“Seventeen-year-old Prenna James emigrated to New York when she was twelve. But Prenna didn’t come from a different country, she came from a different “time” – a future where a mosquito-borne illness has mutated into a pandemic, killing millions and leaving the world in ruins.
Prenna and the others who escaped to the present day must follow a strict set of rules: never reveal where they’re from, never interfere with history, and never, ever be intimate with anyone outside their community. Prenna does as she’s told, believing she can help prevent the plague that will one day ravage the earth and take the lives of her younger brothers. But everything changes when she falls for Ethan.
She might be able to save the world … if she lets go of the one thing she’s found to hold on to.”
I received a copy of this book from the publisher, Hachette Children’s Books, & from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Okay, so before the spoiler I’m just going to say a few things that I thought about the book, the characters and the writing.
I thought I would end up liking this book. I really thought I did. The Here and Now is a book that many people have many different thoughts and opinions on. While I enjoyed the story, and the writing went smoothly, I didn’t really end up liking this book. I really think that The Here and Now is just an “alright” book.
The main character, Prenna, is how you would expect her to be. She’s curious, and has a natural knack for finding out the truth. And trouble always seems to find her.
There’s no shortage of anything in this book. From what I recall, once the story starts, it’s pretty much the same pace from then on to the end of the book.
** spoiler alert **
This story is about a girl who is from a time where such a thing like Time Travel, exists. They’ve escaped from their own time. They’ve come to their past, which is now their present time. When they left, their world was plagued by a deadly disease.
Brainwashed by her Leaders and their strict rules, Prenna James can never really interact with anyone. Except with her own people, the very people who came back with her. Prone to follow the rules that the Leaders have set. She believes that she’s helping the future world.
Then one day she realizes that she’s broken one of the most important rules. She’s fallen in love. With Ethan Jarves. The problem is that Ethan is not of her own people. Ethan is what they call, a Time Native.
Together, they uncover Prenna’s community’s lies, and together, they start a new future.
I thought that this story was going to have a very different turn out than the one it does have. There were a few plot twists that I didn’t really anticipate, but they generally weren’t really surprising either. Just going along with the Prenna’s point of view, you can tell that she has many internal struggles with the rules that the leaders have set. With this I feel like, Prenna tries to innocently break almost every rule, but still within the boundaries of the rules. I didn’t love this book as much as I hoped I would. I dont think I’ll be reading it again anytime soon.
Thank you for reading my review of The Here and Now by Ann Brashares! If you’re interested in reading this story, you can click the cover above to be led to The Here and Now on Goodreads!
Adele
Adele Is Reading 
One thought on “The Here and Now by Ann Brashares | ARC – Book Review #103”