Review: Shadow of Time by Jen Minkman

Author:

Jen Minkman

Release Date:

It's already out! Only available on Amazon. 

Grade:

Does It Have a Trailer?

Cover:

I don't think it's that great but there a great measure of symbolism on it. The butterfly, the guy and girl in the cave with the sunlight only of them. 

Add it to Goodreads here.

Summary/Synopsis

All Hannah needs is a nice and quiet vacation after her first year of teaching French at a high school. She joins her brother Ben for the summer in their mom’s log cabin in Arizona. There, she meets Josh again, Ben’s childhood friend from the Navajo reservation. The little boy from the rez has grown up fast, and Hannah can’t help but feeling more for him than just friendship.
But fate apparently has something else in store for her. And it’s not peace and quiet. Night after night, Hannah is plagued by strange nightmares about the past of Navajo Nation and terrifying shadows chasing her. They seem to come closer – and why is Josh always present in her dreams?
Sometimes, the past has a way of catching up with you.

     I love it! The culture, the language, the romance and paranormal forces made this novel amazing.

     The characters were well developed in each and every way possible. I got to know every one of them and in their own way, they were simply awesome. All of them had a different personality and I know, all books are required to have to have different people with different personalities but in a way, I felt that in Shadow of Time that they were actually real people. Someone I could imagine walking down the street or saying "Hi" to me.

     Hannah, herself, was a very relatable character. Someone normal. It was refreshing to read about someone who sang out loud in her car. She's not a teenager but she's young. Recently out of college, teaching French to freshman. Her relationship with every other character is well thought out. It's doesn't feel forced but a good-hearted love like with her brother, Ben. Ben is such a cool guy. Seriously. He protects his sister without hesitation. Which I'm pretty sure is what a brother/sister is suppose to do, haha. Her relationship with her old friends is as if they were never apart!

     The way Jen brought both supernatural elements along with Native American culture, more specifically Navajo culture, and reincarnation is not something we see everyday. I mean sure, we have reincarnation stories like Fallen by Lauren Kate or Daughter of Smoke & Bone by Laini Taylor but here we see it in a new light. I don't want to give away too much but I can definitely vouch that reincarnation, in this instance, is not all about love but something greater.

     This may be something you may or may not know about me but I am such a hopeless romantic and Josh and Hannah have a history and a click that just makes me smile. Although, I did think that when Hannah said that she use to look at Josh as a brother is a bit weird, you get to know why and it's explained. Everything is easy to follow and truly interesting. I found myself asking my teacher the next day if she knew anything about Native American culture and it's history. Of course she did considering she's a World History teacher, it would have been awkward if she didn't.

     The only thing I did have a problem with was the lack of action in the end where Hannah, Ben, and Josh faced the bad guys. Don't get me wrong, Jen did something that absolutely scared me... a lot but I just wanted more of a physical fighting as opposed to a spiritual/mental one but I think that makes the situation even more frightful because these "shadows" are invading her mind, it's not something she can physically fight until Josh and Ben explain a way.

     This is one of those instances where self-published books can be great. It was originally published in Dutch but Jen decided to publish it here as a self-pubbed author. This is one of those books that makes me want to take more of a chance on self-published books. I hope this proves that books like these can be good. Jen's writing was fantastic, the culture is explained without boring paragraphs and paragraphs. It's captures and lures you in and it leaves you wanting to read faster and just know what happens!