Review: So Close To You by Rachel Carter

So Close To You 
by Rachel Carter

Release Date: July 10, 2012
Publisher: HarperTeen
Pages: 313
Genre: YA Time Travel
Source: ARC
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Lydia Bentley has heard stories about the Montauk Project all her life: stories about the strange things that took place at the abandoned military base near her home and the people who've disappeared over the years. Stories about people like her own great-grandfather.
When Lydia stumbles into a portal that transports her to a dangerous and strange new reality, she discovers that all the stories she's ever heard about the Montauk Project are true, and that she's in the middle of one of the most dangerous experiments in history.
Alongside a darkly mysterious boy she is wary to trust, Lydia begins to unravel the secrets surrounding the Project. But the truths behind these secrets force her to question all her choices—and if Lydia chooses wrong, she might not save her family but destroy them... and herself.   ADD TO GOODREADDS

Lydia's grandfather has always been searching for the truth of what happened to his dad. He often takes Lydia to search Camp Hero, an old military base that is now a park, where his grandfather once worked back in 1944. There have been rumors of disappearances and tortured children, and some sort of government conspiracy called the Montauk Project. Lydia was never a believer until one weekend while searching the area like they have done a million times, she notices a door open. One that had never been open before. Curiosity is overwhelming and she must know the truth. She heads inside and when she spots a bunch of military men, including an attractive one named Wes who attempts to stop her, she hides in a tube that transports her back to 1944, just a few days before her great-grandfather disappeared.

I love time travel books but there is always the big question of what are you allowed to change. If you try to change the past will it cause a butterfly affect? When you return to the future will your entire life be different?! Or does it not matter what you do, because no matter what you do, you had already done it every time anyway?! Wes explains that she needs to return immediately otherwise she might accidentally change something and then return to a life she doesn't recognize. Lydia believes any consequences would be worth finding the truth and helping her family especially since as soon as she ended up in 1944 they took her in as their own. She actually is their own but they don't know that. She befriends her great-great aunt Mary. They grow close and she learns so much about her family. Lydia gets to see her grandfather as a little boy and her house as it used to look back in 1944. I loved the setting and seeing Lydia try to fit in back then. But she does begin to worry about changing the future when Lucas, her great-great aunt's future husband, begins falling for her.

Then there is Wes. A hot solider part of the Montauk Project. He keeps trying to help her but Lydia isn't sure if she should trust him. He remains rather mysterious until close to the end of the book. I liked him but found the romance lacking a bit. Lydia was pulled to him but she didn't know much about him. Neither Wes nor Lucas were developed enough to really turn it into a love triangle. Lydia was an interesting and brave character. I kept thinking no don't go in there! LOL But I am so curious I know I would have just had to figure out what was going on. The mystery was too inciting. I wanted answers right along with her. What happened to her great-grandfather? If she figures it out will saving him completely change her future? I thought she was rather crazy for even attempting to save him. She knew she risked the possibility of her entire future being changed and as much as I want to change things from my past sometimes, you never know if you will end up just making things worse. Lydia discovers some interesting and even gruesome facts but how she changes the future ends with a bit of a cliffhanger. This will be a trilogy so now I'm dying for the next book.

"I've never even had a real boyfriend, but in the past few days I've almost fall for Lucas, and I've maybe, sort-of-already fall for Wes. One is destined to marry my great-great-aunt and the other is a slave to a top-secret government organization. What am I supposed to do with that?"

Rating: 4/5