I really enjoyed this book. It’s unusual to find any fiction about World War One, and so I always give them a try, but rarely like them as much as I did this story. The element of supernatural and unknown combined with the harshness of the war scenes and the mental institution play off each other expertly to really pull you into the story.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

I requested Catherine Taylor’s first novel “Beyond the Moon” after reading that it is time-travel fiction.
This story opens in 1916 at Coldbrook Hall, then a military hospital, in Sussex, England. Second Lt. Robert Lovett, a British soldier during World War I, is a patient who suffers a loss of vision as well as neurological symptoms, the result of hysterical blindness. Robert has this deep sense of honor in serving his country. He is devoted to his men, too. Despite losing his sight, he still wants to return to battle. The end of the first chapter has the awaited cliff-hanger that connects his life with that of a 21st century medical student.

Louisa Casson is also in Sussex; however, the date is in April 2017. And speaking of cliff-hangers, she happens to be on one -- the cliffs of Sussex Downs -- drinking and mourning the loss of her grandmother. Awaking from a drunken stupor, Louisa realizes she is still on the cliff. She falls as she tries to catch her bearings and is taken to the hospital. People think she tried to commit suicide. No one believes her when she tells them she was just drunk and lost her bearings. She is taken to Coldbrook Hall, now a psychiatric hospital. During her stay, Louisa meets Kerry who convinces her to take a smoke break, even though she doesn’t smoke. They explore this dilapidated wing of the hospital. Louisa decides to look around this secret place leaving Kerry behind with her hidden stash of vodka, biscuits, and chocolate. Hearing a man calling out, Kerry goes to seek him out. “At the end of the landing, oddly, there stood a perfectly intact hardwood door with a polished brass handle.” And they meet!

I will say my reason and logic fought me a bit. Imagination eventually said, “Don’t make me pull this car over!” At first, I balked over the idea that Louisa could be held against her will at a psychiatric hospital. I thought, “Money drives the train. If she had no money, she’d be out sooner.” But then I researched this online. Evidently, someone can say a person is suicidal or is displaying harmful behaviors, and that person will be held in the short-term. Can this person refuse treatment? Yes, but if an emergency situation arises where staff feel the patient needs calming, then they can work around the free will of the patient apparently.
Knowing this truth lent a frightening realism to Louisa’s stay at Coldbrook Hall. I wanted her out!

Hindsight being 20/20, Louisa would have been better off saying, “I was trying to take a selfie.” People do like to take selfies on cliffs these days, based on recent articles in the news. Louisa ends up in the hot seat with this seriously demented nurse from the gates of Hell -- Sharon Bell – "she of the melting face,” and known by the nickname: “Enema.” Through sessions with a consulting psychiatrist, Louisa unearths previous episodes of trauma in her life. This novel thus has two characters who have witnessed or been privy to traumatic events in their lives. Together they "grow that thread of steel" using one of Taylor’s images, to survive and thrive as they work through times of blinding fear.

I am always in search of answers when I read time travel fiction. Taylor leaves clues as to how Louisa finds herself in 1916/1917. Some questions I had as I read: “Why is it that only Robert could see her?” “Why is she wearing a dressing gown with the name ‘Rose Ashby’ embroidered on the lapel? Louisa moves from 2017 to 100 years in the past – back and forth -- until eventually settling in 1917 when she becomes a Voluntary Aid Detachment nurse in WWI. I thought: “Is she in a coma in 2017?” That’s also when she and Robert have separate storylines. They’re living in the same year – 1917 – but they’re apart. I felt the pacing slow at this point. Taylor worked to engage the senses with many details about what a soldier and a VAD nurse would experience during WWI. She is very effective in her delivery. It just runs a bit long. Louisa’s work sounds exhausting and overwhelming. Robert as well took in so much death, decay, and destruction all around him. I was waiting for the darkness to descend again for him. But I found myself waiting for them to reconnect. I knew it had to happen sooner or later. I just wanted the former.

