Once Every Never [Paperback]

Once Every Never by Lesley Livingston is a fantastic, engaging and highly entertaining Young Adult novel for those who like adventure. Lesley's smooth writing style is irresistible and incredibly impressive, I absolutely loved it.

Clare (or Clarinet if you prefer) is pretty much your typical teenager girl, with a dose of sass. She's a good student, although you wouldn't call her a nerd. She might not be the most popular girl in town, but that's perfectly alright with her, because she gets all the attention and support she needs from her best friend, Allie. While her orchestra-musician parents are on a world tour with the Symphonia Intenationale, Clare is spending her summer vacations in England, under the watchful eye of her aunt, Maggie. Maggie - Dr. Magda Wallace - is a well known and highly respected professor of archeology, who works at the British Museum. You know what that means? Yup, Clare will be spending most of her time exploring the museum's exhibitions. Not a very exciting prospect for Clarinet, but thankfully her best friend, Allie, is there to keep her company. And let's not forget about the super handsome and unbelievably smart Milo, Allie's cousin.

What promised to be an utterly boring and dull summer, all of a sudden turns into a breathtaking time travel adventure when Clare touches one of the artifacts in the museum and is magically transported to AD 60, the times of Queen Boudicca. As it turns out, Clare has the ability to travel in time and it's all due to an ancient blood curse. Now Clare has to figure out how to control her ability and find a long lost artifact, and she has to do all that without altering the time-space continuum and causing irreversible changes to the present. With an uber hot young warrior distracting her, this might prove to be even harder that she thinks.

I had a lot of fun devouring this book. Fast-paced and entertaining, it was an excellent mix of mythology, history, paranormal, adventure and romance. All that spiced up with sharp, hilarious and witty dialogues.

What I liked the most about this novel was Lesley Livingston's fantastic writing style. She tells the story in such a smooth and fun way that it's really impossible to put the book down once you start reading. It's definitely a great page-turner. Most importantly, the dialogues are not forced or overdone, they are realistic, humorous and very entertaining, I was constantly cracking up. What can I say? I really think Lesley is a brilliant storyteller!

It wasn't only the constant question if Clare can actually do something to change the past and if/how it will affect the present that kept me turning the pages, it was Clare, too. As well as Milo and Connal. I wanted to know more about them. I was dying to find out how the whole time-travel-love-triangle will play out and who's going to win Clare's heart in the end. Clarinet is a very likable protagonist and, together with Milo, Connal, Allie and Aunt Maggie, she really made this story.

The historical background provided by the author was skillfully incorporated into the plot in a way that didn't come across as boring or too informative. What we get here is a perfect dose of history, mythology and even some powerful Druid magic.

The ending, while it ties up things nicely, still left me with an impression that there was something lacking in the story. The way the love-triangle played out was a tiny bit unsatisfying to me and I found myself wishing for more emotional depth and some heart breaking drama. That would be my only complaint and the reason for rating this book 4/5 instead of 5/5. Overall, I had a fantastic time with this novel and I hope that Lesley Livingston will decide to write more books featuring Clare, Allie and Milo! I'd love to meet them again!

Once again, L. Livingston does not disappoint, she creates character that you feel for and settings that are vivid. I loved every minute of this book and can't wait to read more from her! Her wondrous strange series is a must read as well!

I like this book, its got the normal world of teenagers trying to work out what happens to a girl who touches an artefact and goes into history for a few minutes and sees the time of AD60 the times of Queen Boudicca, so if you like that era you will love this book, Im not too good with the history of this so Im losing interest. Other than that its a great book

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