As a companion to the GRIMM LEGACY, this book is a stand alone story. Time travel and HG. Wells make for an interesting story and might encourage the reader to find out more about H.G. Wells.

Leo feels that he is not as smart as his brother and sister, but he is mechanically inclined and creative. This leads his science teacher to suggest that he head to the New York Circulating Materials Repository to research TIME MACHINES! Since he had an odd dream/vision about meeting a small version of himself riding a time machine, he is not surprised when he sees the girl who was with him working there, Jaya Rao. He spends a lot of time at the Repository doing his research, and he’s thrilled to get to see H.G. Wells time machine, which sadly does not work. He and Jaya think there is another version of the machine that does work and head off to London to retrieve it in the wake of a nasty incident with another page at the repository, Simon, who has sabotaged another page’s attempts to work at the Burton repository in London so that Jaya gets the position instead. The two meet Simon in London, and he suspects what they are after, but they manage to locate what they need and head back to New York. Simon, whose ancestor worked for Nikola Tesla, claims that If he isn’t given access to a time machine he will destroy New York City, so Jaya and Leo head back to meet Tesla in 1895 and stop him. They manage to make it so that Simon doesn’t exist, but rectify this. Things work out AND Leo gets the girl.
Strengths: I WANT THIS JOB! Why don’t I work in the Repository. Drat! Oh. The book? It has time travel, science fiction objects, a nice romance AND Mark Twain. It also has a nice evening walk in London to get fish and chips. Sigh. I am so glad that further books in this series are hinted at!
Weaknesses: This is not going to be a hugely popular book, but it will be well loved by a small portion of readers. And I adore it, so I am going to buy it!