The setting here is a world in which scientists discovered years before how to build an interdimensional gate, but something went wrong: There's a forest where Pittsburgh used to be, and Pittsburgh is on Elfhome, an alternate dimension ruled by (duh) elves. Tough but naive Tinker runs a junkyard on Elfhome and spends — until she inadvertently rescues the elf Windwolf and they're stranded in the Earth dimension for a day. Without her healing magic, keeping Windwolf alive is a problem, and Tinker's solution will have unimagined consequences.

Tinker may be several hundred steps ahead of the reader scientifically, but on a personal level she's often the last to figure things out, which makes her both endearing and exasperating. The nebulous ending is a bit of a letdown, but it leaves room for a sequel which I will be anticipating eagerly. ( )

Really loved reading this - it had all the elements I love: a number of well written characters, a heroine who you just love, and a racy story that keeps you turning the pages long after you should be up and out of bed. Great love story - the old Cinderella one dressed up in post modern times, and I love these elves! ( )

At the outset, Tinker reminded me a lot of Emma Bull's Borderlands books such as Finder. Many of the same elements exist--Elves and their world abutting our contemporary world, a protagonist who has a special gift. But Tinker really is an interesting person on her own, and the intricacies of this interaction of societies are more explicitly spelled out, as is the scientific rationale for it happening in the first place. Since Tinker is an 18-year-old girl, her viewpoint is in quite a different place than mine in terms of her relationship issues, but I did enjoy the society and world-building of this book. An enjoyable read and I will probably look for the sequel. ( )

There was lots of fancy science here, none of which I understood. But the basic plot I got - Tinker is the daughter of a genius, raised by her grandfather and born and bred in Pittsburgh which was ripped from earth and now exists in a parallel universe which is dominated by Elves. Every 28 days the gate returns to Earth for 24 hours, so much trading takes place.

Tinker meets and rescues a Evlish prince - Wolfwind, and her adventures start from there. Tinker is only 18 and sometimes her thought processes are very young. She was never quite sure about her rel with Wolfwind and frankly, neither is the reader. This is an engrossing page turner and I finished it in 2 days, but it is by no means a flawless work. We never really got to understand Wolfwind and the romance aspect was really underdeveloped. Its the start of a series and I will read the next one, but I hope to find more attention paid to the characterizations and less to the science. ( )

A great read. I re-read the book the minute I had finished it and I have NEVER done that before! ( )