A big thank you to the author, publishers and Netgalley for sending me this book to read and review.

First of all a big plus as this book is queer. However I just couldn’t find myself getting into this one. The writing was good but I couldn’t connect to the characters and it wasn’t really for me. However if you find the blurb intriguing you should definitely give this one a go.

I loved the story!

I do not have much to say. Only that I loved the story and that it super connected me. I would love to see this story published here in Brazil.

Dieter is a linguist and historian in the Temporal Institute. He trains and advises travellers who will go back in time and observe events for historical research purposes. One party is sent back into the second world war and their return door is accidentally entered by a fleeing Hungarian soldier who therefore ends up in the mid twenty first century.. Dieter supports Janos, the soldier because he is the only one in the Institute who speaks Hungarian. They become attracted and there is a great deal of explicitly described sex. If you are a fan of gay porn fiction you will enjoy this, if not, probably not so much. In the second part of the book Dieter is forced to travel himself into the past to try to retrieve a member of a previous mission who has gone rogue and stayed in the past to try to change world events - an absolute No No in the Institute. The action makes a passable thriller.

This was actually a fun book. I enjoyed the time travel aspect of it, and I wanted to read on. But it did not stick with me though.

More of a sweet romance than a hard core science fiction, Time Waits sets the stage for C.B. Lewis'
new Out of Time Series. Dieter Schmidt, a linguist and historian is thunder struck when he observes the impossible. A man from the past has entered his world via portal created by The Temporal Research Institute. The institute's 'prime directive is to maintain complete neutrality as it goes about the work of verifying historical events. Nothing from the past is ever to be brought forward. What is the humane thing to do with a man who is wounded, starving and near death?

The answer is to learn to treasure him. Dieter first helps as he is one of the few who can speak his language. Nagy must learn so much more. A man out of time must learn how to trust. Trust is nearly impossible for someone who lived in an era of blood and betrayal. In short, both men suffer. Janos from internalized homophobia and PTSD, Dieter from the his injuries suffered when Janos first appeared at TRI. The novel takes on a more urgent tone when one of the operatives goes rogue. Dieter, the least likely time traveler, must attempt to stop history from being altered which risks everyone in the present.

An engaging read for fans of time travel science fiction. Romance with some explicit scenes.
Recommended.

Full disclosure I received the ARC copy from netgalley and Nine Star Press in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for this opportunity.

We are dropped right into the action as the Temporal Research Institution inadvertently brings Janos Nagy - a seriously injured WWII-era Hungarian - back to their headquarters in Manchester, England, in the year 2041. Historian /linguist Dieter Schmidt survives having a gun held in his head by a delirious Janos Nagy and persists in helping Janos assimilate to his new life.

While I really like the premise of the time travel - the TRI goes back in time to clandestinely clarify historic events - the implementation seems a bit .... shoddy. For example, while Dieter may be an excellent historian, he fails to understand why "a runaway Hungarian solider might be wary of a well-dressed, blond-haired German in a military facility" who "could have been a poster boy for a eugenics campaign."

Also, later on in the book, Janos works with TRI to help prepare the team for their missions and makes them aware their hands should be calloused, their nails dirty and their clothes worn to mesh with their cover story of being a farmer. Seems pretty obvious. Finally, Dieter spends a lot of time in his head constructing angsty internal monologues, and with plenty of "tell" vs. "show," the pace of the book feels very slow, in my opinion.

I suspect if the overall plot had been gripping or the relationship intense and poignant, it would have been easier to overlook the pace and/or the plot inconsistencies, but I struggled to finish the book and personally cannot recommend it. Of course, your mileage may vary! 3 stars.

A Very interesting book. I really enjoyed meeting the characters .I will be honest I thought some of the sex scenes were completely unnecessary and I did nothing ,but will certainly read the next book. I like the fact that there is nothing quite like this out there.

As a huge fan of Jodi Taylor's St Mary's novels I was drawn to this as it was a similar genre. Set in the near future, the Temporal Research Institute is a similar concept but a very different novel.

