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mellhay's review
3.0
This is a Young Adult read. It's done with no violence or overly intimate scenes. Good clean story with a young girl learning her way in the world and getting to experience friendships she never had.
I grew attached to Calla and green eyed Valcas. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the future books. I ended this book surprised that it ended. I want to know what comes of what she learns of her mother's job and her hearing with TSTA. Then what Valcas will say and if there is a connection here with him in the current time. I'm still wondering on what was after Calla too. And her missing father...
****FULL REVIEW****
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.
Valcas is helping Calla, and he could use her help too. He's saved her from some thing that's after her, and it's not safe for her to return home. He's also in a tight spot and she can help him by posing as his betrothed. Calla realizes a bit late that the rule she's to play for Valcas seems more long term than she originally thought. When she learns he's searched her out specifically she becomes upset, and Valcas has her locked in her rooms. Young Calla knows the only way out of this palace is the same way they got in. She must retrieve Valcas's traveling glasses, the ones that give him the ability to travel through time and places. To do this, she must act the part she was brought here to be. After she has the glasses, she goes on her own mission to stay safe and learn what she can of Valcas.
Natalie narrates this story with accents for characters from different parts of the world, and time. We have Romaso from Venice and Shirlyn from England. Valcas has a prim and proper sound to him that is relayed in his speaking and the terms he uses. However in the beginning I didn't feel a lot of emotion in her voice while reading. In the end of the book it felt her connection with Calla and Calla's growth grew in her voice acting.
The first few chapters happen fast and left me with lots of questions. All good as I wanted to know all the answers! What's after Calla? Why? What's knocking her over? He say's it's 1812? Why does Valcas have sunglasses on in the dark? Things change fast and I'm curious as to why and how, jet ski to row boat. I have to keep going to see what's going on!
As you guessed it, the sunglasses are the travel glasses. They are what helps move from world to world and time to time. They do have their affects on the users though.
The neat thing of this story that I enjoyed when thinking back through the story is my thinking process of how or why things are the way they are changes. Each trip to the past or another place brings something to mind that could be an explanation of why. I do like that you can't change the past. Well, there are the written personals you can leave, but there are rules against such things that are monitored by the TSTA, Time and Space Travel Agency. So the changing the past is not an easy answer to everything. I have changed my mind on Valcas's motives about three times with what I learned. lol.
Valcas...Hmm. I love him and think he's scary. How is that? Well, when we first meet Valcas he comes across a bit strong. Calla's view of him leaves us with a creepy feel for him. But when Calla goes to visit a younger Valcas, before he uses the traveling glasses, he is sweet. I think Calla has fallen for this version of Valcas. Then we learn something else about Valcas, after we too have fallen for him, that changes our view yet again. I want to hear Valcas explain things and see what happens with this 'older' Valcas with Calla. I quote older because there is a special thing with Valcas. By the end of the story I'm liking him very much.
Calla. At first I thought it was a bit quick for her to go to dinner with a boy she's just meet. But things move on and I get to know Calla a bit more as the story goes. She is seventeen and still learning the way of the world. Her thinking is a bit innocent in the seventeen year old's ways as well. But at the end of the book it seems Calla is learning and trying to do the right things. Calla also has in mind her father. She's never known her father and maybe, just maybe, she has the means now to find him. But I think that's another story.
This is a Young Adult read. It's done with no violence or overly intimate scenes. Good clean story with a young girl learning her way in the world and getting to experience friendships she never had.
I grew attached to Calla and green eyed Valcas. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the future books. I ended this book surprised that it ended. I want to know what comes of what she learns of her mother's job and her hearing with TSTA. Then what Valcas will say and if there is a connection here with him in the current time. I'm still wondering on what was after Calla too. And her missing father...
I grew attached to Calla and green eyed Valcas. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the future books. I ended this book surprised that it ended. I want to know what comes of what she learns of her mother's job and her hearing with TSTA. Then what Valcas will say and if there is a connection here with him in the current time. I'm still wondering on what was after Calla too. And her missing father...
