Abbey Sinclair is a high school freshman who spends her days studying the periodic table of the elements and reciting scientific principles. She enjoys a completely normal life until her older brother Simon and twin brother Caleb drag her along on a completely irrational adventure. Simon discovers a set of strange stones on Coventry Hill near their home. When Abbey, Caleb and Simon step onto the stones, they are taken somewhere else, somewhere that seems like a very familiar future. When the siblings learn of someone trying to do something dangerous with the stones, they are compelled to try and stop them, even if they don't quite understand everything themselves.

Immediately thrown into the adventure, A Pair of Docks offers a different kind of time-travel story. Compelling characters, danger and mystery drive the story forward. Even as an adult, I found plenty to enjoy throughout the story. I immediately connected with Abbey who was always trying to frame things through the lens of the scientific method. It was refreshing to see a character who didn't just accept that they had time traveled, but tried to figure out how and why it could happen using her current knowledge. Another amazing character is Mark, the Sinclair's neighbor. Mark has Aspergur's syndrome, he is integral to the story and the sibling's success. I liked the overall mystery of the stones and the ties to each of the character's futures, the reveal wasn't what I was expecting. My only complaint was that there were chronically absent parents, although there were explanations given and they stepped in towards the end.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review. ( )

Sometimes when I’m reading I am torn between what I think and what would my 14 year-old self think. This is one of those books. My adult self is pleased to find a book that is full of both correct and well-imagined science, an enthusiastic young female scientist, and a great and unusual adventure. I wonder how 12 year olds will react to Mark, who plays an important role and is delightfully displayed with all his autistic quirks and fixations. I think my 14 year-old self will be wrapped up in the book, irritated by too much detail, but identify with Abbey for most of the time. Simon and Caleb, her brothers, are cool and well characterised, her mum and dad are largely absent due to her mum fighting an election campaign (there’s a twist on the dead parent syndrome) – so absent that when her mum referred to Peter I had no idea she meant her husband for a few paragraphs.

The detail involved in the descriptions of the first two time travel trips irritated me since it left little room for the imagination, although to me the ‘where’ was obvious. I loved the whole premise of the stones until it came to the witchcraft element, which I felt jarred with the scientific aspect of Abbey’s story. I can see that the author is building this up for the next in the series, but I would rather she had found another way of dealing with the gathering conflict than falling back on the trope of destiny and birthright. However the excitement of the adventure, the originality of the time travel methods, and the twists and turns involving different timelines as well as mysterious characters makes the story fascinating and compelling.

I think this book will find a big audience among boys and girls who enjoy science and want a bright hero or heroine – years ahead of her class but still coping in a regular school. It will also find an audience among the many adults who enjoy clean time travel books, not least because of the mystery and misdirection involved with some of the terminology.

I’m struggling to decide whether this book is good or great. Since I’m not sure, it’ll have to get 4 stars rather than 5, but I'd like to give it 4.5. ( )

I received a free copy from the author in return for an honest review.This really is a good book that had me glued from the start.Very good for a first novel.Don't have anything I disliked and would highly recommend. ( )