The Isle of Ever (Isle of Ever, #1), by Jen Calonita, for this week's Timeslip Tuesday

The past month has been a heard one for me, leaving no time for blogging, but I'm back with The Isle of Ever (Isle of Ever, #1), by Jen Calonita, for Timeslip Tuesday! The Isle of Ever is the sort of book that makes me glad I didn't start "Time Travel" Tuesday, because there isn't any time travel of the ordinary sort happening here.  But time is very slippy indeed.  

This isn't a spoiler--the book begins with a 19th century Long Island girl, Evelyn, visiting an island that doesn't show up on any maps, and that only she and a few other kids are aware of.  On the island she meets a 17th century pirate, so clearly the island is not obeying the ordinary rules of permanent temporal and spatial placement!  

Then we cut to Everly, known as Benny, an ordinary girl, living in ordinary modern times, whose world with her single mom is one of constant moving and financial anxiety.  Her life is upended when she finds she's inherited a fortune and a Long Island estate from her many times great-grandmother, the Evelyn of the 19th century.  But to claim her inheritance, she has to solve the clues Evelyn has left that will lead her, if she succeeds, to the island that doesn't exist.  

And so, alongside two new friends, Benny races against time from one clue to the next, desperate to figure out the island's secrets....not the least of which is the slippy-ness of its place in time.

The inheritance part is great wish-fulfilment for all of us readers who long for such a legacy! Benny's new estate is all a young reader could ask for.  And the making of friends is also wish-fulfilment for lonely Benny.  The mystery is intriguing with plenty of nice twists along the way (include a rare Blood Orange Moon, a deadly yellow fever epidemic, and unexpected family connections and betrayals. The hunt is interspersed with Evelyn's diary entries, which both help Benny along the way, and deepen the wonderous, terrible, magic of the island. It's great middle grade reading (and gripping for adult readers too!).  

My only disappointment was with the ending, which is in fact another beginning.  It will be a long wait for book two!