My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century

Details

Title: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century

Author: Rachel Harris

Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication Year: 2012

Language: English

Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, Adventure

Rating: 10/10

Continuation: It is the first book in the "My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century".

Pages: 328

Review

Cat Crawford is a simple teen and the last thing she wants is a grand gala thrown by her bubbly step-mother and well-meaning father for her sixteenth birthday. She is taken to Florence, Italy as a peace offering and she sets out to explore the wonderful city. Her curiosity leads her into a gypsy tent and when she exits, she's in the Renaissance.

Carrying only a bagpack stuffed with items from the future, she meets her sweet ancestors, Cipriano and Alessandra. Soon, she falls in love with the gorgeous Lorenzo, an aspiring artist. But when the much-older, Niccolo, starts sniffing around for her hand, she realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to a creepy, unwanted suitor. She must find herself into modern times, before she gets stuck in the Renaissance Firenze forever.

This novel  was positively wonderful. The plot was fresh and funny, compared to other historical fiction novels. I found that the protagonist, Cat Crawford, was quite charming and very endearing to the reader. 

The plot, coupled with the remarkable structure and language in this novel, keeps the reader captivated till the very end. While the story has a fantastical theme, the details given make the adventure seem realistic and quite interesting. 

Cat's romance with Lorenzo will leave teenage girls with fluttering hearts. Their romance is full of fiery passion and Harris does a wonderful job describing it. Whenever the couple has a romantic moment, the author provided fantastic imagery and makes it simple for the reader to feel what Cat does. "Lorenzo places his hands on either side of my face, lowering his head to stare directly into my eyes. His voice is barely above a whisper as he says, "you are my dream now." This very extract from the novel displays the dreaminess factor of Lorenzo, better than anything I could say would.

The overall adventure element of the novel was developed quite well. The story contains tons of action and high adrenaline moments. Her journey, even after she comes back to the the modern age, continues to provide surprises to the reader. Harris has a way of placing the reader into the middle of the action with her use of language and art of description.

The author's style of writing is quite impressive, so I would definitely recommend this book. I will also recommend having a look at other books she has written.