Review: Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

It took me a minute to get into this book,  honestly. But once I was in,  I was in!  I absolutely adored this book.  A mix of adventure, mystery, fantasy,  and romance.  What more could you want?
Etta Spencer is a musical prodigy by way of the violin who's world is shattered when she is thrust from 21st century New York into a high seas pirate battle in the 1700s. Everything she thought she knew of her family has been a lie. She must outwit a conniving time traveling family, following clues left by her mother, in order to find her way back home,  to her rightful time period, and save the people she loves.  The story takes you to multiple countries in multiple eras and is a joy to read.  Etta is a likeable character. She's been sheltered from the world around her but has amazing strength, wit, and bravery in the face of the dangerous world she finds herself in.  The other characters are well written and the romantic interest is unconventional in the fact that it is between Etta, who is white,  and Nicholas Carter, an African American. Nicholas is from an Era where this type  of relationship is forbidden. Nicholas himself is unconventional,  as he was born into slavery but has never accepted the role of the times and has worked hard on his journey towards owning his own ship someday.  Nicholas is unwittingly tricked intro helping Etta, but will he betray her to reach his own goals or will he go against his evil grandfather in order to deliver Etta safely to her own time?
Getting the details of the back story took a little longer than I would have liked,  which left me a little confused in the beginning.  But once you understand what is truly happening this book was pretty fantastic. I was lucky that I didn't read this until book #2 (Wayfarer) was about to be released so I won't have to wait to continue this tale.  Had I read it when it was first released I would be dying,  as the end if the book is left wide open! Luckily, I only have to suffer as long as it will take for my copy of Wayfarer to be mailed.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book.