This book fell short of expectations, presenting a disappointing reading experience. The characters lacked depth, hindering emotional connection. The plot's pacing felt erratic, leading to a disjointed narrative. Language use was functional but lacked the finesse needed for immersion. While themes were present, they remained underexplored, leaving the narrative without depth.

A DNF for me. The dialogue felt unnatural and I found the story too confusing to follow. Thank you to netgalley for this E arc in exchange for an honest review

I appreciate the publisher allowing me to read this book. I really enjoyed this one the plot kept me interested until the end which is not easy, and the characters were engaging and believable. I highly recommend this book.

I couldn't put down Time Squared. The book is a richly atmospheric portrait of women's agency and the timelessness of love, exploring the enduring roles of rights, responsibility, and devotion throughout history. It examines the roles women are forced to play in different centuries, the power they're allowed, the stresses they face — and what this does to their relationships.

The author does an excellent job highlighting how these choices can shape women's lives so much more than we might realize at first glance. She also looks at how these choices affect men as well as women — and that's not often seen in books like this one!

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in learning more about history or just curious about how different people have viewed themselves over time!

I really struggled to engage with this strange time lapse story and to get anything out of it. I wondered whether a pause before writing my review would help but it only served to convince me that it was a highly forgettable novel, more interesting conceptually than in the reading of it. Sorry, but not for me.

With thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the opportunity to read and review.

This was a DNF for me. I was excited about the premise, true love over numerous lives, but the execution just wasn’t there. We meet the characters, Eleanor and Robin, and the story progresses through various eras, mostly discernible by what war Robin is fighting in. The hard part was that there is no segue from one time period to the Next so it’s rather jarring. The characters don’t seem to notice, or have dreams or strange feelings or anything either, so it’s more like the author is experimenting with which time she wants the story to take part in. And the worst is that the dialog is dull. Dull, dull, dull. It was like watching paint dry. I slogged through 60% of this and decided I needed to move on. Sorry.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publishers, and the author for an ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Time Squared by Leslie Krueger has been weighing on my mind for several days, now. It is the story of Eleanor Crosby who appears to have lived several lives, but only one life. Her lives begin in Regency England where she meets Captain Robin Denholm and begins a tentative correspondence with him as he is off fighting in the Boer War. They grow closer and it looks like a romance, then all of a sudden their romance is happening in a different time, a different setting. He is still away at war. She is still waiting. Her friends and family are still surrounding her: some different, some the same. The story continues and it happens again. She doesn't really notice, but occasionally she'll have an odd dream or a flash of a memory. She has migraines (or megrims). Are they the cause? Is she mentally ill?

Very strange book with time working in waves. Intriguing and interesting to see her personality, and the personalities of those around her, developing on different timelines. I had no idea what was going on, but I kept reading. The characters were good. It amazed me that the same storyline could be played out in so many settings. It is a work of art, really. I enjoyed it as much as I was fascinated by it. You'll have to read it for yourself in order to understand. I recommend it.

I was invited to read a free e-ARC of Time Squared by Baker and Taylor, through Netgalley. All thoughts and opinions are mine. #netgalley #bakerandtaylor #timesquared

Thank you to the author, publisher and netgalley for giving me an ebook copy of this novel in exchange for a review.

I finished this book a couple of days ago and I have let it percolate so I can get a handle on my thoughts about it. My feeling is generally positive: it’s an enjoyable read. Some of the characters are on the whole interesting, as is the concept; that is what really drives this novel. The settings and writing are good. I would say it is a pleasant enough read.

The book is described as being like Life After Life by Kate Atkinson who, to be fair is one of my all time favourite writers so I came to the boom with high expectations. It is nowhere near as good as Atkinson’s, unfortunately and it’s a pity they have lumped the two together.

The whole idea of the novel is to show how women’s roles have changed over the decades but it really fails to achieve this as it is so focused on the time slip nature of it and the non relationship between the two love interests. It’s insta-love and we’re meant to think that will last them through the decades together - we know very little about Robin/Rob/Robert because the main character only knows that when she looks into his eyes he’s the one she’ll marry. So there is no tension in their relationship, no passion and the difficulties they face are due to him being at some war or other and never having more than a few conversations together.

Also as the characters acknowledge themselves, the main character is given a life of leisure and who basically does nothing in any of her carnations so how is that showing a changing role of women? She chooses to have barely any role! She is incredibly passive in a way that even when women were supposed to be passive she managed to be the worst possible.

So there isn’t much of plot, just a new page and you working out where she is now and how much time has moved on. (if you don’t know the history of the wars of the 19th/20th century it might be a bit lost on you). The other characters are fairly one dimensional and the writer seems to suggest that changing their names (ENDLESSLY!!) will make us feel that they interesting people in differing times. Her best friend is Kitty/Catherine/Kat/Kate/Katy/Cait and after a while that’s just annoying! She never seems to know if the love interest is Robin or Robert. Aunt Clara is always Clara though, until she’s aunt Joan!

