River of Time Series

Waterfall *** 
Cascade ***  
Torrent ***
by Lisa Tawn Bergren
Book Type: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Summaries: Waterfall- What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?
Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaelogist parents. Stuck among the rubble of the medieval castles in rural Tuscany, on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.
Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.
Cascade- Mom touched my underdress—a gown made six hundred years before—and her eyes widened as she rubbed the raw silk between thumb and forefinger. She turned and touched Lia’s gown. “Where did you get these clothes?”
Gabi knows she’s left her heart in the fourteenth century and she persuades Lia to help her to return, even though they know doing so will risk their very lives. When they arrive, weeks have passed and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence—while the Florentines will go to great lengths to see them dead.
But Marcello patiently awaits, and Gabi must decide if she’s willing to leave her family behind for good in order to give her heart to him forever.
Torrent- When Gabi and Lia finally learn to surf the river of time, they realize they must make hard choices about life and love in the third and final book in the River of Time series.

Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times. 

But love calls across the centuries, and the girls are determined to return forever—even though they know the Black Plague is advancing across Europe, claiming the lives of one-third of the population. In the suspenseful conclusion of the River of Time series, every decision is about life … and death.

summary found on goodreads

My Review: Book one. Two young girl accidentally zapped back in time... WAY back in time. Good thing their parents are obsessed with ancient history so they speak the language and know a lot about the past... Still. Bit of a shocker to end up in a time so removed from time. I enjoyed the story in the first book. It was fun to follow along as Gabi tries to fit in enough not to get noticed while still finding her sister and getting home. Too bad she falls in love with super hot, buff guy who happened to save her life when she first fell into the wrong century. Yeah that kind of puts a damper on things.

The first book in this series was a lot of fun. I liked Gabi a lot and really enjoyed the novel concept. There are quite a few books that have to do with time travel but this is an entirely different time period. The author writes mostly historical fiction and knows a lot about history, so the details were probably pretty accurate. I liked how tough the sisters were but hated how Gabi was always putting herself in danger. I don't know why she is so obsessed with being in the thick of things. I would love a book where the main character is smart and jumps out of the way when it is obvious that self-sacrifice and fighting aren't going to cut it. 

Books 2 and 3 had more drama and dragged out the love story quite a bit. I thought the story lost a lot of the charm from the first book. They were still fun, but not AS fun. Maybe I just have a thing against happy endings... Hard to say. I thought this story just came together and wrapped up a little to happy and wonderful. But hey. Some people love the predictable happy ending... I'm just not one of them. However, this book had a very different feel from most YA novels, which made it quite fun.