Keeper of the Watch

While going through his recently departed uncle's belongings Chase Walker comes across an old broken wristwatch. As he reaches for it to throw it away he feels a sudden electrical charge fill the room. Chase thinks he is losing his mind, first the feeling that he is being followed and now a strange sensation that the watch is somehow drawing him towards it.
When a group of hunter break into his home to take the watch, an unusual and mysterious girl named Alyx comes to his rescue and saves his life. She explains that his Uncle Charlie was a Keeper, a position passed down through blood lines to family members whose birthdays fall on specific days of the month. The watches allow them to travel through dimensions in search of others like them but those hunting them will not stop until all the watches have been collected and all the Keepers are dead. Chase must choose perform The Coupling, a bonding with the watch, and travel to the next dimension with Alyx or refuse his destiny as the Keeper of the Watch.

The Keeper of the Watch Dimension 7, is the first book in a series of dimension hopping adventures. Overall I really enjoyed the idea behind this series and feel that it could have some really interesting concepts as the series progresses. The Keepers bond to their watches permanently and it allows them to travel to different dimensional planes. The watches also have the ability to protect them to some extent with electrical pulses. The series hints and several unusual dimensions and there are also interesting futuristic weapons used throughout. There is some violence and a lot of romantic chemistry between Chase and Alyx but I feel that the novel would still be appropriate for even the younger end of the YA genre. It will be interesting to see how the Characters develop as well as what the author has planned for the other worlds. If you enjoy romantic sci-fi/time travel then this novel might just be what you’re looking for.

I liked the story and the characters, they were solid enough. I found the writing style a bit too young for me, I guess when you read below your age, that is bound to happen :-)

The key character is Chase Walker, his Uncle Charlie died three weeks ago and he's having trouble adjusting. He also feels like he is being stalked, which is weird as he's never been one to worry about that sort of thing. Until his Uncle's house (now his of course) is broken in to, though the police cannot find any evidence of such an event and simply advise him to lock his doors!

His best buddy is Mason Moore, he's off to University soon. He reminds Chase that he has a football scholarship to look forward to, but Chase knows otherwise.

Later back at the house, Chase is sure that there is an intruder, again. This time there is a girl called Alyx and she tells him that she is there to help him.She wants him to put on the watch. Chase isn't keen, it's old and ungainly looking, despite its initial attraction when he first touched it.

The story continues with the introduction of hunters, they seek the watch and the bearer. Chase and Alyx avoid them as best they can. The adventure develops and gets more complicated (and likely to be spoilt if I write it here).

At times I found the writers style got in the way of my reading, realising that it was aimed at teens I was able to tolerate this. I expect that in the subsequent books the writing style will develop and improve, so I look forward to reading the next books (I did say that I enjoyed the story).

If you enjoy such things as 'Sliders' (the sci-fi & fantasy tv series), I anticipate that this will be highly suitable reading for you.

This is a YA book that I requested from Netgalley.
My biggest complaint, that ending! I know there is a second book, but ending it like that was just cruel.
One of the main characters in the super likeable, friendly, 18 year old guy named Chase. Chase was raised by his beloved uncle Charlie who supposedly died 1 week before Chase's 18th birthday. Charlie left everything he owned to Chase with included what appeared to be an old, broken watch. Chase felt drawn to the watch and couldn't throw it away. Strange things started to happen, Chase felt like he was being followed, he thought someone broke into his house one night. He talked to his best friend Mason about it, which inadvertantly led to getting Mace Kidnapped, but that was after Alyx showed up. Alyx is another main character. She is not as likeable. She is a very "get it done" type. Alyx tells Chase that the watch let's him travel to other dimensions and she has one too, so they'll be traveling together. The characters are likeable and interesting. The world building was well done. I could tell that dimension 7 was the same, but with enough differences to make unique from the dimension Chase came from.
Alyx said the point of traveling to each dimension is to record the differences between them, I don't understand the significance in that. There was a lot of action right from the beginning. The weapons this author thought are truly not from this world/dimension. It was implied uncle Charlie may not be dead, but residing in a different dimension. This book is written for a younger audience, probably ages 12 to 18, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be watching for book 2 to get answers to some of these questions.

Rating: 3.5 (rounded to 4)

Jackson delivers a time-travel series that will engage new YA readers and provide plenty of nostalgia for older readers who grew up with books like the Pendragon series by D.J. MacHale.

