When I first met Jessica Keller at an ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers) meeting, I learned that she wrote adult Christian fiction. What I didn’t know right away was that she had a YA book in the works. When the book was released last month, I jumped at the chance to snatch a copy so that I could share it with all of you.
Title: Saving Yesterday
Author: Jessica Keller
Genre: Speculative fiction (I love that in the dedication she thanks her dad and brother for making her watch Star Trek and all those sci-fi shows.)
Age group: YA
Synopsis: Gabby Creed never knew her mother, and she’s been forced to act like a parent to her alcoholic father. However, on her seventeenth birthday, her life is really turned upside-down. A bracelet mysteriously appears on her wrist, and she is sucked back into time. She finds herself during the Civil War with a boy who can also time travel. Eventually, she learns that they are both Shifters, time travelers who switch time periods at the whim of a man known only as Nicholas. When they time travel, Shifters are expected to protect humans and their history. But that’s not easy to do when the Shades (creepy creatures with melting faces) want to feed off human despair and capture Gabby for their own evil purposes.
As I mentioned on Facebook yesterday, I figured Jessica Keller and I were kindred spirits when she mentioned things like Anne of Green Gables, Jane Austen novels, and having to take away someone’s nerd card when they confused Star Wars and Star Trek. (No problem for me there. While Jessica only has one brother, I have four brothers to indoctrinate teach me in the ways of the Force, show me how to give a Vulcan salute, and know not to confuse the two!) However, after reading Saving Yesterday, I’m absolutely sure we’re kindred spirits.
The book moves at a great pace, the characters are sympathetic, and the plot is intriguing. Even though we lost an hour of sleep Saturday night, I stayed up late to finish! Saving Yesterday is the start of a series, and I’m looking forward to the next installment.
Parents of teens: No need to worry about inappropriate language and such here.
While Jessica is an author of Christian fiction, there is no overtly Christian talk in this book. However, it’s a “safe read,” and there are definitely some Christian themes running through it.
