A review by mrs_gippy
Caught in Time by Julie McElwain

2.0

I couldn't stand Kendra in this book (though I'm pretty sure she has been this obnoxious for the whole series...so I guess I just overlooked it in the previous books (based on how I rated them)?¯\_(ツ)_/¯) She's antagonistic towards EVERYONE, including the people she supposedly cares for; it seems like every page she is getting offended or annoyed by something. She also can't seem to go more than two sentences without cursing, which is not only unnecessary, but also very distracting; I'm pretty sure it's the author's attempt to remind us that she is a "modern" woman, but really it just makes her seem immature. Further, for someone who is supposedly a genetic prodigy/genius, you'd think she'd make a better effort to try and fit in to the time period (surely her scientist parents would have taught her the concept of "adapt or die"?), so as to draw less attention and suspicion to herself, but instead she constantly tries to intentionally flaunt convention. Not only does this behavior tend to _hinder_ her "investigations," but it sure is an awfully poor way to repay the people who have made it possible for her live comfortably in this time period (because her flaunting convention puts _them_ under scrutiny, too). [Speaking of repaying the Duke & Alec poorly for their kindness, Kendra complaining about them giving her money was incredibly selfish; I understand the desire to make your own money, but seriously, they're _helping_ her, yet all she can do is whine and resent them for it? She'd be far worse off without them, so some gratitude would be more appropriate.] And good grief at her "investigating," which basically consists of her interrogating person after person relentlessly. Yes, she is an FBI agent in her time, but the people in this time have no concept of that,so she needs to get it through her head that being so pushy and sticking her nose in where it doesn't belong is not the best way to go about it; it's pretty ridiculous to expect people to entrust their secrets with some random Duke's ward they've never met. But then again, it's Kendra's way or the highway, and she is ALWAYS right, so that won't be changing any time soon. ::Sigh::

Kendra wants to be a strong female lead, or rather, _thinks_ she is a strong female lead...but in reality she is just a whiny, selfish, immature heroine I no longer have any interest in rooting for. But I will give kudos for a bit of a "twist" at the end that I didn't see coming, that was fun.