In one week, Chase Walker turns 18, loses his college scholarship, and loses his uncle, the man who raised him. It’s a lot for anyone to handle. On top of that, he’s gained a healthy dose of paranoia; no matter what he does, he can’t shake the feeling that he’s being watched.

As he’s going through his uncle’s belongings, Chase discovers an old watch, and something about it calls to him. When he touches it, electricity arcs between them. There’s something odd about the watch and the way it beckons to him, but Chase doesn’t want any part of it. He’s got enough on his plate as it is.

Things become even more complicated when he realizes his paranoia isn’t unfounded. A man and woman have both been following him, and they want him and his uncle’s silly old watch. But they’re not the only ones. Chase meets 18-year-old Alyx, who has her own watch, except this one’s purple and seems to be permanently attached to her wrist. What’s more, she insists that he put his uncle’s watch on, as well, to initiate what she calls The Coupling.

Despite his reservations about the idea, when Chase’s best friend is kidnapped by the man and woman, known as the Hunters, he realizes accepting his fate might be the only way to save his friend. But is he ready for everything putting on the watch entails?

The Good:

- The characters are fantastic. Chase is a pretty stereotypical teen boy, but he cares a lot about the people around him. There’s more than meets the eye with him. He has a way of convincing people to be on his side, and he’s loyal and cares deeply about others. He’s also funny at times, which seems to be a good combination for a YA protagonist. Alyx is pretty much the opposite of him. Having been trained from birth to be a Keeper, she’s all work and no play. She has no interest in the opposite sex, or so she tells herself, because she has a mission and knows it well. She’s great at weapons and fighting, but lacking in social skills. The two balance each other nicely.

- The plot flowed well. It didn’t drag me in as much as I thought it might, but it did keep me turning pages, especially once they jumped dimensions. At that point, I just wanted to find out what the new dimension was like and how they would solve the obvious problems with it, and on that front, the book delivered. There was action and some sadness and a lovely blend of elements that kept things moving forward and engaging.

- The book ticks a lot of popular tropes. Seeing as how I picked it up for just this reason, I see this as a plus. When I read the summary, I immediately flashed back to my teen days, devouring the Pendragon series, and this sounded reminiscent of that. A lot of the tropes are absolutely the same, so Jackson delivers on that front. The worldbuilding doesn’t seem as rich as the Pendragon books, but Keeper of the Watch doesn’t involve different planets, so perhaps it didn’t need quite as much development, either.

- The premise of the watches is very interesting, and I like the way it was explained and built up. This is book one of a series, and it seems to me that the mystery of the watches and the Keepers is definitely enough to carry the series. I’m interested in where Jackson will take it and what all the other dimensions will be like.

- On a similar note, I do like the idea of the dimensions, too. Each dimension is Earth, but with some significant event in history changed, which changes the present, obviously. An example given in the book is in Chase’s timeline, the North won the Civil War. In another dimension, the South may have won. I find this idea intriguing, and it actually makes me look forward to seeing how different the other dimensions might be.

The Bad:

- The romance (come on, you had to know there’d be a romance) feels rushed, to the point of being almost creepy. From Alyx’s perspective, the romance is great. She reacts like almost anyone would to some random guy she just met declaring his love. She gets off some great quips that had me laughing, and she’s totally relatable on that front. Her character’s a very normal teenage girl who is socially awkward. On Chase’s front, though, the romance sort of just appeared, and he decided he was in love after knowing her for, like, a week or two. It was really awkward and totally shattered my suspension of disbelief, and the way he pushes it and obsesses over her was a bit creepy, if I’m honest.

- Deus ex machina everywhere. Especially in YA, I can forgive some of this, as the target audience tends not to care quite as much if one or two pop up here or there. The way they popped up, though, in Keeper of the Watch and the prevalence made them really stand out. I don’t want to say more than that because spoilers, but there are two times that really stand out to me as unforgivable deus ex machina, and both were glossed over and largely unexplained. The rest was small and forgettable, so they didn’t seem like as much of a problem.

- Things happened too easily. Jackson is great at building up the sense of danger, but then it’s resolved too easily, and I sat there wondering what I was worried about at all? This holds true for most challenges in the book. In fact, even though this book is about Chase, he really does nothing. The Hunters on his Earth (Dimension 6) are dealt with by other people, when Chase isn’t even there. Again, the conflict in Dimension 7, when they get there, is solved largely by others (though Chase is at least present for these) in really convenient means. He ends up being a weak hero and more of a participant than a leader, in my opinion.

