Blue in Ultimate Popsugar Reading Challenge

Feb 16, 2014 Nadine in NY Jones rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, time-travel, translation

A fun bit of fluff: a bit of mystery, a bit of suspense, a bit of romance, a bit of intrigue, a bit of best friend bonding, and a bit of paranormal (not just a ghost, but a ghost of a demon too!), and, of course, time travel. A lot of time travel.

This book does have its problems. The mystery is basically because no one will tell Gwyn anything - that was okay in the first book, when she was busy discovering a lot of other things, but it gets old fast in Sapphire. The romance is not terribly roman ...more

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Dec 06, 2021 Debbie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Finally - I got to read the first book all by myself and finish it! I was happy with the end of Ruby Red enough to immediately borrow this volume from the library. It's a nice time travel romance for young adults, probably a high-low for high schoolers. However, I felt like this second book in the series had much longer chapters than the first one, and short chapters tend to be a hallmark of the high-low genre, so take that with a grain of salt.

I continued to enjoy reading about the way this wo ...more

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Mar 03, 2015 Krissy rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, audible-library, 5-motherfucking-stars, read-before-2015, pgs-300-399, title-color

**2015 Reading Challenge W/Josh: #32 A Trilogy**

This story is getting better and better! I liked this book even more than the first book. Can't wait to start book 3! ...more

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Jan 11, 2019 Debbie rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Ruby Red, book 2.

I normally avoid time-travel plots because I find them hard to follow, but I’m enjoying this series.

Gwen is learning to navigate her abilities and trying to solve the mystery of the Circle. Lucy and Paul seem trustworthy, but everyone keeps telling her they are the villains. Luckily, she has the help of her best friend (and Google), her various ghost companions, and the hilarious gargoyle demon Xemerius. I found her insta-love with Gideon annoying, but otherwise this is a fun r ...more

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Mar 05, 2013 CrystalIsReading on StoryGraph rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy

Sapphire Blue was just as quick of a read as Ruby Red was. Reading it so soon after Ruby Red was both good and bad, mostly good, since I remembered who everyone was and what they were doing. It was bad because then the various reminders and explanation at the beginning of this book seemed repetetive. However, I don't think they would have if I'd had a normal amount of time between the two books. And Gier is very good at exposition--I'm aware that it's exposition, but it's always woven into the s Sapphire Blue was just as quick of a read as Ruby Red was. Reading it so soon after Ruby Red was both good and bad, mostly good, since I remembered who everyone was and what they were doing. It was bad because then the various reminders and explanation at the beginning of this book seemed repetetive. However, I don't think they would have if I'd had a normal amount of time between the two books. And Gier is very good at exposition--I'm aware that it's exposition, but it's always woven into the story well, as research by Lesley, explanation by Gwyneth, etc.
I continued to like Gwyneth. I'm sure she's not the most mature 16 year old ever, but she's a good friend and sister, and a maturing daughter. She handles the situation she's been thrust into, and her developing relationship with Gideon, in all its drama, as well as could be expected. I'm just glad that, a few glasses of punch aside, she is pretty smart and quick on the uptake, able to associate information like Aunt Maddy's prophecies with applicable events.
Gideon is not likable in this book. I feel that there's an explanation forthcoming of why he's been so moody and inconsistent and perhaps even misleading. But it had better be a good one, because he was a bit of a brat pretty much the whole book this time.
Charlotte got a little more face time in this book, unfortunately. She was as obnoxious as ever, maybe worse. She's so unpleasant it feels unrealistic or overdone. Surely she must have some redeeming quality, even with a mother like hers and her bitterness towards Gwyneth--people are rarely fully good or bad. I'm curious if her continued presence in the story means she'll have some redeeming experience in the last book, but I'm not hopeful.
Lesley was her irrepressible self. And the introduction of Raphael is interesting, or at least it could turn out that way. He didn't do a lot in this book, yet. Unlike Xemerius, who is a very fun and interesting addition to the cast, and a useful ally for Gwyneth. He also has some laugh out loud lines.
My biggest frustration with the book was with the actual subject matter. Time travel by its definition starts getting confusing when you get into it in any detail, and so having characters visit their own ancestors, see themselves, experience historical events, etc is a tricky thing to write about. Gier has handled it well so far, with minimal confusion for me, but there were definitely parts where I felt like I was about to get a headache trying to follow the sequence or conversation and disentangle the verb tenses.
The ending is a bit of a cliff hanger, and leaves me eagerly awaiting the release of (the translation of) Emerald Green. I'm sure it will be just as enjoyable of a read as the first two, and will hopefully explain a lot of burning questions.

Review also available at Once A Week Or More ...more

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