The time travel aspect of the novel doesn't really feature in any great detail until the last quarter of the novel. Instead we concentrate on the love storey between Dieter, a historian and linguist and Janos Nagy a soldier from the past who enters the world of the TRI by mistake and can not return.

It was interesting to see the gay relationship unfold as both had different experiences of what it is to be gay in their respective times. I thought the characters were well drawn and there is lots of potential to develop other characters to whom we have only been introduced to briefly., so I was pleased to see that there are more books planned and I would definitely plan to read them.

Thank you to Netflix for the opportunity to read an advance copy in return for an honest review

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This is the review that I posted on good reads for this book.

This was an okay book. I was thinking it was going to be about time travel but found that was just a small part of the book. The main part of the book was about Dieter and Janos falling in love and the different emotional struggles they have and how they are able to get through those struggles and be able to love again. It is a very character driven book. I really thought the beginning and ending of the book was great but I struggled and thought the middle of the book moved a little to slowly.

I also thought that the world building was not as great as I would have liked. It was suppose to be set in 2040 but I didn't feel like we where in the future or when the story did go into the past.

I think that if you like m-m romances and character building style of stories then you will like this book and I would recommend it.

I received an eARC from netgalley for this review

The time is the near future 2041, in Manchester a semi-secret organisation called the Temporal Research Institute travels in time to observe historical events. Dieter is a linguist and an historian but he rushes to the fore when a mission goes badly wrong and a Hungarian soldier from World War II stumbles through the open portal.

Janos Nagy is close to death, in fact he thought he was walking into the light, when he stumbles nearly 100 years into his future. Shocked and scared he threatens the pretty man with the outrageous hair and make-up who greets him, scared that this is a Nazi trap.

The TRI can't upset Janos' timeline by returning him, miraculously healed from what should have been a fatal wound, so he is forced to remain in this strange new world. Although Janos terrified Dieter when he first arrived Dieter feels a strange sense of responsibility for the man, especially since he is the only person at the TRI with a passable understanding of Magyar (Hungarian). But as the two men gradually become friends, and then lovers, someone decides if the rules of time travel can be broken once, why not again?

If you are hoping for an LGBTQIA+ version of Jodi Taylor's St Mary's stories this isn't in the same vein. Primarily a romance/stranger in a strange land story the time travel aspect doesn't really feature until late in the book.

I loved both Janos and Dieter, men from very different times in history with very different experiences of what it is like to be a gay man. I also liked the side characters, they felt real and I am pleased to see that one of them features in the next book in the series.

A charming, novel which is hard to define but I really enjoyed it and would definitely read others in the series.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

My thanks for this review go to NineStar Press and NetGalley, for providing me with the Ebook version of this novel in return for an honest review.

The first book in C.B. Lewis’s Out of Time series had some powerful moments through the combination of an adult tone with its science-fiction genre but was let down by a half-baked middle and a threat that wasn’t present for a large portion of the novel.

The premise, of a time travelling operation going wrong and resulting in a WWII soldier moving forward in time a hundred years, was definitely what drew me to this novel. The opening few chapters gave me everything I was hoping for in mature science-fiction writing, as I have previously only experienced the genre through a Young Adult lens. A soldier is desperately trying to escape his captors, limbs rotting and failing him, before he steps through a door of light to a white room that is alien to him. By using very vivid description that didn’t shy away from highlighting blood, gore and bodily fluids, as well as sharp and emotionally-charged interactions between characters, the author provided that power and intensity and gave high expectations for the rest of the novel.

A large part of this novel is dedicated to the rehabilitation of said soldier, Janos, and his opening up as he discovers more about the strange new world he is in. Again, this was a great premise. All too often, science-fiction novels brush over the impact that travelling to a different time can have on the minds of the characters, but this book allows that to be explored. This approach also meant the character of Janos was highly developed, so that his arc throughout the novel felt like it was staying true to his character. Unfortunately, the balance of development is weighted more towards him than the other protagonist of the novel, Dieter. Other than a couple of revelations about his life that were quickly pushed aside, I never truly felt like I knew his character, with his slightly irritating personality and tendency to swear a lot. This was in spite of having both protagonists take it in terms to narrate a chapter, which was a good move on the part of the author. His arc did end up being strong at the end, but I found myself less involved in his character throughout.

