[Review] My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century - Rachel Harris

Summary: On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family's trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze.Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever? (Pub Date: Sep 11, 2012)

Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.

This has been rereleased with a cute new cover and I confess I would have missed the book had it used the original one.

Cat is a fan of Renaissance art but finds herself in a conundrum as she's come Florence with her smitten father and her future stepmother, who won't stop planning for her Sweet Sixteen. As she goes for a walk on her own, she meets a gypsy, who transports her into the sixteenth century, with a new identity and family. That's where she also meets the aspiring artist Lorenzo, in whom she finds a reason to fight for what she wants.

I confess I wasn't in the right moment to read this or I could have enjoyed it more. Still, I don't think I'd give it four stars. I can't judge the research involved—although I'm sure the author put effort on accuracy—but the writing was more of the same. Most of the time, it felt like I was watching some movie, as this plot is much more recurrent in movies.

I'd say it needed more polishing. Cat's thoughts were all over the place. I was glad she considered the clichés—like when she says she knows she'll be eventually back. I guess this is what diverges the most from other stories, in which the time-traveler character loses pages and pages or even whole chapters angsting about whether he will ever go home, when the tone of the story makes it obvious he will. Still, I was still a little bored whenever Cat started thinking too much—again, I know I got this book at the wrong moment. I'm sure younger readers won't be as sensitive to this.

Continuing on how Rachel Harris knew how to play the cliché, I really liked the insertion of Niccolo. I'd prefer him if he were a little less of a villain but he gave some life to the story. I don't even like this type of plot but I liked it here, the book needed it. It brought adversity a little too late but it was present, as well as many comic moments.

In all, it was an enjoyable read but I missed feeling engaged to it. There was something with the romance and the lightheartedness Cat dealt with her predicament that didn't bring me as close as I needed to the story in order to feel it more. It's hard to explain well, but it's still what happened.

I see this is the first of a trilogy and I found the idea very funny for a series. I do consider checking the following books, looking forward to seeing how Harris has progressed.

Rating: 3 out of 5.