Yesterday by CK Kelly Martin: Review

Author: C.K Kelly Martin
Pages: 368 pages
Release Date: September 25th, 2012
Status: book 1 in the Yesterday's Series.

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

THEN: The formation of the UNA, the high threat of eco-terrorism, the mammoth rates of unemployment and subsequent escape into a world of virtual reality are things any student can read about in their 21st century textbooks and part of the normal background noise to Freya Kallas's life. Until that world starts to crumble.

NOW: It's 1985. Freya Kallas has just moved across the world and into a new life. On the outside, she fits in at her new high school, but Freya feels nothing but removed. Her mother blames it on the grief over her father's death, but how does that explain the headaches and why do her memories feel so foggy? When Freya lays eyes on Garren Lowe, she can't get him out of her head. She's sure that she knows him, despite his insistence that they've never met. As Freya follows her instincts and pushes towards hidden truths, the two of them unveil a strange and dangerous world where their days may be numbered. Unsure who to trust, Freya and Garren go on the run from powerful forces determined to tear them apart and keep them from discovering the truth about their shared pasts (and futures), her visions, and the time and place they really came from. Yesterday will appeal to fans of James Dashner's The Maze Runner, Veronica Roth's Divergent, Amy Ryan's Glow, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, and Ally Condie's Matched.

I had so many feels before and after reading book, you don't even know. The book is written by a Candian author and grew up in the GTA (like me!), and this whole book centred around the GTA which I love! I actually knew all the places where the main characters, Freya and Garren, went to so that was amazing!

This book is set both in the future (2063) and in the past (1985). Freya is living in 2063 where her parents had just betrayed her- they are the reason why her brother Latham is dead. Before she realizes it, she and her mother are being taken away by these robot cops that look like humans (sorry, I borrowed the book from the library and I don't have it with me right now). She then wakes up in Brampton, Ontario (that's a suburban city just outside of Toronto) in 1985. She has just moved from New Zealand after her father's death and is recovering from a sickness which she caught while moving back home to Canada.

Her mother, her younger sister Olivia, and her are all very much alive, and Freya tries to shake the uneasiness that she's feeling to focus on the fact that she is going to a Canadian highschool for the first time. There, at John A. McDonald High, she makes friends and tries to live a normal life of a teenager. But when she goes to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum) with her school, she sees a very gorgeous looking guys whom she later learns is Garren Lowe. Other than his mysterious good looks, she can't help but feel like she knows him from somewhere...from someplace she can't remember.

I really love this book. I REALLY, REALLY DO and I HIGHLY recommend it to everyone! Seriously, the plot is amazing, the characters are really out of this world, and the plot-twists will seriously leave you wanting more. The book ends on a good note plot wise, but the C.K Kelly Martin's writing style is so compelling that you will be in a mourning period till you get to the second book.

With that said, that concludes the non-spoilery part of my review (for those who have not read the book). You are now free to have fun on my blog, or buy Yeterday's sequel, Tomorrow. Why? Because this next part involves:

 

*********

OKAY, CAN WE PLEASE TALK ABOUT THE AWESOMENESS OF THIS BOOK?

 

When I first read the first chapters of Yesterday, I was a little bored with Freya trying to intergrate herself in a normal Canadian-teen life (since I knew by reading the synopsis, that part would really be insignificant later on), but I was still really intrigued and into the book.

 

In the beginning, I was all for Seth and Freya, till I realized the guy mentioned in the flap of the book was named Garren, so I was really happy that she didn't go for him. Like I said, I wasn't really interested in Freya settling herself in a normal life, but I was interested as to what was going on in her head.

 

While she was still living in Brampton, she had Winston Churchill quotes in her head, I was like WTF? Why? But later on, it made more sense.

 

I was sooooo confused as to what she really was. I knew she WASN'T an alien, but I knew she wasn't from 1985 either, since in the beginning of the novel, she has like that little burst of random facts of the 80's in her head. I seriously thought that Martin wrote Freya as an incarnation, because I thought she was euthanized in the prologue (but don't worry, she wasn't). But then, I realized that on the book's back, it said What if your only future was in the past? so then I got to thinking: maybe she's a time traveller like Doctor Who!

 

I was totally NOT expecting what the author had written: Freya, Garren, one of Garren's mom's, her mom and Olivia (who really isn't her sister) were sent back to 1985 from the year 2063 at another shot of life and to prevent global warming from destroying all of humanity. LIKE WHAT KIND OF MIND BLOWING PLOT IS THAT?!

 

When Freya and Garren went to their 'grandpa's' place, it made sense: they were sent back to the past for a second shot at life. When she goes to the hypnotist and she is able to tap into her memories from 2063, it all made sense to the point where I just felt stupid for thinking they were incarnations. You don't even know.

 

I really liked Martin's writting style, I really and honestly do! It doesn't go back and forth between past and present like Tomorrow (which I head does), but when Freya switches from the 80's to the 21st century, it's effortless. That part where Freya goes back to 2063 reminded me of Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke & Bone. I enjoyed that book as well, but for me, it seemed to be written better in Yesterday- it was written nicely in DoSaB, but it felt like it dragged on for a bit whereas in this book, it still kept the plot at a good pace. A PLUS PLUS FOR YOU KELLY!

 

What I liked overall was the fact that I could connect to 80's Canada. It is similar to our time now (just no crazy fashion sense (if you don't count half of Hollywood), better music and less technology), that sometimes I forgot that they were even IN the 80s. Seriously. There was a part in the book where Garren goes to call VIA Railways to check what time the train comes and how much their tickets would cost. I was seriously sitting on my bed just like, "What are guys doing? Just Google it- oh." and honestly, that happened a bit throughout the book. It's weird knowing that we rely on so much technology, but it's freaking scary to know the excessive amount of dependency that we have on it while reading this book.

 

And the characters! Oh, how I love the characters! Garren was just really annoying for me for the most part of the book because I was upset that he couldn't remember ANYTHING! Like, you think he would start believing Freya when they got ran out of Harry's place. But I can tell you I liked him a whole lot better when he DID remember.

 

I really disliked Freya's mom both in the future and in the past; her mom cheated on her dad and she was just so...I can't describe her. I just didn't like her, which was really good, since the narrator IS a teenage girl. I was really mind-blown when I learned Olivia wasn't really her sister, but at the same time, it made sense because she only mention Latham in the prologue. It's weird to think of her as the president's daughter though. And as for her father, we don't get to see him much- both in 2063 and the 80's. I don't like him either, since he got rid of their housekeeper from Mexico and he let Latham die (I guess I don't like authority figures much).

 

I was really sad when I learned what happened to Latham and Kinnari (btw, was she Asian? Because that sounds/looks like a very Asian name), but was really most interested in the fact that Freya had the second sight even in 2063.

 

The ending was very mind-blowing for me. Freya saving Freya...that's so trippy. And when she realizes that her visions of Garren dying AREN'T visions but other versions of what happened already is just so trippy. That's what this book was trippy. In a good way.

 

But what I want to know is if Freya's second sight is the end result of her just repeating the same situations over again, but having different end results each time she goes back to the past (confusing, huh? Well, go read the book!). I really can't wait till I get my hands on Tomorrow (I really hope my library has it!). I really love this series and I even got my librarian at school to go out and find the series so he could add it to our school's library! Anyways, I give this book 4 out of 5 stars! This is a very highly recommended book!

 

Happy Tuesday everyone!