Once Every Never

Once Ever Neverby Lesley Livingston

Clarinet Reid is a pretty typical teenager. On the surface. She’s smart, but a bit of slacker; outgoing, but just a little insecure; not exactly a mischief-maker… but trouble tends to find her wherever she goes. Also? She unwittingly carries a centuries-old Druid Blood Curse running through her veins.Now, with a single thoughtless act, what started off as the Summer Vacation in Dullsville suddenly spirals into a deadly race to find a stolen artifact, avert an explosive catastrophe, save a Celtic warrior princess, right a dreadful wrong that happened centuries before Clare was even born, and if there’s still time—literally—maybe even get a date.This is the kind of adventure that happens to a girl once every… never. (goodreads.com)

Whatever shall I say about this book without spoiling it for those of you who are still waiting for it to arrive. (*cough*Jenny*cough*) I shall try my best to keep this as spoiler-free as possible. In fact I might even regale you with my tale of trying to get this book and my embarrassing moment in a bookstore because of it.Firstly I want to say that although I was skeptical about how the story might play out when I started I was quickly distracted by that by the witty dialogue. There were quite a few lines that made me laugh out loud and I was soothed by them and able to enjoy the story. Time travel-esque stories worry me because they are often confusing. This book wasn't confusing at all and it was a light, fun romp through Celtic times and present-day London.I was a fan of Livingston's Wondrous Strange series and I was both eager to read more by her and nervous that the new story wouldn't live up to the other series. I am happy to report that this was a great book with humour, history and engaging characters who captivated me for an entire evening when most other books couldn't. I have a new pile of awesome books that I have been dying to read and yet every time I started one I just wasn't feeling it. Once Every Never held my attention right away and I didn't look back.I quite enjoyed the relationship between Claire and her best friend. I love that she had support while everything was going on and it was humourous and fun. Did I mention I loved the humour in the story? Well I did. ;)One thing I am hoping for is that Once Every Never will be a stand-alone novel. I love a good series, mind you, I am just tired of every new release being a series now. Even books that were only supposed to be singles or perhaps trilogies just seem to keep going and going and they are not always kept at the same level. Too many books fizzle out as the series gets stretched thinner and thinner. (I am thinking House of Night series here, I gave up after book 4). I love this book as a stand alone novel. I don't want to see more wacky time travel adventures, but I do want to see more from Lesley as she creates other worlds and new people for me to meet.As for my embarrassing story on procuring this book, well... I had originally pre-ordered two copies of Once Every Never and one copy of Heartless way back when and then Canada Post went on strike and ended up being locked out. I was in Chapigo one weekend and I saw stacks of OEN on the table and it just so happened that my sister's best friend, a manager at the Chapigo I was at, was working that night. I went and asked him if it was easy to cancel preorders because I don't know when I'd get the books because of the strike. He started looking me up in the system and asked when I ordered them because the last thing he saw on my account was from February. I said "Hmm I believe it was April, I am sure I placed the...oh...crap" I started to blush and back away. I had suddenly recalled that I did the preorder with AMAZON and not Chapigo since I was all ticked off at them for their stupid membership stuff. Now, having worked in bookstores for almost 10 years I KNOW better than that. I was so embarrassed that *I* made that mistake. Oh, golly! I used to roll my eyes at people like that and think them daft. Turns out I am the daft one.In the end, cancelling a pre-order with Amazon was super easy, in case any of you were wondering. *blush*