Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Goodreads Description: A love out of time. A spaceship built of secrets and murder.

Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone—one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship—tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn’t do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed’s hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there’s only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

My Review

Favourite quote:- “It is like a piece of my soul had been lost, empty, and it is now filled with the light of a million stars.”

Wow! What an amazing debut. Across the Universe is a book that you will get lost in and completely forget about the rest of the world. Utterly captivating.

It is unique with it’s mix of part space travel, part thriller and part romance. If you are worried that it sounds too sci-fi with all that space travel talk, it is not at all. It will definitely appeal to fans of paranormal, fantasy and contemporary fiction.

Revis is a clever writer with her engrossing and well thought out plot. There were so many layers to it. In the last 100 pages Revis really pulled out the surprises, leaving my mouth hanging open. And I can tell you now if somebody came up to me and asked if I would liked to get frozen and travel in space, even it included the gorgeous Elder (who I will get to in a minute), I would tell them NO and then run and hide. It would be scary to be stuck on that ship with all it is secrets and there are a lot them.

I know some of you are wondering about the ending, if it is a cliffhanger. Well let just say part of the story wraps up nicely and well the other part leaves you wanting more. Satisfying for now.

Now on to the characters. This story is told from both Amy’s and Elder’s point of views and their worlds couldn’t be more different. Amy is probably my standout character. She is the kind of gal that asks questions and is determined to get to the truth and no matter what never gave up. Elder is a sweetheart and did I mention gorgeous, who also shows a lot of strength when his whole world was coming crashing down on him.

And the romance is beautiful with lines like this:

“I want to take her into my arms and hold her tight. But at the same time, I know that is the exact opposite of what she wants. She wants to be free and all I want to do is hold her tight against me.”

Overall, I loved it. A must read for 2011!

Rating: 5/5

Make sure you go check out the first chapter at Across the Universe website. 

Thank you to Between the Lines blog for sending me a copy.