ARC Review: Stolen Beauty #3

Chasing Eternity by Alyson Noel

Publication Date: December 3, 2024

Summary from NetGalley:

I’m about to break one of the biggest rules of all.

But I need to find my dad. And if that means going back to New York City in 1998 to find him—before I’m even born—then that’s what I have to do. Because I need someone I trust to teach me what it means to be a Timekeeper.

Now I’m in the land of post-grunge, low-rise jeans, baby doll tees, chunky boots…and risking my own existence in the process. Awesome.

This is no ordinary trip. Just about anything can go wrong, and if I get found out, I’ll lose not only my home and school…but Braxton, too. Because there might not be enough forgiveness in the world for what I’ve done—and what I am about to do.

Because the secrets are more terrible than I thought. The reality is even more horrifying. And I’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth about Gray Wolf Academy, the strange billionaire who runs it, and not only why he’s so invested in traveling—or “Tripping”—through time, but what his real plans are.

And time’s almost up.

ARC provided by Entangled Publishing via Netgalley for an honest review.

Confession:

It was a long wait for this final book in the trilogy, but it was well worth it. This was an excellent end to a really well done time travel book that I really enjoyed reading. I loved the character development and the plot and the ending was well done as well.

Natasha’s character goes through a lot in all of the books, but especially this one. She really matures in this book and takes a lot of chances to stop Arthur from remaking the world. She also has to face the reality that she can’t change history and as much as it pains her she is finally able to let her father go. I also really enjoyed the romance aspect of the whole series, but especially in this one. Braxton is a really great guy and I just love the two of them together.

The other characters in this book were left a bit behind. I would have liked to see more from Elodie and Killian and especially Mason. Their characters felt a little bit flat for me in this book, with not much change in their personalities. Arthur too could have stood a bit more background than we got here. There could have been some from the other books that I have forgotten, but his motive for changing the world and history seemed a bit weak here.

The plot was well done, some of it keeping you on the edge of your seat, but there were some really slow spots. I loved the part where Nat meets her father and loved their relationship as short as it was. The ending did feel a bit rushed, but overall worked for the story. The setting of the Grey Wolf Academy and all of the discussions of art work were fascinating as well.

This was a very well done series that had enough of an open ending that we might just see more books set in this world. If you enjoy time travel books, then this is a series you should consider picking up. It is well done, with an interesting cast of characters and the recreation of the time periods they travel to realistically portrayed.