Breaking Time

Alsberg (the Androma Saga) combines Celtic mythology, a Scottish setting, and dreamy romance in this ambitious time-travel adventure. While seeking vengeance for the murder of his best friend Thomas, Scottish Callum is suddenly catapulted from 1568 to 2022. He materializes in the middle of the road, where 18-year-old Klara, who moved to Scotland to run bed-and-breakfast Kingshill Manor with her Scottish father following her American mother’s death, inadvertently hits him with her car. After a brief hospital stay, Klara helps Callum acclimate to the modern era and research Thomas’s killing. They soon discover that his murderer sought Thomas’s power as a Pillar of Time—a mortal vessel for the goddess Arianrhod’s “dominion over the sky, the moon, and even of time”—and that Klara shares this gift. Now Klara, pursued by Thomas’s killer, must grow into her abilities and thwart the ruthless murderer to prevent the unraveling of time itself. Employing lush prose through Klara and Callum’s alternating perspectives, Alsberg proficiently balances the pair’s struggle to survive with swoony slow-burn romance, making for an engaging time-hopping saga. All major characters cue as white. Ages 13–up. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media. (June)