Endless by Amanda Gray

Jenny Kramer knows she isn't normal. After all, not everybody can see the past lives of people around them.

When she befriends Ben Daulton, resident new boy, the pair stumble on an old music box with instructions for “mesmerization” and discover they may have more in common than they thought. Like a past life.

Using the instructions in the music box, Ben and Jenny share a dream that transports them to Romanov Russia and leads them to believe they have been there together before. But they weren't alone. Nikolai, the mysterious young man Jenny has been seeing in her own dreams was there, too. When Nikolai appears next door, Jenny is forced to acknowledge that he has travelled through time and space to find her. Doing so means he has defied the laws of time, and the Order, an ominous organization tasked with keeping people in the correct time, is determined to send him back.

While Ben, Jenny and Nikolai race against the clock - and the Order - Jenny and Nikolai discover a link that joins them in life - and beyond death

Paperback, 384 pages

Published September 10th 2013 by Month9Books, LLC.

Genre:  YA, Romance, Fantasy

Terri's Review

I received this novel as an ARC from Netgalley.  I was enticed to request this read due to the beautiful book cover and the synopsis of the book sounded interesting.  A book about time travel and love that does not know the boundaries of time.  Who wouldn't want to read that?

The book begins remarkably alternating between the present and the love story in the 1800's.  The way Gray went back and forth and told the story was effortlessly told.  It reminded me of a younger version of Susanna Kearsley's Marianna (which I loved) how Jenny was seeing the story of the past through her dreams however did not know how it fit in to her present. 

The characters and how they interacted were well written.  I particularly enjoyed the interactions between Ben and Jenny and how their friendship developed.  It was real and believable with two people coming together through a recognition of each others loneliness. The plot also moved well as I was along for the journey in an effort to find out if everything would be resolved (trying not to include any spoilers).

Based on the first half of the book I would have given it a 5 star rating.  It was a haunting love story.  The second half of the book was not quite as good as the first.  My problem was that the chemistry that Jenny and Nikolai had in the past did not translate that well in to the present.  In fact in the present I found that Jenny had more chemistry with Ben.  Perhaps this was intentional in an effort to develop a love triangle?  I don't know.  There was enough action in the second part of the book to be able to overlook this for the most part.

At the end of the day this book was about soul mates and a love strong enough to surpass the test of time.  That is enough sigh worthy moments to overlook any minor aspects of the book that I did not like.  Although I could not find any information to confirm there is also plenty of story left to have a sequel or two to this story.  I would recommend this book to any teen girl who wants to spend a few hours daydreaming about her perfect soulmate.  A very solid 4 star read.

I would have loved to profile the author in my review however I could not find any information to include.