Book Review: Alex Charles – The Evening Oak by Kim Reynolds

Title: Alex Charles: The Evening Oak (Alex Charles #1)

Author: Kim Reynolds

Pages: 270 Hardcover

My Rating: 4/5 stars

Source: I received a book from the author in exchange for an honest and thoughtful review

Could you believe the impossible? What if time travel is actually possible? Alex Charles is an intelligent, level-headed, high school graduate. Her parents had died in an unexpected horrific accident, when she was just 16. Friends, parties, and an unknown destiny are part of normal everyday life; but then again, she wasn’t any average girl. Enter the proverbial long-lost-uncle, Joseph Graham. Warm hearted, smart, handsome, but very mysterious due to one reoccurring issue… he is running out of time. What exactly is the “family business” that her mother kept secret all these years? (Summary, courtesy of Goodreads.com)

I love books about time travel. Even more, I love books about time travel that are written extremely well. Alex Charles: The Evening Oak is most definitely one of those books! I loved learning about the oh, so serious Alex, her fun-loving uncle, and the secret family business that up until recently, Alex had no idea even existed.

I love the main character Alex! She is a girl you feel for right from the beginning. We meet Alex during a very tough time in her life. She is still dealing with the emotional turmoil of losing both of her parents less than two years ago. On top of that she must deal with the fact that graduation has come and gone and she still has no direction in mind for her future. She spends her days trying to relax with her great group of friends but feels herself slowly losing grips on what she wants out of life. Up until this point the only “family” she had was her neighbor AND guardian Lilly and her close-knit group of friends. A strange call from a man changes all of this though! The man that calls Alex claiming that he is “running out of time” is in fact her long-lost uncle. After debating with herself over it, Alex decides that it would be beneficial to meet him. Soon she is swept up in all of the possibilities that her Uncle Joe offers her.

Alex and Joe together are like the two greatest characters you could imagine. Alex is this serious, always thinking type of character. Her mind is constantly racing with questions and possible answers. She is lonely, scared, and wants nothing more than to feel at home. Joe is quite the opposite. I loved learning all about him right along with Alex! He is charming, easy-going, charismatic, but most importantly he offers Alex something she has gone a long time without and that is a strong family connection. These two gave each other so much that my heart just about melted! I love that Alex was able to find such happiness with her family again!

The way that time traveling was introduced in this book was phenomenal and so extremely unique. The gift to time travel is hereditary. If you are a member of the Graham family (Alex’s mom was a Graham), you possess the ability to travel back in time. Once you marry, your spouse and then all of your children inherit that ability. The point of time travel in this particular novel is to choose a certain person, situation, or problem and go back in time and fix it. If someone dies a horrible, terrible death then members of the Graham family can go back in time and attempt to stop it from happening. Throughout their lifetime they have a total of 7 time travel jumps. Once they travel back in time for the 7^th time, they will stay in that time period and carry out their lives. I just found this whole concept to be a breath of fresh air; there is an actual point to time travel in this novel!

This book is really about two separate stories; the first is Alex’s account of learning about her uncle and the time traveling business she is supposed to carry on with. The second story we learn about is of Joe’s very first time traveling experience. We get to learn about Joe’s first love and why they could not stay together. It was heart-breaking and beautiful at the same time but I have a feeling this will not be the last time we hear about Joe and his long-lost Laura Chestnut.

I love this book and I am already half-way through the second in the series. Kimberly does such a wonderful job of mixing romance, family, history, and time travel all together in this one-of-a-kind book!