My Thoughts:

Another perfect story from Gabrielle in the Timeless Series! This series won my heart so long ago because of the unique approach that Gabrielle takes with these characters and how their lives unfold. For the first 25 years of their life, each night when they go to sleep, they wake up in alternating timelines. They live their life in each time, but then the next morning they will wake up in the other time. They then have until their 25th birthday to decide which time frame they want to stay in. It’s a very special experience for the characters because they are fully immersed in both timeframes that they live in.

Each series has focused on a range of historical time frames from intensely mysterious to extremely dangerous. They all immerse you deeply into the time periods they represent and help you to experience it with the characters by having anchors between the story and the events unfolding. Whatever time frames they are living within, their is usually a historically significant event that takes place. For example, Ally gets to experience the Gold Rush in California as it happens as well as the crush of the Golden Age of Hollywood as the Great Depression begins.

In book 7, Ally is a time crosser that lives in both 1929 during the Golden Age of Hollywood as well as 1849 California during the Gold Rush. She loves both of her lives and the families she has in each.

That’s another thing I also found interesting throughout this series. The fact that many of the time crossers have parents or siblings who do not time travel, it’s a special thing that only shows up in some family members, not all. Therefore, in some of their experiences, they have to keep it a secret and not share that with their families. The burden they carry of not being able to share those experiences with some of their families can be really hard on them.

But Ally’s family in 1929 is filled with fellow time crossers and so she can openly talk about issues with those in that time line. I’ve always thought that the timeline where they can openly discuss their time travelling concerns, is a huge support for them. Another really interesting element to this story was how Ally was trying to use the benefits of the Gold Rush in her 1849 timeline to help her family in the 1929 timeline. I hadn’t really seen this represented in the other books where a character was able to directly impact something like this. It felt risky, but it was also done with an open heart and desire to help others, not herself. This was a powerful moment because when things are changed in the timelines, it can have disastrous effects for changing things.

Back in 1849, Ally has taken her family across the country from the Northeast to the California Gold Rush in hopes of helping her father collect some of the gold before the big finds are made. Her hope is that her father will have enough money to support himself and Ally’s younger sister when she leaves. But their arrival in the area is fraught with danger. Ally’s father gets really sick on the travel there and Ally along with her little sister must help their ailing father get medical help in the dangerous gold boom town where there are very few women. Their lives are immediately put in danger in this situation. Even after all this, it takes quite some time for Ally to realize that her father has no real interest in gold and his heart is set on developing a school for the children in the area. Not to mention that Ally begins to develop deeper attachments to a particular man during this time as well.

All her original thoughts of staying in 1929 starts to wane when she realizes her feelings for Sam in 1849 are stronger than her desire to stay in the glittering lights of Hollywood. I really enjoyed Ally’s mostly rational decision making and her deep commitments to those she cares about. She would sacrifice anything to help her loved ones without a question. She is definitely torn between staying with her family in 1929 and helping them get through a very difficult financial situation or follow her heart back to 1849.

I was ecstatic with Ally’s final decision on where she ended up staying at the time of her 25th birthday. A reflective addition to the Timeless Series that brings up lots of emotion about helping our families and the roles we play within our families. Ally reminds us that we don’t have to carry the burden alone and that when we all work together, the weight of those responsibilities feels lighter and we’re rewarded with deeper relations to those closest to us.