"Beyond the Moon" reminded me of a book series and a movie that uses the theme of time travel in ways that complement this novel. Thank you to Netgalley.com for this free Kindle copy I received for review.

Thank you to Netgalley and Cameo Press for the review e-copy.

I really wanted to like this book more than I did. The premise is somewhere between Outlander and What the Wind Knows, with the time travel and romance going on. In 2017, Louisa ends up in a mental institution after her grandmother dies and the authorities think she attempted suicide. Somehow she ends up finding a portal to travel back to 1916-ish and meeting an injured serviceman, and they fall in love. Louisa goes back and forth between time periods, then seems stuck in the past as Rose Ashby. But...she can't find Robert...and then spends most of the book looking for him until they find each other at the end.

I feel like the overall premise was good, but the middle just dragged on and on. I kept waiting for her to go back to the present and find the current incarnation of Robert and then that be it. Or have her wake up and realize she hallucinated the entire thing. So much time was spent describing their separate lives and situations that I feel like it took away from the overall story. There was just something missing to tie everything together into a cohesive plot.

I was also turned off by the extremely graphic descriptions of the war injuries.

I really liked the beginning and the end, and the overall premise of the story though.

#NetGalley #arc #beyondthemoon #CatherineTaylor #thecameopressltd #bookreview #bookstagram #booksofinstagram #booklover #bookworm #bookaholic this book is semi comparable to #Outlander #dianagabaldon it takes place during two time periods a hundred years a part. But that's where the similarities end. #Louisa #CaptainLovett #RoseAshby will captivate you from the first chapter. As you follow them along on this magical journey learning the horrors of wars and psychiatric wards to a journey of love. This book has it all. I loved everything about this book and definitely recommend it to those needing a read ....

Filled with images of battlefields and fashions of the 1900s , this novel transports you to World War I. A love story with a premise of stepping back in time that is successfully carried out because of it's attention to detail. Very enjoyable.

*I received a free copy of this ebook from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

The concept of this book intrigued me, but the book itself was, at times, a struggle to finish. It dragged on, particularly the parts that took place in 2017. Very little of the book actually had Louisa and Robert together. Most of it felt like an exercise in developing their characters and personal back stories, and it's not like it's a short book.

Overall, I found it more interesting to read the portions of the book taking place in 1916-1917. My great-grandfather was killed in France during World War I, so (assuming the author took time to research, which it appeared she did) I read Robert's experience and then Louisa's as a VAD with him in mind.

When the book ended, I was still left with some unanswered questions--not anything that would leave room for a sequel but things that I just don't feel were explained well. For example, the theory of how Rose's and Louisa's lives were connected, and why Louisa was thrust back and forth between the two, was introduced so late in the book that it didn't get an opportunity to move from theory to reason. At the end, the way Louisa/Rose explains who she is to Robert was just so . . . I dunno, easy and felt like she was just going to continue pretending. In addition, I wondered about 2017 Louisa and the idea of a modern-day counterpart to the WWI Robert. Things like that.

And why was everyone in 2017 so convinced that Louisa was suicidal and determined to keep her at Coldbrook Hall? Every character in Louisa's time was either a mental patient or a condescending, controlling person in the medical field. Wait, the two demolition workers briefly on the page seemed normal.

Note: Some swearing. War, including all that goes with it. One brief, mild sex scene.

Not quite what I was expecting. I was hoping for more of a twist and that maybe the time traveling would end up being part of Robert or Louisa's mental breakdown or both. Also the switching between Robert and Louisa's time was not confusing so that was a plus. Not my favorite book but an interesting story to read.
I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book...oh my word, this book.

I couldn’t put it down. I found myself reading it at stoplights. It burrowed under my skin and grabbed hold of me and didn’t let go.

This is, on the surface, a time travel romance. Yet this book is so much more than that. It is also an unflinching portrait of the horrors of war, and a look at the torturous extremes a human soul can endure. It is a sonnet to the transformative power of love, even as it is also a criticism of the futility and pointless destructiveness of war.

