Now That You're Here (Duplexity)

by Amy K Nichols

ELEANOR & PARK meets Sliders.

If you're looking for a realistic, slow build romance with a sci-fi twist, NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE is the book for you. Comparing it to ELEANOR & PARK is a big claim, but in this case it's a fair one. The two protagonists (who alternate POV) are very different yet equally realistic characters. They each have family issues that they are dealing with and those families are made up of fully fleshed characters. Often with books that are as high concept as this one, the characters don't end up being as dynamic since the plot does the heavy lifting. Conversely, in character driven stories, the plot is often secondary to the character arc. What's so great about NOW THAT YOU'RE HERE is that it is high concept and character driven. In fact you could actually remove the parallel universe premise and have a solid contemporary YA with a really sweet romance with nothing insta about it.

That's not to say it's a perfect book, there are a number of things in this book that require suspension of belief--and I'm not even counting the theoretical physics. It's hard to buy into two 15 year olds figuring out how parallel universes work, believing a former bully who claims to be from one without anything close to proof, and having a teacher who used to work for the government but who now conveniently is secretly working on travel between parallel universes etc. etc. There is a lot of convenient stuff going on. But, honestly, it didn't bother me as much as it could have because of the characters and solid writing.

Parallel universes are big in YA right now from the already published TANDEM, UNRAVELING, and PARALLEL to the upcoming DISSONANCE. Not to mention the sequel to this book, WHILE YOU WERE GONE, which tells the story of the Eevvee and Danny in the other universe. Based on the tantalizing--and Big Brother esque--details revealed in this book, it promises to be another thrilling read.