So Close to You

June 4, 2012
Carter’s debut, a Full Fathom Five property, uses real-life rumors of a secret WWII-era government project as the basis for a romantic time travel story. Seventeen-year-old Lydia Bentley’s great-grandfather disappeared more than 60 years ago in a rumored government experiment known as the Montauk Project. Exploring Long Island’s Camp Hero, the supposed site of the project, with her grandfather, Lydia stumbles into a time machine that catapults her back to just before her great-grandfather vanished, forcing her to decide whether to risk saving him and altering the future. Adding to Lydia’s dilemma is Wes, a mysterious and handsome Project operative who she is attracted to, but isn’t sure is trustworthy. Parts of Carter’s plot are too convenient—Lydia lands back in time exactly six days before her great-grandfather vanishes, and she quickly befriends her great-great aunt and other ancestors. Readers will be hooked, though, by the colorful details of life in 1944, the palpable feelings between Wes and Lydia, and a cliffhanger twist at the end that sets up the next book in this planned trilogy. Ages 14–up.

February 1, 2013

Gr 7-10-The rumors surrounding the no-longer-operational military base near Lydia Bentley's home in Montauk, New York, range from its having underground laboratories to deadly reptoid aliens. Haunted by the mysterious disappearance of her great-grandfather from the base during World War II, Lydia searches for answers and becomes involved in a game of life and death when the carefully hidden machines at Camp Hero send her back in time to 1944. Carter deftly deals with the perils and pitfalls of time travel, presenting well-rounded characters and a realistic look at life during wartime in the 1940s. She serves up plenty of fast-paced action, and readers will be relieved to know that So Close to You is the first in a planned trilogy. There are no historical notes about Camp Hero, which exists, and its purported connections to the Montauk Project, which may or may not.-Sara Saxton, Tuzzy Consortium Library, Barrow, AK

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

June 15, 2012
A wan time-travel tale delivers a cliched romance and a little history lesson. Lydia's grandfather has been haunted by the disappearance of his father when he was a child in 1944. He spends his days tramping through the abandoned Camp Hero for evidence of the Montauk Project ("the East Coast Area 51"), which he believes is responsible. While examining yet another overgrown bunker with him one day, Lydia finds a door open and makes her way through a series of mostly empty corridors to a room with a beautiful boy and a mysterious chamber. She plunges into the chamber and is taken back to 1944, to the active Camp Hero where her great-grandfather is stationed. Coincidences pile up: Her great-great-grandfather, a doctor, just happens to be there, too, with her great-great-aunt, just her age. She is welcomed into the family with almost no questions asked, from which point she watches for her opportunity to prevent her great-grandfather's disappearance. Oh, and the beautiful boy, Wes, is also there, to prevent her from changing time. The history is conveyed mostly through Lydia's denseness as she encounters such unfamiliar concepts as a girdle and "The Boogie-Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B." Eyes will roll as Wes and Lydia declare undying love in scenes dripping with syrup; lids will droop as Wes tortuously explains the Montauk Project. A cliffhanger-ish ending dangles the promise of more of the same. (Science fiction/romance. 12 & up)

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January 1, 2013
An imaginative look at the U.S. government's alleged Montauk Project loses a bit of direction once an impossible, overwrought romance kicks in between a guy caught out of time and a girl traveling through it. Even so, fans of conspiracy theories will find plenty of juicy details about the government and time travel to analyze.

(Copyright 2013 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)