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A review by jinny89
Past Perfect by Leila Sales
5.0
4.5 star, rounded up for awesomeness.
What an unexpected gem! I’m so glad I came across this book (got it from the S&S Galley Grab, thank you!) It’s incredibly fun to read, a great book to read if you’re not looking for anything “heavy”.
The plot isn’t exactly wholly original — at first glance. It’s the story of a boy and a girl who end up falling in love with one another but cannot be together because their respective groups hate each other’s guts. This is the basic story of Romeo & Juliet, and probably a few dozen other stories that exist (if not more).
So you might be thinking, “Okay, what’s the unique factor?” It’s the context. Why can’t Chelsea, our main character, be together with Dan? Because Chelsea works at the Colonial Essex Village, a living history reenactment village whose employees constantly act out of the summer of 1774, and Dan works at the Civil War living history reenactment village across the street who act out the 1860′s. The two reenactment villages have a natural rivalry with one another that the more youthful employees take to extremes, convinced that their time period is the best time period of American history. So not only are Chelsea and Dan from rival reenactment villages, but also from reenactment villages of completely different time periods.
I bet you didn’t see that coming.
Chelsea has been working at the Colonial Essex Village ever since she can remember, because her parents work there, though Chelsea only works during the summers. This summer, however, Chelsea feels she’s finally had enough and would really rather have a normal mall job or something, but is talked into coming back to Essex by her best friend Fiona, and the lure of her ex-boyfriend Ezra, who has also found a job at Essex.
As usual, the teenage employees of Essex propose war against the teenage employees of the Civil War village across the street, to prove who’s got the better reenactment village and the better time period. Chelsea somehow finds herself elected Lieutenant of the war effort, and quickly gets “kidnapped” by some of the Civil War kids, one of whom is Dan, whom she develops a crush on pretty quickly. But the thing about Chelsea is that she’s very clingy to the past by nature, so on top of the fact that her friends would kill her if they knew she was into a Civil warrior, she’s not sure she’s able to drop Ezra completely yet.
This novel is sooo much fun to read. I think the best way to describe it is chick-lit for teens. I don’t really know much about historical reenactment (that’s not really a thing up here in Canada … I don’t think we really have any history exciting enough to reenact), but after reading this novel, I really want to visit one! How cool is it to feel like you’ve stepped back in history? Not to mention, who knew how awesome reenactors are?! I mean, yes, this is a novel, but this book makes historical reenacting seem like the coolest thing since sliced bread. I loved how Essex battled with the Civil War people, trying to prove that their historical village is from the best part of American history, hahaha!
Chelsea is the kind of girl I would love to be friends with. She really feels like any normal teenager you might come across in a high school. She’s a bit of a daydreamer, wants to be an ice-cream connoisseur, and has crushes on boys. The novel is in first person, so we are inside Chelsea’s head the entire time, and I love it! She’s such a funny person (without really intentionally trying to be one) and she’s got her parents who are absolutely obsessed with historical reenacting, which definitely made for more laughs.
As for the male interests, there is a teensy bit of a love triangle, but it’s never really full blown since Chelsea and Ezra have already broken up. I quite liked Dan. I like how his relationship with Chelsea felt pretty natural. They did click together quickly, but I am glad Chelsea didn’t call it “true love” right away. It was a crush, and she acknowledges it as such. They did seem to move a tad fast — Dan just suddenly kisses Chelsea one day — but it was light and flirty and felt realistic for teenagers, none of that oh-so-serious eternal love stuff. The romance in this book is extremely adorable!
I really loved almost every aspect of this book. I think the only thing that disappointed me slightly was the ending. The entire book felt like a day out at the amusement park, but the ending felt like the car trip home — a bit boring. That’s not to say it was horrible, I just felt it could have been better.
