliefs. The men are men and the women are women. Except for Gwyneth and her mother, who have other ideas about how things should be. This was an exciting romp through time. I loved the Gwyneth is able to see and talk to ghosts and gargoyles, it adds another fantastic element to this story. Really this book is just fantastic, clearly Kerstin Gier knows exactly how to write a book. I can not recommend this enough.

First Line:
"As she fell to her knees and burst into tears, he looked all around the park."


Favorite Line:
"In fact I'd underestimated this whole strange story that I'd fallen into."