Gwenth's mom, Claire, lied about when she was born because she didn't want her daughter to lose her childhood to being prepared to lead a life of danger. Now that Gweneth is traveling back in time willy-nilly, Claire takes her to The Guardians for help. The Guardians are an ancient order of men who control the chromograph and have spent centuries studying time travel. Back when Claire was young, her little sister, Lucy, believed that the completion of the twelve time travelers' blood being put in the chronograph would lead to destruction, not the release of a secret. So, Lucy steals the chronograph with Paul and hides in history with it. Then the Guardians fix a chronograph that appears in the past. One of the twelve, Count St. Germain, is the one who provides the new chronograph. After Lucy, the Guardians had to wait for another time traveler to be born. This would be Gideon, who trained with Charlotte. Gideon has been going back in time to collect the travelers' blood for the new chronograph. When they go back in time to visit St. Germain in the late 1700s, Claire wants to keep Gweneth from seeing Count St. Germain because he is dangerous, and she is right. He can read minds and does a force choke on Gweneth for bringing her cellphone and using it to take a picture of two of the Count's friends to try to impress them.
While Gideon is handsome, he is also bossy, controlling, and thinks he is better than Gweneth. She wants to prove him wrong by taking this life that has been thrust upon her, and learning all she can from the ghost that haunts the school, Leslie, and her Google searches, and others. If she has to do this, then she will do it to the best of her ability. Gweneth is utterly believable as a teen who knows little history and a lot of pop culture. She is viewed as the weird girl among her classmates. Leslie is the best friend we all wish we could have, and Claire is the best mom. This book isn't nearly as complicated as it seems. From the first page, this novel snagged me and reeled me in so that I didn't want to put it down. The last page of the book ends on a cliffhanger, which left me dying to read the next book in this trilogy. All three books are available for free with Amazon Unlimited.
Quotes
The past would have been awful, no matter what period you landed in. There was always some horrible thing lurking there--war, smallpox, the plague. If you said the wrong thing, you could be burnt as a witch. Plus, everyone had fleas. You had to use chamberpots, which were tipped out of upstairs windows in the morning--even if someone was walking along the street below.
Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 19)
Kissing, said Leslie, ought really to be taught as a school subject. Preferably, instead of religious studies, which nobody needed.
Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 97)
"Will he die?'
Gideon shrugged. "Not if it was a clean wound. But 18th-century surgery can't really be compared with an episode of 'Grey's Anatomy'"
Kerstin Gier and Anthea Bell (Ruby Red, p 248)
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