****FULL REVIEW****
*This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com, at my request.
Valcas is helping Calla, and he could use her help too. He's saved her from some thing that's after her, and it's not safe for her to return home. He's also in a tight spot and she can help him by posing as his betrothed. Calla realizes a bit late that the rule she's to play for Valcas seems more long term than she originally thought. When she learns he's searched her out specifically she becomes upset, and Valcas has her locked in her rooms. Young Calla knows the only way out of this palace is the same way they got in. She must retrieve Valcas's traveling glasses, the ones that give him the ability to travel through time and places. To do this, she must act the part she was brought here to be. After she has the glasses, she goes on her own mission to stay safe and learn what she can of Valcas.
Natalie narrates this story with accents for characters from different parts of the world, and time. We have Romaso from Venice and Shirlyn from England. Valcas has a prim and proper sound to him that is relayed in his speaking and the terms he uses. However in the beginning I didn't feel a lot of emotion in her voice while reading. In the end of the book it felt her connection with Calla and Calla's growth grew in her voice acting.
The first few chapters happen fast and left me with lots of questions. All good as I wanted to know all the answers! What's after Calla? Why? What's knocking her over? He say's it's 1812? Why does Valcas have sunglasses on in the dark? Things change fast and I'm curious as to why and how, jet ski to row boat. I have to keep going to see what's going on!
As you guessed it, the sunglasses are the travel glasses. They are what helps move from world to world and time to time. They do have their affects on the users though.
The neat thing of this story that I enjoyed when thinking back through the story is my thinking process of how or why things are the way they are changes. Each trip to the past or another place brings something to mind that could be an explanation of why. I do like that you can't change the past. Well, there are the written personals you can leave, but there are rules against such things that are monitored by the TSTA, Time and Space Travel Agency. So the changing the past is not an easy answer to everything. I have changed my mind on Valcas's motives about three times with what I learned. lol.
Valcas...Hmm. I love him and think he's scary. How is that? Well, when we first meet Valcas he comes across a bit strong. Calla's view of him leaves us with a creepy feel for him. But when Calla goes to visit a younger Valcas, before he uses the traveling glasses, he is sweet. I think Calla has fallen for this version of Valcas. Then we learn something else about Valcas, after we too have fallen for him, that changes our view yet again. I want to hear Valcas explain things and see what happens with this 'older' Valcas with Calla. I quote older because there is a special thing with Valcas. By the end of the story I'm liking him very much.
Calla. At first I thought it was a bit quick for her to go to dinner with a boy she's just meet. But things move on and I get to know Calla a bit more as the story goes. She is seventeen and still learning the way of the world. Her thinking is a bit innocent in the seventeen year old's ways as well. But at the end of the book it seems Calla is learning and trying to do the right things. Calla also has in mind her father. She's never known her father and maybe, just maybe, she has the means now to find him. But I think that's another story.
This is a Young Adult read. It's done with no violence or overly intimate scenes. Good clean story with a young girl learning her way in the world and getting to experience friendships she never had.
I grew attached to Calla and green eyed Valcas. I'm looking forward to seeing them in the future books. I ended this book surprised that it ended. I want to know what comes of what she learns of her mother's job and her hearing with TSTA. Then what Valcas will say and if there is a connection here with him in the current time. I'm still wondering on what was after Calla too. And her missing father...
felicitym's review
1.0
DNF. Many people have said it already, that the beginning is improbable and one should not away with a random guy after a brief encounter.
woolfardis's review
1.0
A generic first-person Young Adult novel, attempting to be the next Twilight. Same old story: young girl is moody because she's so different and no-one understands (with missing parent figures, tick), she meets a boy who is described as beautiful within the first few pages, she falls for him and they run off together. But it's okay, because she constantly questions whether she should have feelings for him, making this 100% feminist literature.
Because women can run off with men at a moment's notice, too. Even if they've been let down by their parents and betrayed by their friends and don't trust anyone any more, why wouldn't they just drop theirknickers plans for the first hot male that appears out of nowhere?
