Reviews with content warning for Bullying - Ruby Red

An interesting mix of time-travel, secret societies, and modern day England. We begin by following Gwyneth (Gwen) in school, learning about the mysterious gene her family carries, and her stuck up cousin that is believed to have it. Gwen's cousin, grandmother, and aunt are too proud and stuck-up with the knowledge of their ancestry, but Gwen, her siblings, and her mother, consider themselves to be very much normal. That is, until Gwen starts to develop the symptoms of the gene that only her cousin is supposed to have... and ends up back in Victorian England. Gwen was supposed to be normal, so she wasn't raised to be a time traveler like her cousin was, and is very much confused and panicked. What follows is a whirlwind of family drama, secret society politics, and wild time travel experiences.
Gwen has to accompany fellow time-traveler Gideon, who seems to be a handsome, stuck-up prick. With him, she meets the mysterious and dangerous 'Count', fights some would-be assassins, and meets her estranged cousin back in time. All in all, a very good book.
My only issues with the book is that this first book seems to be mostly world-building and setting up for the rest of the series. We only really get to the action and time-travel around half-way through the book, and most of the rest is setting up for future adventures. Gwen learns the basics of time-travel, the family drama, and some of what it means to be the 'Ruby'. The prologue is a bit confusing, but I managed to figure most of it out by the end of the book.

The prologue focuses on Lucy and Paul, landing in time after stealing the main chronograph. No names are used except for the pet name 'Princess', so I guess I imagined it was Gwen and Gideon. Only near the end do we finally meet Lucy and Paul for the first time, and the pet name is used several times, in reference to Lucy. So that definitely cements the answer, as well as the fact that the Epilogue is also in set in Lucy and Paul's POV. I think I figured out that it wasn't Gwen before then, only because I didn't think Gwen had any reason to steal the chronograph yet, let alone even get along with Gideon. Of course, they are slightly inevitable as a couple, since we see 'older Gwen' kissing him in one of 'younger Gwen's' time jumps.

Anyways, a very good story, just a little slow in the beginning.

Content Warnings