In Until We Meet Again, Renee Collins combines time travel and an intriguing mystery with a sweet romance and the resulting story is unique and engaging.

Cassandra is less than thrilled to be spending her summer vacation with her family in Massachusetts instead of Paris with her best friend. But all of that changes once she meets a mysterious stranger on the beach one moonlit night. Lawrence Foster is handsome, charming and by some strange twist of fate, he has time traveled from 1925 to the present. They are both living in the same house during the two different time periods and the only place they can be together is on the isolated stretch of the beach where they first met. Curious about the history of the house, Cassandra learns distressing information about Lawrence and in an effort to prevent the unthinkable, she and Lawrence are determined to uncover the truth about the events that took place 90 years earlier.

In the beginning, Cassandra is a little self-absorbed but once she meets Lawrence, she puts all of her energy into researching those long ago events. She is creative and resourceful and although she is afraid that their actions in the present could have change history, once she knows the truth about what happened to Lawrence, nothing is going to stop her investigation. Cassandra genuinely cares for Lawrence and as her concern for him deepens, she grows and matures into a very likable character.

Delightfully debonair, Lawrence is definitely hero material. Having lost his mother the previous year, he is spending the summer with his uncle before heading off to college. Although he has no interest in following in his father's footsteps, he is willing to do what is expected of him. However, his obedience begins to waver once he learns what his uncle has planned for him. The more information he and Cassandra uncover, the more afraid he becomes of the people his uncle is involved with. Not wanting to endanger himself or his uncle, Lawrence remains reluctant to defy him, but will that change once he learns the truth about what is going on?

The mystery aspect of the storyline is quite fascinating. Cassandra's research is often tedious and yields little results, but she perseveres in spite of her lack of progress. The investigation is also very interesting since the time travel element allows both Cassandra and Lawrence to track down information during the different time periods. Lawrence is able to fully explore the clues that she unearths while Cassandra can then use the internet and local library to research the information he uncovers.

The time travel portion of Until We Meet Again is equally well written and rather unique. The fact that they are basically living parallel lives in the same place yet different time periods provides added interest to the overall plot. The novel alternates between Cassandra and Lawrence's perspectives which gives readers the opportunity to experience life in both 1925 and the present.

Until We Meet Again is a captivating young adult novel that is the perfect blend of mystery and romance. The storyline is distinctive and well-researched with the Roaring Twenties springing vibrantly to life. The characters are multi-dimensional with distinct voices that remain true to their respective time periods. Renee Collins brings the novel to a suspense-laden conclusion that is poignant yet realistic. All in all, an outstanding novel that I recommend to readers of all ages. ( )

Disclosure: I received a copy from the author/publisher, in exchange for an honest review. This does not influence my review in any shape or form.

Have you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a different era? Or what it would be like to take a peek into a different era? To see what life was like, was it simple, was it complicated?

Now imagine this, you’re a teenager on summer break whose “dying” of boredom and you go to hang out at the beach and there you see a boy whose on your property and you try and figure out how he got there. Soon you realize that you are in 2015 and he’s from 1925. Is it possible? Can this be true or is this a fragment of your imagination?

Until We Meet Again is the story of Cassandra and Lawrence. It is a story of two people whom are 100 years apart who fall in love. But can you really fall in love with someone you can’t have because destiny doesn’t allow you to? That is the tale told in Until We Meet Again.

Cassandra is your typical dramatic teenage from 2015 who is just “dying” of boredom because she’s away from friends from the summer. But isn’t that the case for most teenagers in a YA novel set during the summer? Cassandra was hard to connect to at times because I just couldn’t deal with her childish behavior at times.

Lawrence is from 1925, the time where speakeasies were all the rage, flappers were the kind of girls you’d find at a party and the mob held order while others turned a blind eye to the life of crime. He’s a gentle soul. The sweet and generous young man whose nothing but a gentlemen.

If you can interact with someone who’s almost 100 years apart, you’re bond to mess time but could it be worth the risk? We see the consequences of what could happen if you mess with time and the effects it may have on the future. I have to say it wasn’t executed properly, I felt like there was just so many loop holes and so many questions I needed answered. It left me a bit unsatisfied.

The story was fascinating and I was hooked from the beginning because I was so curious about how this would turn out. Would it be sweet? Would it be bittersweet? Although, I am left with mixed feelings at the end of the story, the writing was good and kept the story going even when it struggled a bit. Would I recommend it? Sure.