- Maybe less bad and more a warning, but: cliffhanger! I mean, it’s to be expected, as an obvious first book to a series, and it’s a popular thing to do in this instance. It doesn’t bother me (and didn’t affect my rating) as I expected it. However, I know some people absolutely refuse to read things that end on obvious cliffhangers, so I thought I’d include it.

Now, my review should be taken with a grain of salt. I’m not exactly the target reading group for this book, per se. Even though I do love YA (and I write YA), I would say this is for younger YA readers, and I can absolutely see it being a big hit with that audience. All in all, though, I’d still say it was a good read. I would give it 3.5 stars (rounded up to four), but I would recommend it probably for younger YA readers and less for adults who enjoy YA, as I think many of them would find it a bit young.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I finished this book late last night and if book 2 had of been available I would have purchased it straight away. This book is a little difficult to review because I had so many mixed feeling. It was one of those reads that creeps up on you and all of a sudden you're hooked and don't want it to end. The premise of the story was original and I loved the idea of jumping to different dimensions and the watch. It's something new and I had high hopes as I started reading.

I'll be honest, I struggled at the start with this book. I found it very hard to connect with the characters and they came across as very one dimensional. I'm putting this down to the book being mostly telling with very little showing. This made it hard to connect with the emotional element. Another problem I had was with the dialogue. It really jarred me from the story and came across so unnatural. For eighteen-year-old characters, the dialogue just didn't work and I found myself editing it in my head as I was reading. There were words that really bugged me. An example of this was the use of cannot, I am, do not, would not, have not, etc. These were used in dialogue most of the time and I found myself wincing. Who says things like, "I cannot trust you." or "I did not know where you were. I was worried." These are supposed to be teenagers. There were a few occasions in the book where the dialogue used words like don't, I'm, can't, - it worked really well, but these were few and far between.

I found myself very disconnected from the book until I hit about 43% and then for some reason it just grabbed me and I found myself flying through the story. Once Chase and Alyx made their first jump the story seemed to take on a life of its own and I really got a sense for Chase's character. The dialogue still sucked, but there was more action, and Chase suddenly became real. I loved his interactions with the dolphins and how he took the lead. I loved the softer, caring side of his character too. In fact, I didn't want the story to end.

I think this is a good start to the series and I expect it to get better and better. My only hope is that the dialogue gets an overhaul and that there's more showing when it comes to emotional scenes. It was very hard to relate to Chase in the beginning. He'd just lost his uncle, he'd been given a strange watch, and then he meets Alyx and finds out that's he's a keeper. It's a lot to take in but it doesn't seem to phase him at all. He goes to work and flirts with the girls. His house is broken into and ransacked and again there is no emotional display. He doesn't slump to the ground in despair, he doesn't scream, he hears the doorbell ring and opens the door to his best friend. This was the first scene where the dialogue really sucked. Two teenage guys just don't speak like that to each other.

Like I said, this was a hard book for me to review. There was lots of repetition in parts, the dialogue really needed a rewrite, and there was too much telling and not enough showing, and yet even after all of that I would have jumped straight into book 2. The book just took a hold in the second half and I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

I'm giving this 3 1/2 stars because of the issues with the dialogue, but I know I will be reading the next book when it comes out.

Have you ever heard of dimensions? It means in this novel alternative worlds. When chase's Uncle Charlie dies, Chase has to go through his uncle's things. He has decided not to go to college. When Chase opens Uncle Charlie's safe, he finds an old watch. The watch appears to be of no value. Why was the watch in the safe? When he picks up the watch, Chase hears a voice but doesn't know where it's coming from. Suddenly, Alyx enters his life from a different dimension. Will Chase believe her? She tells him about keepers and their watches besides dimensional travel. Will Chase believe her?

I don't want to spoil this novel by telling too much so I am stopping. At one point while I was reading this story, my heart was pounding with excitement. There is action in this story that is amazing! The author has written a terrific story. When I came to the end of the story, I said no -- I want more now!!!

