The Santalosa Saga: A YA Time Travel Romance

Take a deep breath, grab some grub, and prepare for a read you won’t soon forget. The Santalosa Saga, a YA time travel romance series will keep you riveted through three outstanding novels shown below. Enjoy.

Class of 1983: What if your future was in the past?

Magz, a senior at Saint Christopher’s High School, can’t wait to graduate and leave Santolsa, a sleepy desert town in the middle of nowhere. Her parents are never around busy running from one business trip to another. Her best friend Jack is like a brother to her as they fend off bullies and a boring lifestyle. Magz believes her destiny lies elsewhere. 

Mrs. Willis, Magz’s English teacher, assigns a writing task comparing and contrasting St. Christopher now to the school it was decades ago. To this end she passes out old yearbooks and Magz gets 1983. 

Inside her yearbook is a brass key. Very weird. As Magz flips through the pictures one face stands out—Sammy Ruthven—the hottest guy she has ever laid eyes on. But if he were still alive, he’d be old and wrinkly. When Magz inquires about him to her teacher, who was a staff member back in ’83, Mrs. Willis weirds out, which was very unlike her favorite teacher. 

One day, when the class is working on their yearbook project, Mrs. Willis leaves the 1983 book in the bookroom. Magz is asked to retrieve the book, but when she asks about a key, the teacher says, “You have the key.”

Magz finds the bookroom, closes the door and when she re-enters the hallway things look quite different. The teenager is transported back in time to 1983 to find her destiny. 

Victoria Maxwell’s novel, Class of 1983, is well researched, creative, and inspiring. Her plot is fast paced, the characters are fleshed out nicely, and the settings are as vivid as if looking at a photograph.

Class of 1983 is obviously written for the YA audience, but older readers will be reminded about their own teenage angst. They will witness how Magz is transformed into Peggy and watch her develop as a young woman. 

Summer of 1984: How far would you go for love?

The Summer of 1984 is the second book in the Santolsa Saga Series by Victoria Maxwell. The first book in the series, The Class of 1983, is about a disillusioned senior at Saint Christopher’s High School. Magz can’t wait to graduate and get out of the sleepy desert town of Santolsa. Unwittingly, she is transported back in time to 1983 to find her destiny. 

In book two, Magz’s best friend, Jack, has a huge crush on her.  Magz (Peggy in 1983) has passed the key to the magical book room to Jack, but the young man has little inclination to travel in time until he ends up in a hospital from a beating inflicted by old high school tormentors. With key in hand, he transports back in time to the summer of 1984 to meet his destiny. 

Back in time he meets up with Peggy who offers him a couch to sleep on, but Jack is too aware of her love for Sammy Ruthven. When a trip to LA pops up, Jack grabs it. It is in Los Angeles where he meets the love of his life and an idea to make a fortune. But Jack runs into problems and if he’s not careful he just may end up as a washed-up drunk. 

What the author accomplished in The Class of 1983 is replicated with equal skill in The Summer of 1984.Maxwell creates a believable world with genuine teenage characters beginning their development into adulthood. If you enjoyed book one in the Santolsa Saga you’ll love book two. However, readers should read The Class of 1983 first for continuity and comprehension before the second book in the series.

1966 Forever: How long would you wait for love?

1966 Forever is book three of the Santolsa Saga, a young adult time travel romance series. In this final installment, Janet, a 1999 high school student at St Christopher High School, just lost her grandmother. Parentless and broke, Janet tries to find rent money or go homeless. Trailer Park neighbor, David, a guy she’s crushing on, offers her a illicit job, but things go wrong, and the young duo must run for their lives. 

David and Janet take refuge in the school’s book closet but are unaware of its time traveling power. When Janet wakes up before David, she visits the restroom only to find David missing when she returns. But she has her own problems. How has she awakened in 1966? 

Janet recalls Gran saying her father used to live in San Francisco. Perhaps if she takes a bus from the desert town to the California city she could find her dad, and perhaps her mother—both of whom she has never met. 

Victoria Maxwell does a superb job keeping readers from confusion with characters from the 17^th century, 1933, 1966, 1985, 1999, and 2016. They eventually meet each other and interact at different ages. The settings are described clearly, the characterizations are superb, and the plot keeps you focused and turning pages until you make full circle back to 2016, the exact time and place where book one, Class of 1983, begins. 

About the Author

Victoria Maxwell is a self-published author, retired high school teacher, and a 1980s movie buff. She loves to shop in bookstores and thrift shops, and adores reading time travel books. Class of 1983 is her first novel.