Laura_C

Time Travel for Beginners is one of the most original books I've read this year. The premise immediately hooked me: a small storefront time travel agency that most people don't believe is real. Customers can travel to the past, but any changes they make create a different timeline rather than altering their own. It's a clever approach that avoids many of the usual time travel paradoxes while still allowing the story to explore regret, choices, and second chances.

The novel follows Anna, who takes a job as a time travel agent, Teddy, who begins using the agency to understand what happened to his marriage, and Jade, whose diary entries are woven throughout the story. At first their stories seem unrelated, but the connections gradually emerge and come together in a satisfying way. I especially enjoyed the reviews scattered throughout the book. They added humor and helped make the Time Travel Agency feel surprisingly real. The world-building struck a nice balance between explaining the rules (without science) and preserving a sense of wonder.

While the structure occasionally required patience as the different storylines unfolded, the payoff was worth it. More than anything, this book reminded me why I love time travel stories. By the end, I found myself wishing the Time Travel Agency actually existed.

A unique, imaginative novel that combines speculative fiction with an engaging character-driven story. 4 stars.

I enjoyed most of this book. I don't know a lot about Henry VIII and his queens. I love the idea of strong women finding ways to be free. This book takes history and adds magic. It gives a nice revenge plot that had me wondering how it would end. I can't wait to see more from this author.

The Pie and Mash Detective Agency promises an oddball couple solving mysterious disappearances, but delivers a cluttered mess instead. Jane and Simon investigate multiple missing women named Nellie Thorne for their PI class, but the central mystery gets buried under scattered subplots: Jane's job search, Simon's mom and her friends' problems, an overeager librarian, a detective writing bad fiction. The investigation drags them across multiple locations with little momentum. Some of the dialogue lands, but the author seems more interested in quirky character beats than building a compelling mystery. The payoff doesn't justify the setup, and the whole thing reads unfocused. It's passable if you want a light cozy mystery, but don't expect the "delightful" story the blurb promises.

The premise psychopaths in a study at college and one of them is murdered was so intriguing. I would say the first 100 pages or so that set up this premise I was totally into. Then instead of being tightly plotted focusing on the main storyline of someone hunting the kids in the study there were just so many tangents. I kept up and finished the book, but instead of a 4 or 5 star read it was just okay. I was hoping for a fast paced read that focused on the main storyline, but instead I felt like I was reading multiple books at once. If this was the first in a series it could almost make sense why there was so much about what was going on in the student's lives and less about the murder/investigation.

Overall I liked the story. There are tons of WWII books out there and this had a slightly different premise than any I've read. I found the book too long (over 500 pages) and dragging in parts. I didn't need so many details over so many days to understand that Hetty had feelings for Walter. I did like Hetty and Erna's friendship and looked forward to the parts where they were together.

From the beginning to the end I kept asking myself what am I reading???!!! At first I thought this is a road trip book and something must happen along the way, but then you actually read the book. It took me just over a day to read this book and at just under 400 pages it's not that short of a read. It's a fast ride across the country with Portia, Eddie, and Beth. I loved every minute of it and all the twists and turns it took.