The author used a thesaurus far too much and was keen to show off her knowledge of words. Unfortunately, quite often those words were used in the wrong place. The concept is quite nice and has dashes of originality, but the execution is poor. We visit different places but none are ever described much at all, the world-building is non-existent which is usually fine for fans of YA because they prefer character development, but there is little of that here, too.
Because women can run off with men at a moment's notice, too. Even if they've been let down by their parents and betrayed by their friends and don't trust anyone any more, why wouldn't they just drop their
The author used a thesaurus far too much and was keen to show off her knowledge of words. Unfortunately, quite often those words were used in the wrong place. The concept is quite nice and has dashes of originality, but the execution is poor. We visit different places but none are ever described much at all, the world-building is non-existent which is usually fine for fans of YA because they prefer character development, but there is little of that here, too.
sapphic's review
4.0
I really liked this book. It took me a while to get into the story, but after about thirty pages I couldn't stop reading!
The story is about a girl who, after being betrayed by a friend, doesn't want anything to do with society. She spends her days running and reading until one day, she meets a strange boy. They go on a date but things are more complicated than they seem..
I think of this as a really good book, however there are some things that my nerdy side would like to be explained. For example, how comes that every silhouette forgets about the time travelling person the next day except for Calla? In fact she's a silhouette too, for Valcas travels to her 'past'. Another thing that didn't really fit in the story to me is how much Calla trusts anyone she meets for the first time, even though she was betrayed by her friend.
On the other hand, my nerdy side fell in love with the way some of the aspects of the glasses were explained. I also really liked that even though Calla was attracted to Valcas, she wasn't blind for the mistakes that he made.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone that likes science-fiction.
The story is about a girl who, after being betrayed by a friend, doesn't want anything to do with society. She spends her days running and reading until one day, she meets a strange boy. They go on a date but things are more complicated than they seem..
I think of this as a really good book, however there are some things that my nerdy side would like to be explained. For example, how comes that every silhouette forgets about the time travelling person the next day except for Calla? In fact she's a silhouette too, for Valcas travels to her 'past'. Another thing that didn't really fit in the story to me is how much Calla trusts anyone she meets for the first time, even though she was betrayed by her friend.
On the other hand, my nerdy side fell in love with the way some of the aspects of the glasses were explained. I also really liked that even though Calla was attracted to Valcas, she wasn't blind for the mistakes that he made.
I would highly recommend this book to everyone that likes science-fiction.
penguininabluebox's review
4.0
Actual rating 3.5*
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Travel Glasses by Chess Desalls is the first book in an urban fantasy series. It sets in a world where time travel exists and follows a young girl called Calla Winston, who finds herself suddenly pulled into time-traveller's affairs.
Overall I enjoyed this book quite much, however I had a few problems with it.
Especially in the beginning, things seemed a bit rushed to me. Actions are taken really fast without proper explanations and the reader is thrust into the story without really knowing anything about what's going on. While this may appeal to some people, I personally didn't like it as much in this case.
Sometimes Calla's behaviour seemed a bit strange and illogical to me. She didn't seem to be bothered much by having her life changed completely from one moment to the next and being thrust in a completely different world, and sometimes her thoughts didn't corresponds with her actions, for example, she says she shouldn't stay at a place but ends up staying for quite a while.
As the story progressed, though, I found myself more and more invested in the story, and I also think it felt less rushed and more coherent overall, which is why I ended up rounding the 3.5* rating up to 4. I liked the characters a lot, especially Edgar, who felt really quirky to me. Despite some inconsistencies I liked Calla well enough overall as well. I really like the general time travel idea of this book, and the settings felt very beautifully constructed to me as well. I would recommend this book to fans of the Precious Stone trilogy by Kerstin Gier. I think that I will be keeping an eye on this series to continue on with it once more books are out.
