Waterfall by Lisa T. Bergren

• Paperback: 369 pages
• Publisher: David C Cook Publishing Company; New edition (21 Mar 2011)
• Language English
• ISBN-10: 1434764338
• ISBN-13: 978-1434764331

 
In Waterfall, American teenager Gabi Betarrini accidently finds herself in Fourteenth-Century Italy . . . Knights. Swords. Horses. Armor. And Italian hotties. Most American teens want an Italian vacation, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives there with their archaeologist parents. Stuck on yet another hot, dusty dig, they are bored out of their minds... until they place their hands atop handprints in an ancient tomb and find themselves catapulted into the Fourteenth Century and in the middle of a fierce battle between knights bent on killing one another.

Cover: Very beautiful cover.  The girl is pretty close to how I imagined Gabriella to look.  In person it has one of those velvety-ish covers that just maikes you want to stroke it like a pet cat. 

Plot- Gabi and Lia accidentally stumble back in time.  To medieval Italy, where political intrigue and danger are rife.  Separated they must find each other in this strange time.  Without getting themselves killed or loosing their hearts to knights in shining armour.

I was super excited to start this series- time travel, medieval Italy, handsome knights, strong heroines, romance- was more than enough to convince me to buy Lisa T. Bergren's first YA series.

I had very high expectations of this book and I wasn't let down at all.  I devoured this book, reading all 369 pages in one day.  I enjoyed everything this book had to offer, beautifully rich descriptions of the time and place, excellent plot and wonderful characters. 

The characters are what really made this book amazing.  Gabriella turning up, very much a modern day girl, as you can imagine draws a ot of attention.  She captures Marcello's attention- not only because she is uncommonly tall but because of how fiery and deifferent she is, no woman in his time yields a sword like Gabi.

Marcello's cousin Luca is probably my favourite character (other than Marcello obviously, who I am a little bit in love with  myself...ok A LOT).  He was a great, funny, checcky kind of character that gave the novel that little bit more.

Overall I have to give this book 5/5 stars.  I just loved every dingle thing about it.  So much so that not only did I read it in a day but it prompted me to start book 2 in the series, Cascade, straight away and will definitely check out Lisa T. Bergren's adult books in the future.

I definitely recommend this for YA readers- especially those that enjoy historical fiction with a twist, and a cute romance.  Even thoses that may not have read historical fiction before should give this a try- it's an amazing place to start!

To watch the book trailer for Waterfall click here.