Genre: Time travel romance
Rating: **
Pages: 260
Series: Sequel in the works
Cat Crawford is not a party animal. Her dad's a famous director, her mom is constantly plastered over the front of tabloids, but she's happy to stay out of the limelight, thank you very much. She's less than thrilled when her stepmom-to-be arranges an extravagant, televised sweet sixteen. Fortunately, the gala's in Florence, the perfect place for a Renaissance art fanatic.
But after a strange encounter with gypsy magic, Cat finds herself thrust into the year 1505, where she runs into some long-lost relatives. Mistaking her for her ancestor, Patience D'Angeli, they welcome her into their elite Italian society lives.
And then there's Lorenzo. He may be a player, but he's also an artist, so what's not to like?
But when Cat's well meaning relatives want to force her into an arranged marriage, suddenly the sixteenth century isn't sweet at all.
My favorite part about this book was Cat's transition from the modern world to the Renaissance. Usually characters switching worlds will spend about fifty pages blaming it on dreams, hallucinations, stress, pranks, movie sets, roleplay groups, drugs, food poisoning, and/or good old fashioned insanity. Cat figures it out in two pages. Instead of freaking out, she decides to enjoy it while it lasts.
Which brings me to my least favorite part. Cat is not proactive at all. If I wound up in 1500's, I'd be just a bit concerned about how I was going to get home. But Cat decides Reyna the Magic Gypsy will take care of it sooner or later. Oh, and it's mentioned that Reyna is a servant of the goddess Isis. And she's Romanian. Because that's the same as Egypt. Okay, I guess the two countries aren't that far apart. Certainly not as far as Italy and California. I'd like to know how Cat's LA classmates can party with her in Florence. Do they all own Italian vacations homes? Did her daddy charter a separate plane for them? They weren't with her on the flight over.
The whole Renaissance Florence thing was a little too good to be true. When Cat sticks her head out the window, all she smells is the aroma of baking bread. Not, say, the scent of an entire city traveling by horse. The food is good, the ballgowns are pretty, and the servants are servants. It's an endless stream of dinner parties and dancing. Poor baby.
I really didn't understand Lorenzo. He's supposed to be a player, but that all changes instantly when he meets Cat. Suddenly he's willing to risk his family, career, and dreams to run off with her. He never plays anyone again. At least, not in the week or so that they know each other. He's a perfect gentleman. With emphasis on the perfect part. And also the gentleman part.
I wish Cat would grow a backbone. She just sorta floats through life, committing the occasional social faux pas, and learning to love.
My Super Sweet Sixteenth Century is light, fluffy, and sweet as the title suggests.
