"The Girl from Everywhere" by Heidi Heilig

I have recently discovered that I really enjoy books featuring time travel. Earlier this year I read Into the Dim and quite liked it. The Girl from Everywhere is also a fantasy novel that involves time travel. In fact, it has most of the elements that I love in an adventure story: historic settings, a pirate ship, a heist, mythical and/or fairy tale creatures and elements, and of course time travel.

Our main character is a sixteen-year old girl named Nix whose father is the captain of a time-travelling pirate ship. The captain and his crew are roaming the seas of time in search of a map of Hawaii depicting the island as it was back in 1868, the year Nix's mother died. The captain is determined to go back in time to save the love of his life.

I really enjoyed the story line in this novel. Heilig did a great job weaving in myths and magic into historical settings. Her descriptions of places and people are vivid. I felt transported into the settings that she described. The plot itself is very interesting and the end was unexpected for me. Since the main character is a sixteen year old girl, there is some romance in the story, but it is not the main focus of the book at all. As a teenager, Nix is very aware of the young men around her and ready to fall in love, but it is not a stereotypical YA romance novel. I also liked the well-researched myths and legends and the fact that the book has an appendix in the back that further expounds on the ideas that formed the foundation of the book.

This was a real treat of a read. 5 out of 5 stars. I cannot wait for the sequel.