Should you read this book? YES! I mean, how many YA books out there involve historical reenactment anyway?! You definitely don’t want to miss out on this one. I love this book! Oh, and you learn a lot of random historical facts in this book! :)
(Review originally posted at http://skyink.net)
What an unexpected gem! I’m so glad I came across this book (got it from the S&S Galley Grab, thank you!) It’s incredibly fun to read, a great book to read if you’re not looking for anything “heavy”.
The plot isn’t exactly wholly original — at first glance. It’s the story of a boy and a girl who end up falling in love with one another but cannot be together because their respective groups hate each other’s guts. This is the basic story of Romeo & Juliet, and probably a few dozen other stories that exist (if not more).
So you might be thinking, “Okay, what’s the unique factor?” It’s the context. Why can’t Chelsea, our main character, be together with Dan? Because Chelsea works at the Colonial Essex Village, a living history reenactment village whose employees constantly act out of the summer of 1774, and Dan works at the Civil War living history reenactment village across the street who act out the 1860′s. The two reenactment villages have a natural rivalry with one another that the more youthful employees take to extremes, convinced that their time period is the best time period of American history. So not only are Chelsea and Dan from rival reenactment villages, but also from reenactment villages of completely different time periods.
I bet you didn’t see that coming.
Chelsea has been working at the Colonial Essex Village ever since she can remember, because her parents work there, though Chelsea only works during the summers. This summer, however, Chelsea feels she’s finally had enough and would really rather have a normal mall job or something, but is talked into coming back to Essex by her best friend Fiona, and the lure of her ex-boyfriend Ezra, who has also found a job at Essex.
As usual, the teenage employees of Essex propose war against the teenage employees of the Civil War village across the street, to prove who’s got the better reenactment village and the better time period. Chelsea somehow finds herself elected Lieutenant of the war effort, and quickly gets “kidnapped” by some of the Civil War kids, one of whom is Dan, whom she develops a crush on pretty quickly. But the thing about Chelsea is that she’s very clingy to the past by nature, so on top of the fact that her friends would kill her if they knew she was into a Civil warrior, she’s not sure she’s able to drop Ezra completely yet.
This novel is sooo much fun to read. I think the best way to describe it is chick-lit for teens. I don’t really know much about historical reenactment (that’s not really a thing up here in Canada … I don’t think we really have any history exciting enough to reenact), but after reading this novel, I really want to visit one! How cool is it to feel like you’ve stepped back in history? Not to mention, who knew how awesome reenactors are?! I mean, yes, this is a novel, but this book makes historical reenacting seem like the coolest thing since sliced bread. I loved how Essex battled with the Civil War people, trying to prove that their historical village is from the best part of American history, hahaha!
Chelsea is the kind of girl I would love to be friends with. She really feels like any normal teenager you might come across in a high school. She’s a bit of a daydreamer, wants to be an ice-cream connoisseur, and has crushes on boys. The novel is in first person, so we are inside Chelsea’s head the entire time, and I love it! She’s such a funny person (without really intentionally trying to be one) and she’s got her parents who are absolutely obsessed with historical reenacting, which definitely made for more laughs.
As for the male interests, there is a teensy bit of a love triangle, but it’s never really full blown since Chelsea and Ezra have already broken up. I quite liked Dan. I like how his relationship with Chelsea felt pretty natural. They did click together quickly, but I am glad Chelsea didn’t call it “true love” right away. It was a crush, and she acknowledges it as such. They did seem to move a tad fast — Dan just suddenly kisses Chelsea one day — but it was light and flirty and felt realistic for teenagers, none of that oh-so-serious eternal love stuff. The romance in this book is extremely adorable!
I really loved almost every aspect of this book. I think the only thing that disappointed me slightly was the ending. The entire book felt like a day out at the amusement park, but the ending felt like the car trip home — a bit boring. That’s not to say it was horrible, I just felt it could have been better.
Should you read this book? YES! I mean, how many YA books out there involve historical reenactment anyway?! You definitely don’t want to miss out on this one. I love this book! Oh, and you learn a lot of random historical facts in this book! :)
(Review originally posted at http://skyink.net)