I received a review copy of this book through Netgalley; all opinions are my own and honest.
Summary: In 1967, four female scientists worked together to build the world’s first time machine. But just as they are about to debut their creation, one of them suffers a breakdown, putting the whole project—and future of time travel—in jeopardy. To protect their invention, one member is exiled from the team—erasing her contributions from history.
Fifty years later, time travel is a big business. Twenty-something Ruby Rebello knows her beloved grandmother, Granny Bee, was one of the pioneers, though no one will tell her more. But when Bee receives a mysterious newspaper clipping from the future reporting the murder of an unidentified woman, Ruby becomes obsessed: could it be Bee? Who would want her dead? And most importantly of all: can her murder be stopped?
Genre(s): Adult, Sci-Fi, Mystery, Women’s Fiction, Speculative Fiction
Representation: gay & bisexual primary characters, F/F relationships, Seychellois (Black) primary character, primary characters with depression/anxiety/bipolar disorder
Content warnings: mental health issues, self-harm, blood
Publisher: Crooked Lane Books
Release date: February 12, 2019
Book links*: Goodreads | Book Depository | IndieBound
*These include affiliate links, which means that if you click through and buy a book I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. [Full disclaimers here.]
The premise is fascinating: time travel as a career and institution, run by women. And there’s fantastic diversity, with mental health/psychological concerns (the title doesn’t just sound cool! It actually represents a major concern in the novel), POC, explicitly gay/bisexual characters. Mascarenhas’ approach to laying out the murder mystery clearly respects the reader’s intelligence — we get to peek at scenes from various points of the timeline and through various characters’ eyes, and it’s up to you to put the pieces together if you don’t want to just sit around and wait for the Big Reveal; at the same time, there are lots of academic and ethical questions to consider.
All that said, I had some trouble connecting with the characters and getting really invested in the plot, because this is a very concept-driven novel, which I don’t think I’ve actually encountered before. (I actually took a few days’ break from this book, during which I retained enough of the previous information to keep up but not enough to want to jump right back into it.)
This is such a unique read, so if you’re even a little bit interested in sci-fi and mystery I’d give it a try.
Nine Tale Vixen 
Thank you for sharing. It sounds really interesting and I live time travel and books where you need to piece little bit together to figure out the ending!
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if you read it, I hope you enjoy it even more than I did 💕
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I felt the same, Isabelle. While the concept is unique, I really couldn’t connect with the characters. Nice review. 🙂
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thank you! it’s reassuring to hear it wasn’t just me, haha.
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Great review! Sad to hear you didn’t like the much all too much. Personally l, I like character driven books more so I think something based on a concept won’t interest me much.
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yup, characters are always a huge part of the reading experience for me – the premise is solid, but without that aspect it was never going to be a 4-star read 😕
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Time travel? Sci-fi and mystery? I’m there. Even if it’s just a plain ‘decent’ read, I’m all for it!! Thanks for putting up your review, I’ll be keeping my eye out for this one!
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I hope you enjoy it even more than I did! 💕
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Great review! The book sounds interesting!!
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This sounds really good!
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Thank you for your review, Isabelle! This is a book I have been eyeing because I love time travel but I for some reason had a gut feeling this one wouldn’t be for me. While I like the idea of women running the industry, I think it sounds like Here and Now and Then was a better fit for me.
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yup, I was definitely a little disappointed in this one. hoping Here and Now and Then is better when I finally get to read it!
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I feel like you get a lot of concept driven classics, like 1984, or Fahrenheit 451. I don’t really see it a lot in modern novels that much anymore, excepting The Handmaid’s Tale… so it is cool to know that is what happens here. But it is a bit of shame when you can’t really enjoy the characters or plot too much.
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I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right! classics, and a lot of high sci-fi (which I don’t read much of, I’m realizing now 😅) tend to be more concept-based; modern mainstream novels do tend to have more “commercial”/universal appeal with plot and characters … maybe I’ve gotten a little too used to it, haha.
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ive just finished a time travel book too and found when it got to areas wher ethey detailed the science side of things i discionnectedSO MUCH. great review tho
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thanks Lauren 💕 and yup, it’s like, I enjoy science in general, but I’m not reading fiction for the mechanics of how time travel would work – I want to know how it affects the characters and what happens to them!
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I saw this book and was super interested in it, however something told me to hold back on nabbing it. Mucho glad I did, cause this low key sounds like it would stay on my shelves for a hot minute, lol. Oof to the struggle of getting through this one Izzy, but here is to hoping your next one is a 10/10 would recommend and sell my first born for another copy type of book!
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awww thanks Sam! it’s still a decent read but I probably wouldn’t buy a copy, yeah 😕
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I’ll give it a go… I do like concept driven books
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