Blog Tour: All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill

 

Release Date: September 3rd, 2013

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

 

"You have to kill him." Imprisoned in the heart of a secret military base, Em has nothing except the voice of the boy in the cell next door and the list of instructions she finds taped inside the drain.

Only Em can complete the final instruction. She’s tried everything to prevent the creation of a time machine that will tear the world apart. She holds the proof: a list she has never seen before, written in her own hand. Each failed attempt in the past has led her to the same terrible present—imprisoned and tortured by a sadistic man called the doctor while war rages outside.

Marina has loved her best friend James since the day he moved next door when they were children. A gorgeous, introverted science prodigy from one of America’s most famous families, James finally seems to be seeing Marina in a new way, too. But on one disastrous night, James’s life crumbles apart, and with it, Marina’s hopes for their future. Now someone is trying to kill him. Marina will protect James, no matter what. Even if it means opening her eyes to a truth so terrible that she may not survive it. At least not as the girl she once was. 

 

This book was non-stop and had me guessing and second guessing on just about everything. This is the first book I've read by Cristin Terrill and she is a fantastic writer. This world she created, both timelines, and the characters that populate it are so vivid. Em and Marina live in two completely different worlds, and they also live 4 years apart. Em's job is to travel back 4 years to where Marina is and kill the man that is responsible for the horrible future that she currently inhabits. Sounds fairly cut and dry, but nothing is really as it seems in All Our Yesterdays.

 

Em and Marina are both such interesting characters. Em is darker, her motivations stem from a gruesome world and desperate need to make it all right. Marina, on the surface, is a fairly typical teenage girl. Incredibly self centered and only really concerned about her best friend James and her desperate hope that he loves her the way she loves him. You'd think having these two characters are the main narrators for the book would be jarring, back and forth between such polar opposite personalities. And while it did take me a bit to get used to it, once I got into the story it really gelled together well.

 

I had so many theories on what was really going on throughout the book. On one page I was certain it was one thing, but then by the next chapter I was convinced it was something completely different. This, to me, is the mark of fantastic storytelling. While I was reading, I was under the impression that this was a stand alone novel, and I was fairly satisfied with that. Although I didn't quite understand exactly what was going on at the very end of the book, I did feel like it fit in perfect with the rest of the story. Now I've learned that there is going to be a second book and I am definitely curious to see where Cristin Terrill is planning to take this.

 

This is an awesome book, something a little different from what I usually read, and I'd definitely recommend it to anyone looking for fantastic storylines and well drawn characters. This one's a keeper!