Review: The 57 Lives of Alex Wayfare by M.G. Buehrlen

Release Date: March 4, 2014

Publisher: Strange Chemistry 
Pages: 410
Source:  Purchased

ISBN-10:  1908844930

Rating:4 Hearts

Book Description

"For as long as 17-year-old Alex Wayfare can remember, she has had visions of the past. Visions that make her feel like she’s really on a ship bound for America, living in Jamestown during the Starving Time, or riding the original Ferris wheel at the World’s Fair.

But these brushes with history pull her from her daily life without warning, sometimes leaving her with strange lasting effects and wounds she can’t explain. Trying to excuse away the aftereffects has booked her more time in the principal’s office than in any of her classes and a permanent place at the bottom of the social hierarchy. Alex is desperate to find out what her visions mean and get rid of them.

It isn’t until she meets Porter, a stranger who knows more than should be possible about her, that she learns the truth: Her visions aren’t really visions. Alex is a Descender – capable of traveling back in time by accessing Limbo, the space between Life and Afterlife. Alex is one soul with fifty-six past lives, fifty-six histories.

Fifty-six lifetimes to explore: the prospect is irresistible to Alex, especially when the same mysterious boy with soulful blue eyes keeps showing up in each of them. But the more she descends, the more it becomes apparent that someone doesn’t want Alex to travel again. Ever.

And will stop at nothing to make this life her last."

Review

Short and Sweet:

This was such a fun and intense time-travel-y/past-live-y/soul-mate-y read. The ending was the only thing that held the rating back for me (cliffhanger).

To Elaborate...

Alex keeps having visions that ruin her life. When someone named Porter finally leaves a mysterious message saying he can provide answers, Alex takes a chance and meets him. Through him, she learns that she is a Descender, someone who can access their past lives (and in her case, their are 56 of them). There is someone who doesn't want her traveling though, and she will have to figure out what's really going on before it's too late. 

My favorite thing about this book is the imagery. It's never lengthy, but the descriptions are so original, and they paint the perfect picture of the scenes. Alex goes through several different time periods in history, and it was so awesome reading all the different descriptions about them. I love the whole concept behind the Descender idea, and it made for such an intense read. 

The romance(s- depending on how you look at it) is swoony and sweet. My only complaint is the cliffhanger at the end. I didn't really see it as necessary, but I"m not a fan of cliffhangers anyways. Even though Strange Chemistry is going away, I believe that the author still has plans for a sequel in the spring. Though, I'm not sure if it will self-published or it it's with a different group. It still says Strange Chemistry on Goodreads, so I'm not 100% positive on this, but either way, I'm definitely going to look out for the sequel!

4 Hearts!