Ruling Destiny by Alyson Noël

The quick cut: A teen girl succeeding at a time traveling school finds her alliances in question as more details come to light.

A real review:

Time travel in the literary world is so powerful, but dangerous. It gives the ability to experience the past, but any changes made can irrevocably change the present. Could you handle the responsibility? For Natasha, she's questioning the answer to that at Gray Wolf.

Natasha is riding the high from succeeding in her most recent trip to the past, but what she's really looking forward to her upcoming trip to Renaissance Italy with her boyfriend Braxton. While she hates keeping the truth of collecting items for Arthur a secret from him, she understands the importance. Will her next mission go as well as the first? Or will she instead find herself in more danger?

There are a lot of moving parts in this book and not all of them are given the attention they deserve. Overall though, the author does a fairly amazing job at prioritizing the ones that matter most.

Most of the story continues focusing on the secret agenda that Arthur has going on, with Natasha playing a key part. Everything else revolves around it and as more details are discovered by Natasha, the more she questions Arthur's plans with it.

While Arthur is in charge, his secret missions also entangle Braxton and Killian as well. While they are bitter enemies, each has a romantic connection to Natasha. Seeing their rivalry play out and affect her gets very interesting, with a somewhat clear winner by the end. You see a lot more of the guy's backstories in the process too.

My only real disappointment is the Mason storyline. He's at Grey Wolf against his will in many ways and the fallout friendship wise with Natasha wraps up too easily and too quickly. The betrayal for best friends is immense situationally and I doubt anyone would forgive that fast.

An epic sequel story with a minor storyline flaw.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5