Children's fiction/time travel adventure. It starts out as a suspense-mystery (are all those people really ghosts at the abandoned hotel?) but quickly turns into another book about time travel; characters find themselves in the middle of the French Revolution and must escape from several sticky situations. Reasonably entertaining, but apart from the Xavier's and Xanthe's African-American ethnicity, nothing very remarkable. ( )

Seems like I should have heard of this before. In any case, it's Time Travel for young people, so on my list it goes!

RGG: Wanted to like this first book in a new series about four time traveling young teenagers--two are african american and one is nerdy, awkward and having romantic feelings--but the character development and plot is thin and full of holes. The characters' traveling to the time of the French Revolution, a very complex period involving many different personnages with strange names, may be confusing. Reading Level: 10-12: F-P U-W.

I liked the fantasy elements brought out in the first chapters: a hotel that slides through time, and a "golden hour" when time stands still. Once we got to 18th century France, I lost interest. But I guess I'm not much of a time travel book buff. ( )

After their mother is killed in a car crash, Rowan and his little sister, Nina, are sent to their strange aunt’s home in Maine. There they discover a run-down hotel with a time travel portal.

Nicely done, with a tip of the hat to time-traveling books before. Williams gives it a fresh taste and in an interesting time: revolutionary France. I’ll read others by her. ( )