Book Review: The Crystal Locket & Giveaway!

March 10, 2015

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The Crystal Locket
Julia Lawrence
236 pages
Kindle edition

From the Publisher:
The Crystal Locket: Key to the Tunnels of Time is a young adult historical fantasy that takes you on a time traveling journey to ancient Egypt and the time of America’s Independence. Thirteen-year-old orphaned twins, Andrew and Kristine Taylor, discover an ancient crystal locket, in the Cold Hollow Mountains that when opened whisks them away deep into the past. They experience this exciting romp through time with their dog Chaz and a know-it-all guide called Copycat. Andrew turns into a Egyptian messenger from the Gods and Kristine, an Egyptian princess-just a few of the many changes they encounter. Along the way, they’ll learn disturbing secrets, surprising information, and the realization that they can’t trust anyone…

Review:
One day on Facebook, a friend of mine, Julia, posted about how she had a box of the book that she published and if anyone wanted a copy, she had a few available.  What?!  I had never known that she published a book.  I I knew she was a talented freelance writer, but I never knew she published a book (actually she has published a couple!).  I quickly looked it up on my kindle and bought a copy and couldn’t wait to start reading.  A couple weeks went by, but once life finally calmed down for a day, I finally made it back around to this book and I couldn’t put it down.

This is a fun time-travel book that I think my kids would love.  The twins in the book are 13 years old, but as they travel in time they change and become different ages and appearances to fit the time period they are in.  One time when they jump time, Andrew turned into a middle age man with a belly, I got a kick out of his own reaction to himself, and I just know my own kids would giggle when they read it too.

The book is pretty fast paced and there is always something around the corner.  There were definitely some parts that I did not see coming.  The time travel is fun and I think there is some educational value in there as well too.  I think my oldest, who loved Magic Tree House as a younger reader, would really think these are fun and adventurous, and a “grown up” version of time travel that is perfect for a middle reader.  I think if you love Harry Potter, or Percy Jackson you would enjoy these as well too.  

The only bad thing(if you consider it bad) is that the first book ends with some-what of a cliff hanger, which leaves me really looking forward to reading the second book.

Great book for adults if you like middle reader fiction, or any preteen-teen who loves adventurous, historical, mythological fiction.

Giveaway!

I thought since I know Julia, it would be fun to feature a giveaway and do an author interview! Win a signed copy of The Crystal Locket by leaving one comment on the blog and/or on the Facebook link to this post and tell me where you would travel in time if you could travel anywhere. The giveaway will end Thursday, March 12 at midnight.  The winner will be chosen at random from amongst all commenters in both locations in both locations and announced here, on the blog, Friday, March 13.

So….where would you travel in time?
Happy Time Travels.  
Check back tomorrow for the interview.


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