I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Travel Glasses by Chess Desalls is the first book in an urban fantasy series. It sets in a world where time travel exists and follows a young girl called Calla Winston, who finds herself suddenly pulled into time-traveller's affairs.
Overall I enjoyed this book quite much, however I had a few problems with it.
Especially in the beginning, things seemed a bit rushed to me. Actions are taken really fast without proper explanations and the reader is thrust into the story without really knowing anything about what's going on. While this may appeal to some people, I personally didn't like it as much in this case.
Sometimes Calla's behaviour seemed a bit strange and illogical to me. She didn't seem to be bothered much by having her life changed completely from one moment to the next and being thrust in a completely different world, and sometimes her thoughts didn't corresponds with her actions, for example, she says she shouldn't stay at a place but ends up staying for quite a while.
As the story progressed, though, I found myself more and more invested in the story, and I also think it felt less rushed and more coherent overall, which is why I ended up rounding the 3.5* rating up to 4. I liked the characters a lot, especially Edgar, who felt really quirky to me. Despite some inconsistencies I liked Calla well enough overall as well. I really like the general time travel idea of this book, and the settings felt very beautifully constructed to me as well. I would recommend this book to fans of the Precious Stone trilogy by Kerstin Gier. I think that I will be keeping an eye on this series to continue on with it once more books are out.
miztrebor's review
3.0
Overall, I enjoyed what I read in Chess Desalls first The Call to Search Everywhen novel, Travel Glasses. It wasn’t the easiest book to follow, but it shows potential for future books, and that’s a good indicator for the start of a series.
As with all books dealing with time travel, it’s not always easy to keep the story straight, whether you’re the writer or the reader. In this case, I think it the traveling aspect of the story was a bit confusing. At the same time, the main character was just as confused as the reader. This may or may not have aided in being a little forgiving on how much the story jumped around without trying to build a world around the “where” and “when” was taking place. I’m hoping that with the second book, things will be a little easier to follow and to enjoy because the characters have revealed more toward the latter end of this book.
The characters in this book also suffered a bit. While I was able to sympathize with many of them, and grew to like some, there were times when they felt a bit flat. And if not flat, they felt breezed over at times. I would have liked a little more attention given to them to help ground me in the story that was all over the place (literally, since there’s a lot of traveling taking place). Still, by the end, I think I got a better understanding of the main characters and also a clear direction to where the series will go. It just took longer that expected to get to that attitude toward the book.
As I stated before, I did enjoy this book. I feel that I could end up enjoying book two, [b:Insight Kindling|24233695|Insight Kindling (The Call to Search Everywhen, #2)|Chess Desalls|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420041294s/24233695.jpg|43114067], much more and in turn reading further into the series as they’re released.
As with all books dealing with time travel, it’s not always easy to keep the story straight, whether you’re the writer or the reader. In this case, I think it the traveling aspect of the story was a bit confusing. At the same time, the main character was just as confused as the reader. This may or may not have aided in being a little forgiving on how much the story jumped around without trying to build a world around the “where” and “when” was taking place. I’m hoping that with the second book, things will be a little easier to follow and to enjoy because the characters have revealed more toward the latter end of this book.
The characters in this book also suffered a bit. While I was able to sympathize with many of them, and grew to like some, there were times when they felt a bit flat. And if not flat, they felt breezed over at times. I would have liked a little more attention given to them to help ground me in the story that was all over the place (literally, since there’s a lot of traveling taking place). Still, by the end, I think I got a better understanding of the main characters and also a clear direction to where the series will go. It just took longer that expected to get to that attitude toward the book.
As I stated before, I did enjoy this book. I feel that I could end up enjoying book two, [b:Insight Kindling|24233695|Insight Kindling (The Call to Search Everywhen, #2)|Chess Desalls|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1420041294s/24233695.jpg|43114067], much more and in turn reading further into the series as they’re released.
ksmarsden's review
3.0
Calla has worked very hard to keep her life isolate from others, and so far she's doing great. Until a mysterious white light, and an even more mysterious man came crashing into her world.
