Presenting author - Melanie Bateman

[Viviana Kingston]

Name of the author: Melanie Bateman
Main genre: Fiction, Science Fiction, Historical fiction
Main audience: Young adults
Main books: The Time Key; Traveler; Dreamer (an upcoming release this year)
Short summary of the author: Melanie Bateman is a freelance illustrator whose work inspires her stories. (As I learn more about her through interviews, I will update this summary).

[Viviana Kingston]

Title: Traveler
Author: Melanie Bateman
Genre: Historical fiction, science fiction
Rating: 5/5
Category: self published, book 1 of series
Age rating: 13+
Warnings: mild cursing, imagery of war, mental illness and death that may be disturbing to some readers
Synopsis:
Mark is a medic during WWI who enlisted to escape his past, but it seems harder than he thought it would be when he’s tasked to find a missing company that ventured into Passerelle woods. And that’s only the start, because soon after he rescues a mysterious child that appears out of nowhere, he finds his past soon catching up to him as he tries to keep her and everyone safe, in a place where time knows no bounds.

Comments + opinion:
I had to reread this book in preparation for the upcoming second book that I was advanced reading, and this was a hidden gem. Honestly. I’m not sure what I had read the first time, but the second time had me in all sorts of emotions. The book is a compilation of all sorts of hints and foreshadowing that make it so satisfying to read because you’re given all the tools to piece the mystery together yourself. And the child! The most important person is the child! Apparently if you read the Time Key, you’d have a better background of what’s going on, but even this book alone can give you everything you need to understand the intricacies of time and science.

[Viviana Kingston]

Title: Dreamer
Author: Melanie Bateman
Genre: Historical fiction, science fiction
Rating: 5/5
Category: self published, book 2 of series
Age rating: 13+
Warnings: mild cursing, imagery of war, mental illness and death that may be disturbing to some readers
Synopsis:
A glitch, a war, a timekeeper tasked with fixing it. A timekeeper goes back in time, to not only uncover her past, but to fix a glitch in the timeline that she unintentionally created. But she finds herself entangled in Mark’s family history and falling for someone she surely couldn’t be with, no matter how much she wishes for it. And Mark is stuck in between secret societies and hidden realms, with a choice of who to trust. But the nurse he fell in love with is certainly not one of them.

Comments + opinion:
Oh, this book brings more and more shocking discoveries that will have you wanting to throw away your book in frustration. Mark’s family history is slowly uncovered, the past finally catches up with Mark and characters you least expected have a bigger role than anyone realises. It will surely knock your socks off and haunt you (a reference to the book you’re going to have to wait to read and understand). The multiple POVs are just enough to keep you informed and in suspense until the very end.