Happy Book Birthday to A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris and Review!

I'm so excited because A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris officially comes out today! I was a lucky recipient of an early copy through a twitter giveaway. I loved this book even more than the first one!

Goodreads Book Description: Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea.

One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility.

With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?

My Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review:  I read and enjoyed the first book in this duet- My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century while back. I knew at that point Rachel Harris was talented, and that I'd better continue to pick up her books as I suspected she'd only get better with time.

Boy, was I right. I was lucky enough to win this copy in a twitter giveaway. A Tale of Two Centuries takes place a bit after the first book-- and what's wonderful about this book (and I'm enjoying this new trend in YA quite a bit) is that it's a companion novel and a stand alone in its own right. So you can easily pick this one up and read it by itself, but if you've read the first one, it only enhances the second.

In this book, instead of getting the perspective of Cat, the fiery protagonist from the first book, we get to see through the eyes of Less. I think I identified a lot more with Less, and absolutely loved her from the first book, so this even made me enjoy the book more. Less has dreamed of the freedom to choose what to do with her life as well as pick who she should love. Fortunately, Reyna, the gypsy, has heard her plea, and Less gets to journey to the modern world to visit her relative, Cat. Although this world is shocking to her in many ways, at the same time, she is able to do so many things she wasn't in her world. She is able to pursue acting and meets a gorgeous guy named Austin, who makes her (and me) blush. Will she be able to leave all of this behind when the time comes?

I can't say how much I loved this book. I felt like Rachel took all of the parts I loved in the first book and totally enhanced it in the second. Less is a wonderful protagonist, and it was a wonder and delight to see her grow and develop into the person she always wanted to be. And deserved to be. I've always enjoyed watching her interaction with Cat, and we got loads more of that in this book. Some of her mistakes in this world were absolutely hilarious and totally made sense. And finally, Austin is a very swoon worthy guy. I don't usually go for the bad guys, but he's one of the very rare exceptions. You can't help but fall head over heels for everyone in this book.

Overall, the perfect frosting (with depth too!) to my night, and I blazed through it from cover to cover. Everyone needs to read this book and will continue smiling after it's finished for a long time.

Go out and buy this book today! It's totally worth it!

And stay tuned for an announcement of the #ATOTC twitter party I'm hosting on August 20th at 7pm CST! There will be tons of prizes and a Q & A with Rachel Harris! :-)