In spite of the positive representation of Janos’s rehabilitation, the wider narrative as a whole was frustratingly slow. The author created a goldmine of a creative world in the shape of the Temporal Research Institute, only to leave it way too long to provide readers with any developments in the Institute, let alone see one of the characters travel in time. As a result, the developments occur and the readers are somewhat thrown, as barely any information was revealed about the missions that the Institute would sent people on, even though one of the protagonists actually works there. In the middle section, I even considered shunning the description of this book as a science-fiction one. It is a shame that the sections set in a different time zone were so few, because they were electric and quite intense in their grittier portrayal of the past. A more sustained presence of the Institute and their workings, even in the background, would have worked better than the all-or-nothing approach that made it to the pages.

The lack of action and intensity was made all the more frustrating when the pace and tone of the novel sunk and became quite murky. It was pleasing to see such a realistic and honest representation of LGBTQIA relationships and sexual intercourse make it to the pages of a science-fiction novel as I think that the genre isn’t quite there generally with creating solid characters that are not cisgender and heterosexual. The issue I have with this section of the novel is not how it is written or even how the characters are portrayed, but rather the frequency of sex scenes, which numbered three or four in thirty or forty pages. There was no great satisfaction in these scenes because it felt like it had occurred when the pacing and intensity of the narrative had completely dropped, rather than when the narrative tension had reached a high point. It is good to see a positive representation of LGBTQIA individuals in this book though.

Time Waits was a different beast than I expected from reading the premise. The electric and powerful chapters at the start and the close utilised the full potential of adult science-fiction books but sandwiched a narrative that, whilst included a good portrayal of LGBTQIA individuals and an investigation into the psychological trauma from warfare, lacked punch and underused its brilliant premise until it was too late. The world that the author has created for this novel is intriguing so I may read future titles in the series.

I received an arc from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Would you be willing to sacrifice yourself and everything you love to protect the universal timeline?

Time awaits is an intriguing insight into time travel and paints an honest picture of the dark side of war - abuse hurled at people who are different, the cruelty, the violence, the death. The novel offers an extremely powerful message on the progression of human rights and the leaps and bounds humanity has made over the ages.

For a soldier of war who has oppressed his true nature his entire life, meeting a young scholar who offers nothing but kindness has him questioning if you can really connect with someone from another time? What do you do when the man of your dreams literally only has nightmares about you?Forbidden desires force them both to face the nightmares plaguing them and the journey towards self discovery and acceptance of who you are.

The premise for Time Waits is a good one, and I started the book geared up for an action-packed story. The opening is strong; however, things stall during the middle of the book until they pick up again in the last quarter. During that middle period, I was a little bored. With Janos stuck indoors for the most part, we didn't even get to see much of his adjustment to the new time period. He came across okay as a character, but I wasn't as taken with Dieter. I have no issue with Dieter's swearing, in and of itself, but it didn't feel right for his character, so I struggled to gel with him. I also didn't fully get into their romance, which initially seemed a little forced, while the sex scenes didn't always add anything to the story or characters. Overall, I give this three stars. The concept was good and there were a number of moments and elements I enjoyed, but the pacing could have used a little work, especially through the midpoint in the story. A few cuts and a little tightening of the prose here and there and this book would have worked better.

Excellent
Really enjoyed this book by c.b.lewis. I love time travel books generally and this was no exception. The world building was well done and the relationships between all the characters was very real. I thought the character of Sally was great support in explaining what could be going on internally between dieter and janos. Really liked this couple too, they kept to character as a man suddenly brought to the future from ww2 and one from the future who hasn't had the experiences of having to hide who you are. Looking forward to the next one.