The hero comes from a time that is as uncomplicated and honest as it is barbaric (WW1 1917), and the heroine from a sterile and isolating age full of smartphones, casual bullying and impersonal, revolving-door medical treatment (2017). When the two end up in the same place, separated by 100 years, their souls recognize one another and draw them together, even across the fabric of time.

The romantic side of me loved this. So did the medical side, AND the cynical one. It’s almost impossible to find a novel that satisfies all three, but Catherine Taylor has managed to weave a beautiful tale, filled with raw and ugly moments that only manage to make it all the more poignant.

As someone mentioned above, the characters fall in love quite fast. This is true. It also isn’t the point, and if you can accept the speed at which their feelings develop, you will uncover a gem that is so much more than “boy loves girl, girl loves boy in return.”

The writing is beautiful, even haunting, at times. Still, this book is not for the faint of heart, considering its graphic depiction of war and the bloody aftermath. But, for me, that provided a stark and important counterpoint to the sweetness and innocence of the characters’ love.

Five unqualified, well-earned stars. I highly recommend this book.

My deepest thanks to the author, and to the publisher for the digital galley.

A really good and interesting romance novel. In 2017, Louisa is falsely sent to a mental health facility after her grandmother dies. While she's trying to retain her sanity (ironic) and figure out how to get out, she comes across a man in the old abandoned section of the hospital and starts developing a relationship with him. However, he is recovering from wounds he acquired in World War I...

Really interesting take on a time travel-esque plot. I liked having a modern protagonist but also a glimpse into life in the early 1900s and the war. Having both modern and historical fiction content was cool.

Louisa and Robert are both good characters. Interesting and sympathetic people you really want to root for, both individually and as a couple. They both have some great character development throughout the book. I had a little bit of a hard time accepting how quickly they fell in love, but ultimately decided they must have had more interaction than was detailed in the book, so it wasn't such a far-fetched idea after all.

One of my only negatives was it was a bit graphic as far as the buckets of amputated limbs and bodies mangled by bombs and warfare. I could have done with that being a bit less descriptive and frequent, but it wasn't enough to make me completely hate the book.

There was a fair amount of strong language. Louisa's friend Kerry in the mental institution was especially foul-mouthed, including several f-words. There were also a few sex scenes, and while they weren't super graphic (the last one not at all), they were more than I personally would have preferred. I'd put them at a higher-end PG-13 rating.

Overall, I'd give this a 3 1/2, but since I'm not allowed 1/2 stars, I'm bumping this down to a 3 for language/sex content and for more war content than I would preferred in a romance novel. But I thoroughly enjoyed this book! Very creative and compelling.

I liked the premise of the romance story and the time travel element and I felt it was well written but the description of certain injuries and procedures were very graphic and jarred slightly with the romantic storyline.

A poignant story that brings two people together with a love that can't be denied as one soul is pulled across the fabric of time towards its mate. Louisa just lost everything in the present that matters to her and feels herself adrift, but when she heard Robert calling out in the darkness suddenly everything makes sense. Only Robert is calling out to her from over 100 years in the past. These two are drawn together by a love that is woven through and hardship. Set during WWI, each of them fights to make their way through the horrors of the way and to each other.
** I received a free copy of this book via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review. **

A very good book, well written and gripping.
It's full of emotions, engrossing and entertaining.
I loved how the writer manage the two timelines, the well written cast of characters and the setting.
I look forward to reading other books by this author.
Highly recommended!
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine.

Beyond The Moon # NetGalley
Catherine Taylor ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a fun time travel book that reads like a fairytale. If you like romance, as a lot of readers do, then you will enjoy this book. The two main characters are easy to embrace and like. Part of the story takes place during World War I, and part during 2017. This flows nicely and it is not hard to follow along with the 2 settings. There are some parts that seemed to drag out a little too much to my taste, but they don’t last too long. The story is somewhat predictable, but you keep wondering how they are going to accomplish moving between the 2 time periods. But, in the end, they are right where they want to be. This was a fun read and moved along quickly. I will recommend this book to anyone who loves time travel romances. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy read of this book for an honest review.

