Review: A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris

A Tale of Two Centuries by Rachel Harris
Publisher: Entangled Teen
Publication date: August 6th 2013
My rating: 3.5 stars 

Alessandra D’Angeli is in need of an adventure. Tired of her sixteenth-century life in Italy and homesick for her time-traveling cousin, Cat, who visited her for a magical week and dazzled her with tales of the future, Alessandra is lost. Until the stars hear her plea. One mystical spell later, Alessandra appears on Cat’s Beverly Hills doorstep five hundred years in the future. Surrounded by confusing gadgets, scary transportation, and scandalous clothing, Less is hesitant to live the life of a twenty-first century teen…until she meets the infuriating—and infuriatingly handsome—surfer Austin Michaels. Austin challenges everything she believes in…and introduces her to a world filled with possibility. With the clock ticking, Less knows she must live every moment of her modern life while she still can. But how will she return to the drab life of her past when the future is what holds everything she’s come to love?

A Tale of Two Centuries for me was a huge step up from Harris’ debut novel; My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century. I thoroughly enjoyed going back to the sixteenth century with Cat and watching her trying to fit in with everyone else. But when it came to Alessandra coming to Cat’s world I was even more excited.

Once again Alessandra found herself having to go through Reyna’s riddles before being able to return back home. But Alessandra never thought that she would actually end up loving where Cat lived so much that she’d rather stay there forever. Alessandra had lived a rather conservative lifestyle back home, so it was a lot of fun watching Alessandra take in the dramatic changes in the current world. Despite seeing everything at first in horror and shock, it was great seeing Alessandra adapt to everything so well. I adored the strong Alessandra which emerged, who wasn’t afraid to show a bit of flesh, had big bold colours put in her hair and wasn’t afraid to take a risk with bad boy Austin.

Austin was one of those guys who everyone had already made assumptions about; he was the devastatingly gorgeous bad boy that everyone wanted to be with. He had a devilish charm and grin which could make any girl weak at the knees, but never really let anyone in to know him that bit more. I actually fell for Austin’s charms from his very first scene and couldn’t believe how Alessandra held off for so long. I loved the banter between these two characters, Austin was quick to get Alessandra riled up, but she was also very witty with her comebacks, I think as no other girl had done this before to Austin, it’s what drew him more to Alessandra’s character. Also the fact that he thought Alessandra was majorly strung up and needed loosening up a bit, he felt this was his big mission he had to carry out. With everyone assuming that Alessandra should stay away from Austin, especially Cat, it panned out that Austin and Alessandra were exactly what both of them needed to bring out the best in one another.

Overall A Tale of Two Centuries was a super fun read. Rachael Harris certainly knows how to mix it up well with swoony characters, a sweet romance and great character growth.