Why Now, Then and Every When works

I picked up this book because it was on sale and the cover looked cool. That was it. 

Unbeknownst to me, the darling husband was reading a list of great time traveling books and picked it up. He, being the more loving of the two of us, told me about the cool new book he found. 

I was still reading Salem’s Lot, so I said that was cool and we moved on.

Then he started reading it. Then, he started reading the trilogy that came before it. Then he couldn’t stop freaking pestering me about reading it. 

When I finally got around to it, I couldn’t put it down. So now, I’m going to pester all of you to read it. It was so good!

It’s about two characters, Madi and Tyson. Madi’s a college student staying in her great grandfather’s house when she finds a coin buried in the back yard. She finds out soon that she can use this coin to travel back in time. 

Meanwhile, years in the future, Tyson is a professional time traveler. He studies race relations at the time of Dr. King. He and his fellow historians travel back in time with some familiar coins.

All this would be fascinating enough. But then, a mysterious group of time travelers starts messing with the timeline.

Of course, I can’t just say it’s a good book and leave it at that. I have to break it down and see how it works. So let’s talk about that today. 

The varied timelines were blended well.

Like many of my books, Now Then and Everywhen is told from two pov characters, switching every chapter.

Of course, because this is a time travel book, both of these characters are in totally different times for most of the book. Even so, the story flows together seamlessly. The back and forth between the two intertwining storylines blend perfectly, stacking information slowly as we learn more about the world and the characters.

Lots of questions answered

If I’m eager to finish a book, it’s usually because I have questions. Questions I need the book to answer. What’s going on? Who’s messing around with the timeline? For what reason? How will they fix it? And for me to appreciate the ending of a book, they need to answer most of those questions. This one did and with satisfying answers.

But not all of them!

Much to my joy, this is the first book in a trilogy. So, of course, some of our questions are left unanswered. As they should be. As the saying goes, the first chapter should sell the book. The last chapter should sell the next book. That’s exactly what this book does.

History well portrayed.

I have a lot of love for History. And I like to see it portrayed right. This book deals with The Beatles and Dr. King. And it never forgets for a second that these were real people. They have family and friends still alive. They should be treated like real people, not characters. This is done very well. 

Sudden but inevitable betrayal

It’s so rare that a story can take me by surprise. But much of this book I did not see coming. There are moments of betrayal, of characters revealing their true selves. They surprised me, I didn’t see them coming. But, and this is important, they made sense for the character! 

It’s really easy to surprise a reader if you don’t care about the story making any damned sense. If your secondary character is suddenly revealed to be the villain and you haven’t set that up, then it feels like a lie. It feels out of place because of course, it is out of place. Worse, it’s a cheat. But these revelations made sense.

Can’t wait for the next one

The first chapter of a book sells the book. The last chapter sells the next book. And for sure, the last chapter did its job in Now, Then and Everywhen. 

The end of the book includes a shoot out at a Beatles concert, someone running into their great grandmother and a cryptic little kid. It also paved the way for the story to continue. 

I’m looking forward to seeing where this journey takes me.

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