I would like to say thank you to the publishers for approving me to read this book on NetGalley. One of my resolutions for 2018 was to read more Young Adult Sci-Fi books and Keeper of the Watch was just that. Unfortunately, as much as I wanted to enjoy this book and love it, it fell a little flat for me. I’m not sure if it’s because I’m not completely into Sci-Fi books or it was the writing style, but there was something that didn’t click for me. However, I did enjoy the action sequences, the original ideas and some of the banter between the characters.

Chase Walker is plagued by a strange feeling that someone is watching him and although he tries to play it off, it never leaves. Ever since his uncle died, he has been drawn to an old watch that was left for him and the feeling scares him. Things take a drastic turn when he realises that there are people after him and the mysterious Alyx saves his life, claiming to know what has been happening to him. Chase just has to figure out whether he can trust her and what he will do with the information he discovers.

I will start off by saying that I liked the fast pace of this book, especially when it got towards the halfway point and the story really kicked into high gear with the action. Keeper of the Watch is such a unique story and very different from what I’ve read before. I was left wanting to know more and to see where the characters would go, what risks they would take (turns out things were pretty smooth sailing…a little too smooth for me).

While the characters were a little stereotypical at times (looking at you Chase) they were enjoyable and often had me chuckling, especially Alyx with her snarky comments and chastising of Chase. There were a few times where I cringed at the motivational speeches and, at times, predictable nature of the characters, I did enjoy reading about them. However, I wasn’t a big fan of the romance and at times I felt like it was being forced. Now that I’m older the whole falling-in-love-straight-away thing is a bit overdone and creepy in a way. I feel that it would have been better had things developed more slowly.

As I have read a lot of Fantasy I am used to books with plenty of descriptions and intricate story lines, something that Keeper of the Watch didn’t have and I wished there had been a little more world building involved. Saying that, the dimensions seem realistic and totally possible. I would say that this book is aimed at a much younger audience on the YA spectrum, with the style of writing that is more basic than I am used to.

Overall, Keeper of the Watch was an okay read for me. It didn’t stand out and if I’m honest I wasn’t expecting it to because of the genre it is. However, if you love Sci-Fi and don’t mind something that is more light hearted and easy to read, you should check it out. I am giving this 3 stars.

Chase Walker’s uncle has passed and he finds a broken wrist watch that he can’t see to throw away or stop thinking about. As time passes, it starts to feel like something more is going on. He feels like he’s being watched and followed, that people have broken into his home and then Alyx comes into his life and turns it upside down. Chase is a Keeper who can travel through dimensions but are being hunted for those watches. The watches must be destroyed and the Keepers dead.
I enjoyed the facts that there was dimension jumping and all the possibilities that can come from this idea and how original it feels to me. I haven’t come across a book like this in a while. What I didn’t like was how many unanswered questions there had been. I know that there is a book two coming but it left things feeling very unfinished.
Also, I think younger readers would have liked this a lot more than I did. Even with Chase being 18.

I’ll be honest, I really struggled in the beginning stages of this one. The dialogue is rather clunky, which inhibited the characterisation, while both Chase and Alyx seem far younger than the average eighteen year old. I’ll accept that Alyx might be rather young for her age, but it was Chase’s character that appeared to be all over the place. And just as I was about to seriously consider consigning it to the DNF pile – the action finally kicked off and the book sprang to life.

Jackson’s writing tightened up and as she described the grim transformation in the parallel dimension, with the horrifying event that defines the rest of the narrative, I didn’t want to put this one down. Chase’s shock and gritted determination to fight back gave his personality a strength of purpose and clarity he had previously lacked, while I really enjoyed Alyx’s rather peeved response to his reaction. This sets up an interesting dynamic between them, which hooked me in and had me caring.

While the worldbuilding in the alternative dimension is rather sketchy, with very few details as to how the USA was so quickly conquered, I was prepared to give the author a pass on that one, given the real drama she managed to create. In the meantime, the long-running battle between the Hunters and Keepers goes on and the story is brought to a satisfying ending.

This story is recommended for fans of multi-dimensional travel at the younger end of the YA age range.
7/10

I adore time travel! This is an exciting and enjoyable read! I would thoroughly recommend Keeper of the Watch to lovers of fast paced science fantasy. Looking forward to the next installment!

This is a brilliant Teen Fantasy.
The characters are fun and the story line moves at a fast pace.
Although I am far older than the age this is written for, I really enjoyed it and look forward to reading more from this author.