It really is interesting reading what time it is and where they are and that sort of thing. I particularly liked the Roman bit but overall I was underwhelmed by this and didn’t love it like I thought I would. Having said that I wanted to read on, I didn’t feel dread when picking it up (like I did another book I read recently) and I was satisfied with the ending.

I was really excited by the premise of this book, but sadly it didn't live up to expectations. I found the characters hard to relate to and really struggled to follow the story

This book starts like you’re in a Jane Austen novel and finishes like a Margaret Atwood one. I started off wondering where it was going and getting myself a bit confused as it didn’t seem anything like I thought it was going to be but then I realised I was actually just enjoying the story for itself and went with the flow, and I’m glad I did. It really is a book that you can’t fully understand until you’ve read it to the end, and you then appreciate the book as a whole. It is definitely a book that makes you think particularly about the roles of men and women through history and how times have changed. I love the way the atmosphere changes as the story progresses as you go from one of joviality to a darker and more intense tone. This is a great good book that takes you on a journey like no other through time.

I received this from Netgalley.com.

"Life after Life Eleanor loves Robin. Again and again and again. Yet they never quite get to be together."

This story was just not for me. I struggled with the story flow and thought the characters were uninteresting.

2☆

Time Squared by Lesley Krueger holds an interesting premise: starting from the early 1800s, we follow Eleanor as she seemingly moves through various lives with the same cast of characters remain. Her love story with Robin reboots with each ‘fast forward’, though they spend the majority of their time apart as Robin is off at war. Eleanor becomes more aware that something is off and that someone somewhere may be manipulating them all.

I have to admit being surprised by the more negative reviews for this book. I quite enjoyed the writing, especially as the book started off with a style similar to Jane Austen (even using names like Lizzie and Kitty). The author drops in more modern themes (like Eleanor’s independent Aunt Clara choosing to have affairs instead of remarrying), exploring women’s agency throughout time.

I enjoyed the book up to Eleanor and Robin meeting during World War II. The big reveal / ending is a bit of a throwaway. It felt out of step with the rest the story, as if the author realised she needed to wrap up the story and decided to throw in science fiction to try to tie everything together.

All in all, an enjoyable read that has a similar feel to Kate Atkinson’s Life After Life.

As a huge fan of time travel/time loops and the like, I was excited to start this book. Sadly it did nit deliver in its promise, the dialogue was pretentious and uninspiring. I had no connection nor interest in the characters and therefore did not finish this book.

I like science fiction and historical fiction, this book tried to be a mix of both but failed and I could not finish.

I do love a time travel book but unfortunately this, for me, doesn't make the mark. Yes we follow Eleanor and Robin, and observe how their relationship changes during the different time periods but there wasn't anything gripping about it. The more contemporary time periods seemed better formed, as did the first encounter which was long enough for us to meet the characters and develop opinions. However the characters are a bit two dimensional. I'm also not sure what to make of the futuristic section where she is told what is going on.

The story of Eleanor and Robin's doomed attempts at getting together through the ages was an intriguing plot. Unfortunately I found the story too slow and really didn't care for the characters. Whilst the book moved from one time period to another I didn't find much character or plot development moved along with it. As a result I ended up finding it a bit of slog.

I think I expected something different from this book, which could be my fault. I found it really hard to actually care for our main characters, the sitting were more interesting to me. I felt like the book was building up to be something much more that it actually was, unfortunately.
The writing of the author is good though, that is definitely not at fault.

A time warp love story about Eleanor and Robin, who are thwarted at every turn in history. I enjoyed the ambitious expansiveness of the novel and the curious slippage between eras. But I never quite fell in love with Eleanor as much as I needed to sustain the story.

This Book is about Eleanor Crosby time period variant. You could really tell the author is into Jane Austen, mostly pride and prejudice. Down to the names of the characters and actions. It seemed like an investment in interactions of the characters.

This Arc was given to me by Netgalley in Exchange for an Honest review.

Time Squared
By: Lesley Krueger
✨ Release Date: Sept 28, 2021
330 Pages

This story follows the love story of Eleanor and Robin and their struggle to be together as their story takes them leaping through time.
Eleanor is suffering from headaches and visions of potential past lives, unable to free herself from the game she seems to be in. Will she ever be able to be with Robin? Will they ever connect?

Since this book was time travel themed, I was so excited to read it. The beginning had a Jane Austen Emma vibe, and the characters were relatable and easy to connect with.
But… I could not get into this book at first– the confusion as to where the story was going, and when the time shifts happened. The fact that Eleanor is unaware that the time traveling is going on – which was odd and frustrating.
It took some pushing through to get the story going but overall, it was ok.
⭐️ ⭐️ (2.5)