Review: The Here and Now by Ann Brashares

Here's the description from Netgalley:
Follow the rules. Remember what happened. Never fall in love.

This is the story of seventeen-year-old Prenna James, who immigrated to New York when she was twelve. Except 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.

But everything changes when Prenna falls for Ethan Jarves.
So believe it or not, this is actually my first time ever reading anything by Ann Brashares.  I know she wrote those traveling pants books.  Never read them.  But this book was a lot of fun.  It's the kind of book that makes your heart race, and I kept finding myself reading at the oddest moments, just because I needed to find out what was going to happen.  I'd be boiling water, and on would go my Nook.  I'd be waiting for the boyfriend to bring dinner to the table, and I'd sneak in a few pages.

The story and the characters are what made the book for me.  I love time travel in books, as long as it's believeable.  And it was in this book.  Prenna and her mother have come from the future, the 2090's I think?  And so it's not hard for me to be like "okay, by then someone has developed a time machine."  They had to leave because a terrible blood plague was killing everyone, and the group of people who came back to 2010 originally come back to try to stop it fom happening.

Prenna was a lot of fun as a narrator for me.  Once she realizes that the other travelers aren't really doing anything to stop the horrible future from happening, she decides to take matters into her own hands, with the help of Ethan, who I loved.  He is really the perfect YA love interest, because he's sweet and he's smart, and he respects Prenna.  He's not trying to get in her pants (well, he's sweetly trying I guess, but he's not pushy, and I like that, it sets a good example).

All in all, I really enjoyed this book.  I can't wait to discuss it with someone!!  So if you've read it, comment or tweet me!

Title: The Here and Now
Author: Ann Brashares
Date of Publication: April 8th, 2014
Number of Pages: 256
Genre: YA
Source: Netgalley