
YA and romance author McKay’s modern feminist take on the classic chosen-one narrative has a spunky, relatable heroine in Edie, who holds a black belt in taekwondo but can’t quite stand up to mean girl bullies in her new high school. Edie must reckon with every skill she possesses in a world that’s both familiar and full of surprises while learning long-held secrets about her hardworking mother and long-lost father-and fighting her attraction to Kane. The two set out on a journey that reflects the series in cementing the hero’s royal destiny. But the books’ author was incorrect regarding many major and minor details, including Kane himself, who instead of a reluctant but noble changeling-turned-savior is a snarky antihero who refers to Edie as “Cupcake” (the image on her food-truck T-shirt). When Edie visits the store that houses the manuscript, she’s thrust into the parallel dimension of the Traveler series, which isn’t actually fiction at all. The work may contain clues as to why the last volume ended with hero-and Edie’s “book boyfriend”-Kane the Traveler’s unfortunate demise. Everything changes when Edie’s mother’s nursing job takes the two to Austin, Texas, which has a bookstore with an original Traveler Chronicles review copy. For the teen, books provide the only consistency and sense of belonging in a life where her single mother moves them around after a violent incident perpetuated by Edie’s loving, schizophrenic father, who is now in a full-time care facility.


In this YA novel, a bookish teen embarks on a magical journey she’s previously only read about.Įdena “Edie” Allegra Keller is a superfan of fantasy novels, especially the bestselling The Traveler Chronicles series.
