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3.91 AVERAGE
3.91 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
This is my first Emma Straub book. I read it solely because it was a time travel story. I found Part 1 to be extremely boring. I fell asleep twice while the author explained things around her that were completely irrelevant to the story and never mentioned again. It became a little more interesting to me when the time travel began, but it felt like it took so long for me to get there, but that’s probably because I was sleeping part of that time.
There are some spoilers beyond this point.
I really began to enjoy the story more once Alice told her Dad about the time travel, and he revealed that he had done it, too. I liked the twist that it took each of them to a different day that was significant or special to them. That was something unique that makes you stop and think about what you might do differently if given the chance.
When she went quickly through multiple iterations of her visits (like they do in Groundhog Day), I expected her to be farther along than just two weeks once that was revealed. It seemed like she listed a lot of things for only two weeks to have passed. It also made it a little harder to think about just those two weeks affecting her physical health already when her Dad had clearly been doing it for years before it severely affected him.
It made it a sad revelation that it was the time travel making him sick, not all the other things she was trying to fix, but it also made a nice little twist for the storyline. I appreciated the ending that she just let it happen as it was supposed to because he was clearly happy going back to that day, but at the same time, it might have been nice if she had told him to stop and they both stopped on the same day so that he wouldn’t have been sick. I was hoping for that ending.
I only partially agree about hope endings being better than happy endings. I suppose we are to imagine that she and Kenji fall in love, and she gets to live close to her friend Sam, but I kind of would have preferred the happy ending on both counts (her Dad and her finally finding true love). It was still a nice story. Had it not been for the sleep-inducing, unnecessary rambling of useless information at the beginning, this book would be four stars for me, just because I love a good time travel story.
There are some spoilers beyond this point.
I really began to enjoy the story more once Alice told her Dad about the time travel, and he revealed that he had done it, too. I liked the twist that it took each of them to a different day that was significant or special to them. That was something unique that makes you stop and think about what you might do differently if given the chance.
When she went quickly through multiple iterations of her visits (like they do in Groundhog Day), I expected her to be farther along than just two weeks once that was revealed. It seemed like she listed a lot of things for only two weeks to have passed. It also made it a little harder to think about just those two weeks affecting her physical health already when her Dad had clearly been doing it for years before it severely affected him.
It made it a sad revelation that it was the time travel making him sick, not all the other things she was trying to fix, but it also made a nice little twist for the storyline. I appreciated the ending that she just let it happen as it was supposed to because he was clearly happy going back to that day, but at the same time, it might have been nice if she had told him to stop and they both stopped on the same day so that he wouldn’t have been sick. I was hoping for that ending.
I only partially agree about hope endings being better than happy endings. I suppose we are to imagine that she and Kenji fall in love, and she gets to live close to her friend Sam, but I kind of would have preferred the happy ending on both counts (her Dad and her finally finding true love). It was still a nice story. Had it not been for the sleep-inducing, unnecessary rambling of useless information at the beginning, this book would be four stars for me, just because I love a good time travel story.
i enjoyed it, but it did get a little confusing when the time traveling started happening. definitely makes you think about how decisions you make could change your entire life course.
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
any story could be a comedy or a tragedy… that was the magic
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
3.75 stars
A lovely little time-travel book. Maybe doesn’t add anything new or original to the genre, but I really enjoyed the focus on the love between a daughter and her father. It felt like the author’s love letter to her childhood, NYC, and her father. The main character is roughly my age (40), so her references to 90s nostalgia tickled all my feels. A feel-good read.
A lovely little time-travel book. Maybe doesn’t add anything new or original to the genre, but I really enjoyed the focus on the love between a daughter and her father. It felt like the author’s love letter to her childhood, NYC, and her father. The main character is roughly my age (40), so her references to 90s nostalgia tickled all my feels. A feel-good read.
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Fantastic mix of time travel, love of family and a bit of sadness and sweetness. Made me miss my dad.