Timekeeper by Alexandra Monir {Book Review}

This is the second book by Alexandra Monir. You can read my post about the first book, Timeless, at The Book Guardians. It is more of a ‘what you will find in this book’ review than a ‘what the book is about and how I like/dislike it’ review that I will do here for this book.

What the book is about (from the book flap):

When Philip Walker appears as a new student in Michele Windsor's high school class, she is floored He is the love she thought she lost forever when they said goodbye during her time travels last century. Overjoyed that they can resume the relationship they had a lifetime ago, Michele eagerly approaches him and discovers the unthinkable: he doesn't remember her. In fact, he doesn't seem to remember anything about the Philip Walker of 1910.

Michele then finds her father's journals, which tell stories of his time-traveling past. As she digs deeper, she learns about his entanglement with a mysterious and powerful organization called the Time Society and his dealings with a vengeful Windsor ancestor. Michele soon finds herself at the center of a rift over 120 years in the making, one whose resolution will have life-or-death consequences.

Alexandra Monir's Timekeeper combines breathtaking romance with a tale of complex magic in a sequel that will have every reader believing in the transcendent power of love.
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I read the first book by Monir and rather eagerly awaited the second. I felt a little silly for wanting to read it so badly but I did enjoy the first. The way she wrote held my attention and she did very well with her historical descriptions. That is what I enjoyed the most, I think, although I am fascinated with the idea of time travel in fiction. The other book left off with Michele thinking she would never see Philip again –in any time. When what do you know –there he is! The end. Or rather to be continued.

This book picks right up from there, which is good. It does have a twist though, that at first I appreciated. Who was this ‘new’ Philip Walker and why wouldn’t he remember something as awesome as his one true love, forever through time soul-mate (yes, sorry, that is a little sarcasm slipping out)? Well, fast forward and we get to find out who Rebecca is. I believe we were introduced to her in the first book, if only just briefly.

The book this time seems to focus more on the horridness that is Rebecca than it does really on time travel. Perhaps the first book was to set the stage for the times and places that Michele and Philip travel, in both books. In this book, we see also into Michele’s father’s past through his journals.

One thing I didn’t care for was the inclusion of the Time Society. Perhaps it’s just me but it felt out of place as well as written differently – a bit like wearing stripes with polka-dots. When I came to the parts in the book that dealt with either the handbook of the Time Society or the dialogues between characters and those of the Time Society, they just didn’t match with the rest of the book. I just didn’t like it.

I did like that the ‘romance’ between Michele and Philip was much cooler –as in the reader (that’d be me) could tell that both had feelings, yet it wasn’t as hot as the first book. I guess time does that (pun intended –haha). The most intense scene is on the last page and it is three sentences long.

Ah, another part I didn’t care for was a discussion on reincarnation –Michele’s mother’s friend is a ‘psychic’ (didn’t like that either). She puts Michele under hypnosis to see if she can get Michele to time travel without her key (the key is thought to be the only way she and most time travelers can get around –in time, that is), I think. I wasn’t exactly sure what the whole psychic-hypnosis thing was all about. But about the reincarnation: Michele is perplexed as to how this Philip person can look and act (for the most part) like the Philip she knows but not be the Philip she knows. Elizabeth, the psychic friend, puts out the reincarnation theory to Michele as a possibility. Personally, I found it to be hogwash and not fitting into the story. I much prefer the other “two objects cannot occupy the same space” theory. Anyway, I’m probably just confusing you now.

Bottom line, Rebecca is ‘defeated’ –definitely –and Michele and Philip find each other again. It’s a happily ever after.

Overall, I liked the book but nowhere near as much as the first. I felt let down but know that sequels are difficult to live up to when the first book is really good. This one just…didn’t feel the same. My dd isn’t happy that I didn’t love it like she did. Eh. We all have different opinions.

***Disclaimer: I checked this book out from the Cuyahoga County Public Library all on my own. I reviewed it here because I wanted to, it wasn’t a requirement for anything. All opinions stated are my own. This post may contain affiliate links. See Disclosure/Policies.***