I have read other books where the main character believed in God, but didn’t preach or anything it was just made to seem like it was something that was part of their life. And there were times throughout this book that I felt the characters were preaching God, which I honestly didn’t enjoy. It’s just that I’m not entirely sure, personally, what, if any, beliefs I have. Now I completely respect the author’s beliefs. If there was one part I felt quite uncomfortable with, it was the religious aspect. In a world where technology is used so much in everyday life, the lack of this in this book was really nice. Protecting one’s virtue was still considered important. There were dresses, horse and carriages, royal balls, with men working outside while women stayed inside the kitchen. I loved Ashley’s take on time travel, and with so many sci-fi and dystopian novels set in the future, a book set in the past was a nice change of pace.

She helps Karen who is stuck in a time where the royalty are fighting for power and helps a rescue when someone Sarah cares about gets taken. Sarah gets caught up in a whirlwind of adventure as she meets many new faces from the past: Karen, the girl who brought Sarah to this time, a family whom she stays with, as well as a mysterious stranger known only as “The Shadow”. And Sarah’s wish comes true when she and her little sister Lilly gets swept up in a time machine (via a watch) and suddenly finds themselves in the 12th century. Our main character here is Sarah, an 18 year old girl on the verge of starting college but is dreaming of a grand adventure before she tackles this next stage of life. This was my first time reading a YA novel based on time travel but it looked really interesting, and I mean, who wouldn’t want to travel back in time to the 12th century? I do love Downton Abbey, after all. So many movies, TV shows and games have tackled it all with different degrees of success and different methods of how time travel works. Time travel is one of the more interesting and varied forms of supernatural aspects in stories.

*I was given this book in exchange for an honest review*

Chasing Shadows by Ashley Townsend