Stolen Time

Gr 8 Up—Dorothy and Ash's love story spans centuries, but is set in motion when Dorothy, living in the year 1913, stows away aboard Ash's time machine and winds up in the year 2077. Plenty of cross-space-time adventure—and flirting—ensues. Rollins's sci-fi romance features a diverse cast of characters, which suits the plot's emphasis on access to all of space and time. Chapter headings clearly indicate whose point of view readers are meant to inhabit, and although perspectives and settings change nearly every chapter, these clear markers alleviate potential confusion. Most of the third-person narration alternates between Dorothy and Ash, with the exception of intermittent epistolary chapters written from the perspective of the mysteriously missing Professor, for whom Ash has been searching space-time for years. Paradoxes feature as heavy plot devices, and occasionally the exposition reads as clunky and ill-defined. Romance is the main focus of this trilogy, although both Dorothy and Ash spend so much time internally remarking on their own beauty, it's unclear whether they'll ever have the time to become an item. This light time-travel novel is fast-paced and sprinkled with just enough science-fiction tropes to satisfy most fans of the genre.