The travel glasses are a marvellous invention, which allows Calla to explore every time that ever was; and never was. I loved the creativity, it felt almost like Fantasia, where you move from one surreal scene to another (but without the flying ponies!).
It was an enjoyable ride through Renaissance Venice, turn of the century England, and modern America.
I want to say that I loved it, but I'll be honest, I didn't get it.
The initial meeting felt a little too stretched that, despite being a self-imposed hermit, Calla agrees to go to dinner with a stranger she has literally bumped into. Then despite dinner being weird, when the strange guy says run, she runs.
Calla's main drives and objectives seem pretty blurry throughout. She wants to avoid a certain bad guy, but does so by stalking his past and family connections.
There's a frequent thought that arises that she could use the glasses to track down her workaholic mother or estranged father, and I really wish she had pursued that route. I'm sure it will arise later in the series, but I thought it would be more prominent in this book, especially as it's mentioned in the synopsis.
I felt that further into the book, I got more questions than answers. Calla would hover around a topic and questions, then move on with no solution. When she returned to her uncle's, how much time had gone by? Why was the waiter at the restaurant a prick? Why didn't Calla freak out when she agreed to get engaged? Plus a few others that might be spoilerish.
Overall, I'd recommend it if you're looking for a very creative ride.
The travel glasses are a marvellous invention, which allows Calla to explore every time that ever was; and never was. I loved the creativity, it felt almost like Fantasia, where you move from one surreal scene to another (but without the flying ponies!).
It was an enjoyable ride through Renaissance Venice, turn of the century England, and modern America.
I want to say that I loved it, but I'll be honest, I didn't get it.
The initial meeting felt a little too stretched that, despite being a self-imposed hermit, Calla agrees to go to dinner with a stranger she has literally bumped into. Then despite dinner being weird, when the strange guy says run, she runs.
Calla's main drives and objectives seem pretty blurry throughout. She wants to avoid a certain bad guy, but does so by stalking his past and family connections.
There's a frequent thought that arises that she could use the glasses to track down her workaholic mother or estranged father, and I really wish she had pursued that route. I'm sure it will arise later in the series, but I thought it would be more prominent in this book, especially as it's mentioned in the synopsis.
I felt that further into the book, I got more questions than answers. Calla would hover around a topic and questions, then move on with no solution. When she returned to her uncle's, how much time had gone by? Why was the waiter at the restaurant a prick? Why didn't Calla freak out when she agreed to get engaged? Plus a few others that might be spoilerish.
Overall, I'd recommend it if you're looking for a very creative ride.
lucyp21's review
3.0
This was a book with a fun premise, that just turned into something a little all over the place.
Calla is the main character and events happen so she gets a pair of time-travelling sunglasses. Now that is something I like the sound of! Unfortunately, I get horribly confused about exactly how they work with the past and present, despite being explained to several times in the book. Not to mention I felt like the time-travelling rules were broken at one point but I was too fed up to go back and check.
Valcas is an interesting character. I liked how Calla and him interacted, it was a very complicated relationship especiallywhen she met his past self and I did really like that part of the book. However, Calla seemed to swing between one extreme to the other with Valcas, seemingly with no emotional logic behind it. Do we trust Valcas? Do we hate him? Are we running from him or not? Who knows? Certainly not Calla!
This makes it sound like I dislike the book. I really didn't, it was a fun enough book to read, it was just a little messy to me and I'm not inclined to pick up the sequel. 3 stars!
Calla is the main character and events happen so she gets a pair of time-travelling sunglasses. Now that is something I like the sound of! Unfortunately, I get horribly confused about exactly how they work with the past and present, despite being explained to several times in the book. Not to mention I felt like the time-travelling rules were broken at one point but I was too fed up to go back and check.
Valcas is an interesting character. I liked how Calla and him interacted, it was a very complicated relationship especially
This makes it sound like I dislike the book. I really didn't, it was a fun enough book to read, it was just a little messy to me and I'm not inclined to pick up the sequel. 3 stars!
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