Two by Karl Alexander Release Day

Happy Monday Readers! Ethan here with another Monday edition of OneGuysGuidetoGoodReads! What's different about the Monday edition you ask? Well... Nothing, but I thought it had a nice ring to it. ANYWAY... Not the point. I have another new book recommendation/review for you guys and actually now that I go through my archives, this is kind of a special post. This makes the first book by a male author that I have reviewed/promoted. Kind of funny considering I'm going for the guy angle on this book blog huh? Oh well. Here I have a book written by an author who has been in the business for  quite a while, Mr. Karl Alexander and his newest novel, the first in a new series: Two: Book One of the Sometimes Time Traveling Twins. I have never read any works of Alexander prior to Two, but from other reviews I can tell that he is a pretty awesome author. You may recognize Alexander as the author to the 1979 classic Time After Time, which was made the hit 1979 film by the same name. I HAVE seen this movie, and it's awesome. I should probably read the book though. Clearly Mr. Alexander is a fan of H.G. Wells because both Time After Time and Two feature him as a main/supporting character. Which is a-okay in my book, HG Wells is kick-ass! Oh well, before I get down to that, here's some info about Two!


Emerson and Parker Leigh, wonder girl twins, are battling with reigning prep school queen, Portia Flowers, over the right to be themselves and Parker’s “thing” for Randall Hamner—by day, a tennis star, by night, a car thief.

Enter, Tim Raines, a handsome young writer with a Harley who interviews the twins for his first novel. Sparks fly between Tim and Emerson, but Portia hooks up with Randall, momentarily wrecking Parker’s life, but Portia’s video gets her tossed out of school.

In Tim’s book, the twins time-travel to Edwardian England and befriend H.G. Wells, but Tim does them no favors by bringing Portia and Randall along as adversaries. Alas, the time machine stops working, and at a young Fabians weekend in the country, Emerson is murdered.

Back in present-day Calabasas, Portia seeks revenge. She frames the twins and Tim for kidnapping. With high-powered attorneys as parents, Emerson and Parker stay out of jail, but not Tim.

So, the book remains unfinished. As Emerson tries to solve the kidnapping, Parker tries to finish writing the book, solve her sister’s murder in the past—with a little help from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle—and bring them both back home.



Alright, before we get down to brass tax with my take on Two, here's a little bit about the author.

Karl Alexander, a fifth-generation Angeleno, is the author of seven novels, including Papa and Fidel, a novel of Hemingway, Castro and Cuba. His bestselling novel "Time After Time" was made into a hit film starring Malcolm McDowell and Mary Steenburgen, for which he was dubbed a Knight of Mark Twain for his contribution to American Literature. His second novel, “Missing Pieces,” was made into a CBS World Premiere movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery. He also produced and co-wrote the horror film, "Rattlers."

He has an MFA from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and served as a Marine Corps officer in the Vietnam War. He has been a college professor, has also worked as a screenwriter and lighting director in Hollywood.

His fifth novel, "Jaclyn the Ripper," is the sequel to "Time After Time," and his sixth was the time-travel thriller romance, "Time-Crossed Lovers," an Award Winning Finalist in the 'Fiction: Science Fiction' category of the 2013 International Book Awards


Alright. I'm going to be perfectly and completely honest with you all. As an avid reader, I REALLY wanted to like this book. From seeing some of Alexander's other books and reviews, I figured this would be an awesome read. I have had my copy of Two for almost a month now and am barely half way through it. Please don't let anything I say deter you from checking it out for yourself, but I am here to say it has not been easy for me to get into. It starts off very slow and the characters are not very likable. Like I said, maybe once I get a chance to finish it, I can change my thoughts on it, but overall thus far, it's not been my favorite book. I feel like it is very immature. Almost written for high school-ers who think they know everything about life. It is just really hard for me to relate to the "problems" these twins are having. They are super snobby and really just overall bad kids. I don't like people like that in real life, so I really do not want to read about them. I have read several other reviews who say that the characters actually redeem themselves a little towards the end, but I haven't seen it yet. One thing that I can say I liked about the book was the cover! Seriously, one of the coolest covers I have seen in a while. I know they say "don't judge a book by its' cover", but we all do, don't lie. This cover was awesome, I just wish I could get into the book as well too. Oh well! Like I said, please check it out for yourself before you go by anything I have said.

I am posting this tonight because tomorrow, May 6th is release day for Two! While this wasn't my favorite book, I still wish Alexander and the publisher a successful release day! It says this is the first book in a series so hopefully it will pick up with time and be way better than I thought! Click the link below to get your copy of Two by Karl Alexander!

Well guys, that's all I have for you tonight. I wish Two a VERY happy release day tomorrow and hope you guys will check it out! After I get a chance to actually finish the whole book my thoughts may change about it, but at this point I am not so sure. Check it out for yourselves and let me know what you think down in the comments! Thanks and happy Monday everyone! Until next time, Happy Reading!

-Ethan