Review: My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century by Rachel Harris

  My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century
  Author: Rachel Harris
  Publisher: Entangled
  Publication date: September 11th 2012
  My rating: 3.5 stars

 

On the precipice of her sixteenth birthday, the last thing lone wolf Cat Crawford wants is an extravagant gala thrown by her bubbly stepmother and well-meaning father. So even though Cat knows the family’s trip to Florence, Italy, is a peace offering, she embraces the magical city and all it offers. But when her curiosity leads her to an unusual gypsy tent, she exits . . . right into Renaissance Firenze.

Thrust into the sixteenth century armed with only a backpack full of contraband future items, Cat joins up with her ancestors, the sweet Alessandra and protective Cipriano, and soon falls for the gorgeous aspiring artist Lorenzo. But when the much-older Niccolo starts sniffing around, Cat realizes that an unwanted birthday party is nothing compared to an unwanted suitor full of creeptastic amore. 

Can she find her way back to modern times before her Italian adventure turns into an Italian forever?

Imagine finding yourself in sixteenth century renaissance Italy, you speak fluent Italian, whereas before you could only speak a few words. A family takes you in mistaking you for a girl named Patience and you’re supposed aunt has a scary resemblance to your estranged mother. That’s the situation Cat finds herself in, whilst on the way back to the hotel to meet her father and his fiancée she comes across a tent in the middle of nowhere. Cat’s never a person to do something on instinct, but curiosity takes the better of her and she decides to check the tent out. Stepping in from the 21^st century, the odd lady she finds in the tent does some sort of mojo and Cat finds herself stepping out in the 16^th century.

The premise of this book is what grabbed my attention in the first place. First of all finding yourself in a completely different century is odd enough, but then being mistaken for someone is just the icing on the cake. It was interesting to see how Cat would adapt to the situation; she did find herself at times slipping up and going back to the ways she was most familiar with such as using terminology that people in the sixteenth century would have not been accustom to and then trying to dig herself out of the situation. This book was so much fun with all these awkward situations cropping up all over the place.

The characters were an interesting bunch too, Cat was an easy character to warm up to, despite finding herself in a completely different century, she was quick to adapt to her new surroundings and strangers taking her in. She always had hope in the back of her mind that she would make it back home, but she still continued to make the most of every single situation. Her fierceness also helped alleviate several problems along the way. The whole experience was an eye opener for Cat, it made her take a step back and take into consideration all the things she was taking for granted.

Lorenzo *sigh* this guy was so dreamy; the way he spoke reminded me so much of Thor from the Avengers.

“Rest assured not a finger will be placed upon

signorina Patience. You have my word”

And since that image was placed in my head, it was extremely hard getting rid of! But he certainly lived up to my Thor expectations. He had incredible lines like the one above that could just make you melt, full peach coloured lips, a devastating smile and he always did keep to his word.

My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century certainly is a read which keeps you on your toes, as you’re constantly questioning yourself throughout the book; why was Cat sent to the sixteenth century in the first place? And why did they mistake her for someone else? And so at the end I naturally assumed that we would get our answers and everything would be neatly resolved, so the bombshell at the end really threw me.

Overall My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century was a beautifully written and fun debut; I can’t wait to dive into the next book as soon as possible.