Passenger

Received from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Cover image and summary from Goodreads:

passage, n.
i. A brief section of music composed of a series of notes and flourishes.
ii. A journey by water; a voyage.
iii. The transition from one place to another, across space and time.

In one devastating night, violin prodigy Etta Spencer loses everything she knows and loves. Thrust into an unfamiliar world by a stranger with a dangerous agenda, Etta is certain of only one thing: she has traveled not just miles but years from home. And she’s inherited a legacy she knows nothing about from a family whose existence she’s never heard of. Until now.

Nicholas Carter is content with his life at sea, free from the Ironwoods—a powerful family in the colonies—and the servitude he’s known at their hands. But with the arrival of an unusual passenger on his ship comes the insistent pull of the past that he can’t escape and the family that won’t let him go so easily. Now the Ironwoods are searching for a stolen object of untold value, one they believe only Etta, Nicholas’ passenger, can find. In order to protect her, he must ensure she brings it back to them— whether she wants to or not.

Together, Etta and Nicholas embark on a perilous journey across centuries and continents, piecing together clues left behind by the traveler who will do anything to keep the object out of the Ironwoods’ grasp. But as they get closer to the truth of their search, and the deadly game the Ironwoods are play­ing, treacherous forces threaten to sep­arate Etta not only from Nicholas but from her path home . . . forever

There was so much buzz around this book, and I was so excited to receive an e-ARC from Netgalley. I was really looking forward to reading about time travel! I love love love reading stories featuring time travel, and really like getting to see how different authors explain its rules.

For some reason, it took me a really long time to get into this book. I read the first 30% and then kind of stalled. I enjoyed what I had read, but I didn’t feel compelled to read on, the way I do when I’m truly loving a book. I don’t know if the pacing was too slow for me or what, but I put this down for a little while and didn’t feel excited about coming back to it.

Eventually though, I did pick it back up, and somewhere past the halfway point, things really picked up for me. The story got more exciting, and I really liked the relationship between Nicholas and Etta. I also love the way the book ended, and I’m really looking forward to the sequel!

So while it didn’t grab me until later in the book, there’s a lot that I liked. A recommended read!

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