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Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins swept me off my feet! It a fantastic time travel romance that I couldn't put down until I had finished the book. It is full of mystery, suspense, romance and I experienced a gambit of emotions while reading this book.

If you enjoy reading time travel romance books, this book is right up your alley!

Thank you to Source Fire and Netgalley for the opportunity to review this book in exchange for an honest review. ( )

Cassandra (“Cass”) is 17, and is spending the summer before her senior year with her family in a beach house in Crest Harbor, Massachusetts. She is bored, resentful, and rebellious, and goes looking for trouble with the other bored rich kids around the area. Then one night on their private beach during a full moon, she meets Lawrence, who has just turned 18 and is also broody and unhappy. His father is insisting he go to Harvard in the fall and become a lawyer, in a life of “carefully planned obedience,” but Lawrence wants to write poetry. With Cass, Lawrence finds a kindred spirit, and they both fall in love with each other. But they have a bit of a problem. Lawrence lives in 1925, and Cass lives one hundred years later, in 2015. They cannot leave the beach and be together.

Cass goes to the library to see if she can find out more about who Lawrence and his family were, and discovers to her horror that Lawrence is in danger. She is determined to help him; but is it possible to change history? And if she does, can they be together?

Discussion: I liked this book a lot more after I finished it; the ending is very good. But I had some issues with the plot leading up to the dénouement.

First, Cass doesn’t seem very bright (no surprise since she doesn’t consider that reading books might be an option to relieve boredom). She finds out early on that her meetings with Lawrence have in fact changed history, but then forgets it or discounts it.

Cass gets bent out of shape when she learns about Fay, a girl Lawrence dated before he even met Cass (and for that matter, one hundred years earlier). And yet, at the end, Cass has no reaction to related information she finds out about Lawrence.

Some of the main characters go through whopping personality changes that defy belief, the biggest being Lawrence’s beloved Uncle Ned, but also including Fay, the girl Lawrence had been dating before Cass, and even Cass’s mother. Most of the side characters are more caricatures that characters.

Some of the writing isn’t so great either. The metaphors can be a stretch: “Time howls on, like the wind.” Cass keeps telling Lawrence that everything “sucks” - one would think he might need clarification. She also talks about pictures on her phone, yet another thing you would think would cause him to wonder. (Although they spend many hours talking, she decides it would be wrong to tell him too much about the future.) And in the very beginning, Cass describes two good-looking male friends in Crest Harbor by saying: “Both have the classic all-American look - tall, sparkling blue eyes, and a crop of blond hair that’s been gelled to scientific levels of perfection.” All American? I found that offensive.

Evaluation: In spite of some quibbles I had with some of the writing and some of the plot elements, this is an appealing romance with some added suspense and an unexpected ending. ( )

Until We Meet Again by Renee Collins is a young adult paranormal romance. It is the summer before her senior year and Cassandra is forced to spend the summer with her mother and step-father at the Massachusetts North Shore (a rich community on the beach). Cassandra is a bored teenager who would rather be anywhere else. One night she decides to swim in the neighbor’s private pool and is caught by their security guard. She is grounded by her mother. Cassandra has to go to a party that evening (as punishment) and goes out to the beach. She sees a light flash from the moon and then sees Lawrence. He is also avoiding a party in his honor.

They gradually discover that they are both living in the same house but many years apart. Lawrence Foster is from 1925 and staying with his uncle, Ned Foster for the summer. The can only meet on this stretch of beach. Why are they able to see each other and how is it happening? Why only this stretch of beach behind the house? Cassandra starts researching Lawrence and his family to find out what happened to him. The more time they spend together, the more they fall in love. Are they destined to be together?

Until We Meet Again is a story of two star-crossed lovers. I am afraid that I did not enjoy reading Until We Meet Again. I found Cassandra to overly dramatic and very spoiled. There is really no chemistry between Lawrence and Cassandra (at least none that came across in the novel). I found Until We Meet Again to be very superficial. There is depth to the characters (we never even got Cassandra’s last name). I liked the story idea, but not the final product. The ending was unsatisfactory (and just made me call the book a bunch of twaddle). I give Until We Meet Again 2 out of 5 stars (I like Lawrence and the ghost idea).

I received a complimentary copy of Until We Meet Again from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. ( )