The Girl From Everywhere (The Girl From Everywhere #1) by Heidi Heilig
3.5/5 stars
This book was a beautiful whimsical adventure that I thoroughly enjoyed! Though I did end up having a few issues with it overall.
The beginning of this book is phenomenal! I was immediately immersed in this world of pirate ships and time travel and maps and maps and more maps! All things that I love of course. However, the middle of the book because far less interesting to me. Again, I did enjoy this read and will be picking up the second installment of this series soon!
The Story
Nix is a girl from everywhere. She has spent her entire life on board the Temptation traveling from map to map, through time and places both real and mythological, in search of the map that will bring her father to the one place he seeks to return. The place where he lost the woman he loves. Nix has her own fears however, mainly that doing so might have the unfortunate side effect of wiping her existence off the map (see what I did there *wink*)
(Goodreads synopsis):
“Nix has spent her entire life aboard her father’s ship, sailing across the centuries, across the world, across myth and imagination.
As long as her father has a map for it, he can sail to any time, any place, real or imagined: nineteenth-century China, the land from One Thousand and One Nights, a mythic version of Africa. Along the way they have found crewmates and friends, and even a disarming thief who could come to mean much more to Nix.
But the end to it all looms closer every day.
Her father is obsessed with obtaining the one map, 1868 Honolulu, that could take him back to his lost love, Nix’s mother. Even though getting it—and going there—could erase Nix’s very existence.
For the first time, Nix is entering unknown waters.
She could find herself, find her family, find her own fantastical ability, her own epic love.
Or she could disappear.”
What I liked
This story was very easy to follow. Time travel books have a way of leaving me behind, and this book did not have that problem. I loved the potential of this book. The magic of the beginning was immersive (as stated in my first thoughts). The idea and the writing was beautiful and whimsical and magical! Also, Kashmir! I love him and the relationship between Nix and Kashmir was adorable! I totally ship these two! (I know, I’m just full of bad jokes today). The ending of this book was also a strong point. It was fast paced and a bit intense for a moment, resolving nicely and intriguingly.
What I did not like
The middle of the book sort of abandoned all of the things I loved about the beginning. The story line took a few turns I was less than enthused about, but made sense in the grand scheme of the book as a whole. Also, the romance between two particular characters felt a bit forced and inta-love-ish (not my favorite way for a character to fall in love/like/whatever).
Basically I liked where I thought the story was going and then it became something else. And not in a great way (at least not for me). It actually became a little more historical than I was expecting and a lot less time travel-y and treasure hunt-y.
In Conclusion
Over all, this was a really solid read!
A Thousand Lives of Frankie Lovely 