Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Introduction | Ruby Red | Silver

Hi!

It's Liv and Gwen. In this post we want to present ourselves and simultaneously recommend you two of our favorite book series: the »Ruby Red Trilogy« and the »Silver Trilogy« .

Firstly, we are two 15-year-old girls from Germany that love reading books and talking about it! That's why we wanted to start a blog, to share our love for the written word! On this blog we'll call ourselves Liv and Gwen because these are two book characters we love a lot! Therefore we want to review the books the »Ruby Red Trilogy« and the »Silver Trilogy« from the German author Kerstin Gier who is definitely one of our favorites. We think that many of you may already know these books but those who don't should really read them. They're worth it! We really love the style of writing of Kerstin Gier, the books are so thrilling and at the same time funny that you can't stop laughing and won't put them aside!


»The first pair Opal and Amber are, Agate sings in B flat, the wolf avatar, A duet-solutio! - with Aquamarine. Mighty Emerald next, with the lovely Citrine. Number Eight is digestio, her stand is Jade fine. E major's the key of the Black Tourmaline, Sapphire sings in F major and bright is her sheen. Then almost at once comes diamond alone, whose sign of the lion as Leo is known. Projectio! Time flows on, both present and past. Ruby red is the first and is also the last.«

The »Ruby Red Trilogy« (originally Edelstein Trilogie) is a book series about the time traveling 16-year-old Gwendolyn Shepherd (Gwyneth in the English translation) that jumps back in time and experiences exciting but also dangerous adventures together with the good-looking but sometimes arrogant Gideon de Villiers.
Gwendolyn has always thought that she was a normal teenager: She lives together with her mother, her little brother and sister at her grandmother's house in London, goes to high school with her best friend Leslie and has never really experienced love. Did we say a normal teenager? Since she was a little child, Gwendolyn could see ghosts and demons, however, no one really believes her. But one day Gwendolyn suddenly jumps back in time and finds herself in the past. At first, she can't believe what happened because she has never felt unique and wasn't prepared for the duty the gift brings with. When Gwen finally tells her family the truth they are all shocked, because Gwen is very clumsy and remarkable. In addition, her cousin Charlotte Montrose is said to have inherited the time travel gene of the family and has been prepared a life together with the 19-year-old Gideon who also inherited the gene. In the Montrose family this gene is passed down the female bloodline and in Gideons family, the de Villiers, down the male. They are the leaders of the Lodge of Count Saint-Germain who was one of the first time travelers in history. He invented the Chronograph that allows time travelers to jump back in time in a controlled way. For a long time he has planned to unite the blood of all the 12 time travelers that have ever lived. The Lodge thinks that then will happen something wonderful that will save the whole human race. As Gwen is the last one of the Circle of Twelve she and Gideon have to complete this task. The Circle consists of all 12 time travelers. Each one is attributed to a gemstone, Gideon is the diamond, Gwen is the ruby. Since the ruby is said to have the magic of the raven, Gwendolyn has to play an important role. And as if that wasn't enough Gwendolyn falls in love with Gideon who is sometimes very kind and caring but can be also arrogant and patronizing. Together they find out lots of mysterious secrets about their families, the Count Saint-Germain and his plans. The story is full of unexpected plot twists and you always want to know what comes next.

The characters in the »Ruby Red Trilogy« are all interesting and unique, especially Gwendolyn is funny and witty. The reader can completely understand her feelings and experiences her adventures. Another favorite character of ours is Leslie because every girl needs a best friend like her! She is always there for Gwen and gives her advice especially in love matters where Gwen really needs help because Gideon sometimes leads her into despair. But besides that he also is a loveable character, who is very intelligent and helps Gwen unraveling the mysteries.

The first book »Ruby Red« is followed by »Sapphire Blue« and »Emerald Green«. The titles refer to the gemstones of very important time travelers. Therefore they really fit the story. The colours are also shown in the covers of the books, both in German and in English. We prefer the original covers but also the English ones are very pretty.









»Sleep tight, Liv. It was fun dreaming with you.«










Another great series of Kerstin Gier is the »Silver Trilogy« the last book of which will be published in autumn 2015 and we're totally looking forward to it.

The books are about Liv Silver, a teenage girl who moves to London together with her mum, her little sister Mia, the dog Buttercup and their au-pair-girl/nanny Lottie. Liv and Mia are not happy about that because they now have to live together with Ernest, the new partner of their mother, and his children - the twins Florence and Grayson. The first family meeting ends in a little disaster and Liv has to borrow a pullover from Grayson. She still wears it when she goes to sleep. She has got a dream of Grayson and a strange door. She follows him through the door and finds herself in a corridor, where plenty of different doors are arranged. Liv follows him undetected through one of them and they arrive at a cemetery where three other boys she has never seen are already waiting for Grayson. Hidden, she observes them performing a weird ritual until she accidently interrupts it. Suddenly she awakes and is very confused about this dream that felt so real. She thinks about it all the time and is even more shocked when she meets the boys at her new school. They also seem to recognize her which should be impossible. Grayson introduces them to her and Liv gives them some really funny nicknames: Arthur 'Handsome Angel' Hamilton, Jasper 'Ken Shave' Grant and Henry 'Mysterious Hottie' Harper. The boys befriend her and at a party they let her in on their secret: At Halloween they made a horrible mistake together with another girl named Anabel. They now are able to control their dreams and even visit others in their sleep. But they have to pay a heavy price and want Liv to join and help them, because they need to replace Anabel that moved away. Liv is very curious and wants to find out more. Therefore she agrees and everything takes its course.

Our favorite characters are Liv and Henry who also fall in love during their adventures. They have quite equal character traits: they are curious, intelligent and very humorous. They both love to unravel mysteries and dream together. Other loveable characters are Mia and Lottie who care a lot about Liv. Primarily Lottie was only an au-pair-girl, but she stayed and became part of the family. She takes care of the girls, even more than their mother does. When the families unite, Grayson becomes a very good brother and friend of Liv's. Although he isn't very interested in secrets and is also scared of the dreams, he always helps her.

Another great part of the book are the posts of the »Tittle Tattle Blog« that is made by Secrecy, an unknown mysterious person that seems to know everything. The posts are very funny but often mean and also Liv gets some. The reader constantly tries to figure out who Secrecy really is because there are lots of suspicious characters. This guessing game is very amusing and makes you think about it all the time. We still don't know the person behind Secrecy although we might have some ideas. We are excited if this mystery will be uncovered in the third book. Until then, maybe you have some theories that you want to share with us? It would be great to discuss it in the comments!



I'm now going on a time travel with Gideon. Maybe the 18th century? ~Gwen
I also have to go! Henry wants to meet me in our dreams... ~Liv

Source: Goodreads