I’m sorry but this book was not one I could get into. I found the going back and forth in time somewhat confusing. The historical aspect was very well written and intriguing.
Thank you to NetGallery, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Slow start, Keep reading! A beautiful love story that transcends time. 1917/2017
This book was given to me for unbiased review.

I'm not sure where to even begin! I'm a big fan of historical novels and time travel love stories, so reading Beyond the Moon was right up my alley. I enjoyed the love story immensely. But, to be honest, for me there was too much detail in the chapters in which the characters were apart. I wanted more of the love story and less descriptions of battle and hospital conditions. Nevertheless, there was a strong ending that was quite satisfying.

Thanks to Cameo Press and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book.

I am a fan of the timeslip genre and this one did not disappoint. A few hiccups but still an enjoyable read.

We have in 2017 medical student Louisa Casson and in 1916 1st Lieutenant Robert Lovett. Louisa suffers a great loss and through misfortune and misunderstanding finds herself locked up at the Coldbrook Hall psychiatric hospital. In 1916 Coldbrook Hall was a different kind of hospital and Robert was there recuperating from WWI injuries. Through some glitch in the universe Louisa finds herself in 1916 Coldbrook and meets Robert. She goes back and forth from 2017 to 1916 and there are some heartbreaking parts in the book that show how still in this day and age we do not treat or respect mental health as adequately as we should.

One of the hiccups is the pacing as mentioned by others. There were a few spots where it needed to be shortened OR fleshed out better to keep the flow.

I would say 3.5 stars and rounding up to 4. I wish there was a 10 point system!!!
Thank you Netgalley for the ARC.

I really enjoyed this book. The blend of a lovely romance, two timelines, and three people was a delightful twist on the time travel genre. While entertaining, I also learned quite a lot about how horrible and tragic WWI really was. I have never read anything by Catherine Taylor before, but it won't be my last. This was a treat to read!

The book description appealed me with elements of time travel, a war setting and being compared to Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander, lovers of Kate Morton and Ken Follett. It’s not the blockbuster book I thought it may be in comparison with the aforementioned illustrious authors.

That being said, I didn’t put it down and I did enjoy the story line. We have Louisa Casson in the year 2017, grieving the loss of her grandmother, basically her only family. She falls near a cliff in South Downs and is immediately suspected of suicidal tendencies.

Louisa is “voluntarily” committed to Coldbrook Hall, a mental institution where conditions are beyond horrific. Some of the descriptions put me in mind of the book Stone Mothers by Erin Kelly where mental health facilities are a focus. The appalling treatment of patients who genuinely suffer from a mental health issue was sad to read. Long story short on Louisa – she wanders about into an old section of the “hospital” that is set for demolition and meets a soldier from WW I.

Enter 1st Lieutenant Robert Lovett who is recovering in the same hospital, except it’s 1916 and Coldbrook Hall is a military hospital. I suppose this is where the Outlander comparison comes from. The descriptions of battlefields and the lack of cleanliness and knowledge about germs from WW I was very well written. No sugar coating on those chapters. Well done there.

I’m a sucker for time travel books so if that’s not your thing, you may not like this book. It’s an interesting mixture of historical fiction, mystery, romance. I’m not much of romance reader but I certainly don’t mind the romantic interest to arise. I just don’t want it to be the main focus.

Much thanks to Netgalley. This book was published June 25, 2019. Opinions are mine and I was not compensated. More about Catherine Taylor HERE.

3.5 stars., A great blend of romance, historical fiction, and time travel! This book had an interesting take on time travel that I found enjoyable. I did find the middle to drag on a bit. I would have liked to see more of Robert and Louisa' s relationship. A big chunk of the middle was them doing their own separate things. I did enjoy reading about Louisa's time as a VAD nurse. Some of Robert's parts in the war dragged on in my opinion. The author did an amazing job describing WWI and the time period and really made it come alive. Overall I really enjoyed the story. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.