ARC Double Reviews: The Magic Maker & The Time Breaker by Kate Harre

Book: The Magic Maker, Kate Harre

Series: The Guardians of Time #2

Publisher: Kindle Edition

Release Date: April 2^nd, 2015

 Emilia has got the hang of the whole time travel thing and she’s managing to juggle it alongside a busy University schedule. She and Seb have formed a solid partnership and an even better friendship, although there are still some things both keep close to their chests. 

As Eddie makes his intentions clear and Justin tries to keep his hat in the ring, Seb has to battle his own jealousy and increasingly uncontrollable feelings for Emilia. Guarding his heart is proving to be his biggest challenge yet! 

Their adventures take them to India, China and the Ottoman Empire, where the dangers they face increase with every mission. 

But when tragedy strikes and turns Emilia’s world upside down, Seb may have left his run too late. 

What saved The Time Keeper, the first book in this trilogy, were the characters. I loved how independent, funny and stubborn they were. I loved Sebastian’s depth and looked forward to hearing more about his past in the sequel. The characters were enough to distract from the weak plot and cheesy writing.

However, the problem with The Magic Maker is the lack of plot. For the majority of the book we have Seb and Emilia simply living their lives – going to college, time travelling a bit, eating dinner. The author focused more on the relationship between Seb and Emilia rather than something actually happening to the characters. 

It wasn’t until the last thirty pages that the book got interesting and something actually happened, but it was so close to the end of the book that it was finished before it really began.

And while I enjoyed these characters, their relationship going back and forth constantly got quite repetitive VERY quickly and that soon got quite boring. We knew Seb had very low self-esteem and didn’t think he was good enough for Emilia, who he believed was perfect and flawless. But we never found out WHY he is that way, and got ZERO development from him. We just see dumb mistakes being made because of his low self-esteem which had terrible consequences for any kind of relationship between them.

Emilia was still a great character – independent and funny and I loved how much she cared for Seb and her father and was willing to give Seb space when he needed it because she knew he wasn’t ready for any kind of commitment. 

The time travelling is still interesting and I loved the worlds that the author created, it was so easy to imagine our characters trying to fit in and get used to the norms and cultures of that time period. I just really hope we get more character development from Seb and Emilia in the final book.

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Book: The Time Breaker, Kate Harre

Series: The Guardians of Time #3

Publisher: Kindle Edition

Release Date: July 4^th, 2015

It has been five months and Emilia has still not returned to Ithaca. Seb, floundering without her, finally decides it’s time to track her down and convince her to come home. But when he finds out just how badly he’s hurt her, he begins to doubt she will ever trust him again. 

Completely obsessed with finding David’s murderer, Emilia has neglected her friends, her health and her mental wellbeing in pursuit of her need for answers. When the answers don’t come and Seb eventually finds her, she reluctantly agrees to come home. 

But nothing is the same anymore. Damaged by what has passed between them, Emilia is determined to purge her feelings for Seb and sets about keeping him at an emotional distance. Seb desperately tries to break down her barriers, but before he has a chance to convince her he’s serious, David’s killer reveals himself… and his plan just might tear the world, and Seb and Emilia, apart for good.

**Yay development from Seb! That’s all I wanted from this book and I finally got it!!**

In this book, Emilia is still reeling from the sudden death of the only family she has left, and she deals with that death by running away and obsessing in finding the killer. Not the healthiest way to deal with it, but I can’t blame her. She and Seb’s relationship suffered greatly in the last book, and she struggles with finding forgiveness for him too. Either way, she’s been in a very bad place the last six months. But Seb’s love for her means he is willing to travel the globe and do whatever it takes to help her, and that’s exactly what he does. It’s really hard for him to see Emilia distance herself from him, but he loves her so much that he’ll do anything to help her deal with her grief. I wish I had someone that dedicated to me!

We see him attempt to fix their relationship and see Emilia attempt to break down her walls to let Seb back into the place he once occupied in her heart. Through unforeseen events and being forced to spend time together because of their work (aka time travelling), Emilia slowly but surely realises just how much Seb cares for her and what he’s willing to do for her. And she also can’t forget how much she loves him too.

The writing still hasn’t changed, it’s still quite cheesy, but I still really loved the characters and was so happy to finally get some development from Seb! We find out what happened to his family and see him realise that he can’t always be afraid of losing the people he loves. And he and Emilia love each other so much; you know they’re going to be together forever.

Overall, these books are good. If you can get past the writing, the characters are really great to read about, and the worlds that they visit while time travelling are really well described. I'd still pick these up if you're looking for a short book to read.