Oona Out of Order

This book is in a similar vein as Oona finds herself time jumping within her own life, suddenly living it out of sequence as she jumps to a different period in time with each birthday, forcing her to look within and realize what is important and worth holding on to and worth fighting for. I am a sucker for books where characters get the opportunity to experience alternate versions of their personal realities, and I could not put this one down. I’m all about my characters understanding that the choices they make create their ultimate realities. The ultimate messages about… show more.

In a word… wow. This book blew me away. It’s about an 18-year-old on New Year’s Eve in 1982 who, at the stroke of midnight, wakes up in the body of her 51-year-old self. Each new year, she finds herself time-hopping into a random version of herself. I loved the concept of this story and the many, many nods to the 80s and 90s in New York City (OMG the outfits!!!). I consider myself a queen of nostalgia, but I may need to hand my crown over to Ms. Montimore. She seamlessly weaves in the pop culture of each year… show more.

This book poses a very unique question – if you suffer the end of something (say a bad breakup) before you experience the beginning, would you? Oona has an incredibly strange affliction – every year on her birthday she leaps either forward or backward in her timeline. She might go from 21 to 56 and then back to her 30s. (This totally appeals to us 80s kids who loved Quantum Leap) I found myself looking for hidden pages to keep the story going and thought about this book long after I finished it.