Book Review: The Collectors' Society by Heather Lyons

The Collectors' Society (The Collectors' Society #1)
Author:  Heather Lyons
Publisher:  Cerulean Books, 355 pages
Publication Date:  October 23, 2014

From Goodreads:
After years in Wonderland, Alice has returned to England as an adult, desperate to reclaim sanity and control over her life. An enigmatic gentleman with an intriguing job offer too tempting to resist changes her plans for a calm existence, though. Soon, she’s whisked to New York and initiated into the Collectors’ Society, a secret organization whose members confirm that famous stories are anything but straightforward and that what she knows about the world is only a fraction of the truth.

It’s there she discovers villains are afoot—ones who want to shelve the lives of countless beings. Assigned to work with the mysterious and alluring Finn, Alice and the rest of the Collectors’ Society race against a doomsday clock in order to prevent further destruction . . . but will they make it before all their endings are erased?

Review:
What a fascinating world the author has created!  Once a book has been published and embraced by readers, a Timeline is created, sort of a parallel world, worlds that are associated with books, where the characters live out their lives.  The Collectors' Society is a group of people who live in the 21st century and who preserve and protect the Timelines.  In order to protect Timelines, they steal catalysts, objects from Timelines that represent its existence.  For example, for the Mary Poppins books, the carpetbag represents the Timeline and if it's destroyed, the Timeline is deleted, all of the people living in that world would be erased, and the book would only be a book.  Someone has been targeting famous Timelines and destroying the catalysts.  

I enjoyed this book, mainly because of the world Heather Lyons has created.  And Alice, who is a fierce heroine.  The plot is interesting, I liked the characters, but it was just missing something.  The romance is sweet, but Finn is almost too good to be true.  I usually like more banter, more sexual tension, etc. and Alice and Finn just come together a bit too easily.  Same with when they travel to Wonderland.  It all seemed a bit too easy.  There was never those really scary moments when the characters seemed in danger.  That said, I will keep reading the series because I'm curious to see how it all plays out.  

Posted by:  Pam