Review: 3:59 by Gretchen Mcneil

By: unknown on Saturday, October 19, 2013

 



3:59 by Gretchen Mcneil

Released: September 17th, 2013

Published by Balzer & Bray

Hardcover, 368 pages
Source: eBook
Reviewed by Angela

 

Josie Byrne's life is spiraling out of control. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend Nick has grown distant, and her physics teacher has it in for her. When she's betrayed by the two people she trusts most, Josie thinks things can't get worse.

Until she starts having dreams about a girl named Jo. Every night at the same time—3:59 a.m.

Jo's life is everything Josie wants: she's popular, her parents are happily married, and Nick adores her. It all seems real, but they're just dreams, right? Josie thinks so, until she wakes one night to a shadowy image of herself in the bedroom mirror – Jo.

Josie and Jo realize that they are doppelgängers living in parallel universes that overlap every twelve hours at exactly 3:59. Fascinated by Jo's perfect world, Josie jumps at the chance to jump through the portal and switch places for a day.

But Jo’s world is far from perfect. Not only is Nick not Jo's boyfriend, he hates her. Jo's mom is missing, possibly insane. And at night, shadowy creatures feed on human flesh.

By the end of the day, Josie is desperate to return to her own life. But there’s a problem: Jo has sealed the portal, trapping Josie in this dangerous world. Can she figure out a way home before it’s too late?
From master of suspense Gretchen McNeil comes a riveting and deliciously eerie story about the lives we wish we had – and how they just might kill you.

 

Review: (May contain spoilers)

Okay. I just finished this. I rarely write reviews right after I finish a book but this book NEEDS to have a review written right now. Because I just finished this, the emotions are still tumbling through me. I'm a mess. 

Right after I read the summery of 3:59, I knew it was book I needed to read. Come on, I love parallel universe books. Josie's life sucks. Oh man, it really sucks. Her parents are divorcing, her boyfriend is a -insert cuss word-, and was just betrayed by the two people most dear in her life. Then she's turned into the laughingstock of her school. I honestly would've gone mad. After some "incident", she starts seeing another person's life at exactly 3:59 everyday. And that person is herself. In a parallel universe. Holy cannoli. The other Josie, "Jo", has the perfect life that Josie wants. Happy parents, a good relationship with her boyfriend, everything is just sunnier in her life. So when the chance comes to switch places for a day come, she snatches it. Oh boy. Turns out, Jo is an evil version of herself and has been trapped in that parallel universe.

The thing with books that involve a lot of science is that I don't understand 80% of the science terms. I have a science deprived brain. But even though I couldn't fully grasp the concepts and how the portals and quantum physics worked, I still have a pretty good idea of what was happening. Thankfully. I have read a few other parallel universe books, the latest one being "Parallel" by Lauren Miller. Amazing by the way, check it out. Maybe it was because I read that first, I found that Parallel was more developed in thinking and plot and was more realistic. This book isn't underdeveloped, obviously. You can tell much thought and research has gone into it. But I just found that Parallel made more sense, in my mind at least. Okay enough comparing with these two books.

Truth to be told, I didn't like Josie that much. I didn't dislike her, but I can't say she's my favourite female MC either. Have you watched Coraline girl? You don't just go into another universe just because they seem like they're the "same" people as you. Seriously? Wow. Well she certainly was desperate enough. Suppose your doppelgänger wasn't like, evil, but what if something happened to the portal, something happened to the connectivity of your two worlds, and you're stuck there? No, you didn't think of that, since that's exactly what happened. Your evil twin outsmarted you. (okay, she's not actually "evil", nor is she her "twin") Other than that, and her desperation to get back with her boyfriend and sulking, she was okay. I saw the romance coming from a mile away. Though I wasn't sure how I felt about it, since (SPOILERS) Nick cheated on her in her own world. It was like, oh yeah, even though my boyfriend cheated on me, but I love him too much so I still love him *\(^o^)/* But then it finally dawned to me near the end that this was the parallel universe Nick. Not the douchebag Nick from her own universe. From then on I was all, WOOTWOOT. 

Fast paced, page turning, PLOT TWISTING, oh my god, I don't even want to mention how many times that occurred. But it was good, predictable books aren't as fun. I definitely recommend it. Go. Read it. NOW. The reason I didn't give it five stars is because I compared it to Parallel. In my opinion, it was a slight better, but this is interesting enough too. It deserves your time.

P.S. THE ENDING. GAAAAAAAAAHHHH.

4.5/5 stars