I try not to leave negative reviews because I know the author puts a lot of time and effort into their work, and it's their livelihood. However, I couldn't finish this one. Admittedly, I didn't make it far, and I rarely ever DNF a book, but it kind of felt like torture trying to continue. The writing was reminiscent of "Twilight," which is unfortunate because I had high hopes for this story. The synopsis sounded good, and the cover was stunning, but the execution was lacking. I don't mean to be harsh because I know Alsberg gave it her all, but this kind of reads like it's still in its first draft phase.

I usually love Inkyard Press's work, but this was rough.

I want to thank InkYard Press and Netgalley for the ARC (that I started to read way too late post the pre-reading review).

This book is about Klara and Callum, two very different people from two very differents times. Literally. Callum is a scottish clansman from the 15th century, and Klara is a woman who traveled to Scotland after not wanting to attend college. By different circumstances they meet and something starts to pull them together, across time.

Oh and there are monsters.

The first 40% of the book was so much fun. I loved the banter between both characters and the situations that Callum and Klara had. They were fun, light, airy, and made me think of Julia Quinn's novel. However, when it came time for the magic plot, the book lost me. I wish there was more backstory of magic and monsters in the beginning of the novel prior to getting into the heart of it, so the reader could have been aware what was going to happen vs a fun romance novel with magic just spearheaded in.

I DNF'd at 40% because I additionally just got bored. Both characters were two dimensional and didn't have much substance other than just. Hot man, and windswept woman. Klara wanted to be an astronomer but was reduced to the damsel in distress and Callum only had one goal without really taking in the situation at hand. Callum should have had more of a reaction to the modern world other than just slightly shaken by a car running on it's own. There was electricity, clothing, but yet he adapted way too well to a huge shift in change.

This book had potential, but ultimately fell short due to it's blandness and need for some editing that seemed like it was not there.

Thanks to Netgalley and Inkyard Press for the ARC!!

SUCH a self-insert and honestly, if I hadn't followed Sasha for years, I probably wouldn't even see it but oh wow. If you wanted to write a book about yourself set in your favorite fictional universe, you should've just said that.

(And I've never seen/read Outlander nor do I know anything about Scottish folklore so I cannot speak on that aspect of the book)

I don't want to be too harsh with this review because I can tell the author put her heart and soul into writing it and it does show. You can feel her joy in every page. However, I was lead to believe that this was written as an upper-YA fantasy story but honestly, it reads more like a MG adventure story. Just super simplistic and just her voice isn't original enough for me, personally.

I enjoyed the story as a whole, it kept me reading. The characters were awfully bland. Just a pretty meh book. I would like to see what Sasha releases next, whether that be a sequel or a brand new creation, because I see her potential. I think she could write something great in the Historical Fantasy genre if she took herself out of the equation and used her love of Scottland/Outlander as her inspiration instead of using it as her stories backbone.

Did not finish at about a third of the way through. The writing felt flat, and I wasn't invested enough in the characters or their peril.

After reading Zenith and loving it I did kind of wonder how much of that story writing was Aslberg and how much was Cummings and now I think I have my answer. This fan fiction retelling of Outlander failed on so many counts. The characters sucked and were super flat and the story was just a mess. I am almost going to say that Inkyard press did us dirty. They published this because they knew with Alsberg's following the book would sell. But I wonder how many returns of this book are going to crop up once people actually read it.

3.5 would be a more accurate rating for this book. I did enjoy the story and the pacing was pretty quick. I wasn’t fully pulled in by the story though, it was interesting but I didn’t love it. I appreciated both of the viewpoints from both Clara and Callum.

I wanted to give this a chance - I'd hoped that it would be better than the Androma Cycle. I was mildly excited to dive into this, but it pretty much read like self-insert, wish fulfillment Outlander Fan Fiction. It was hard to differentiate the MC - Klara - from the author. Once Upon a Time I was a fan of Sasha's when she was on BookTube, and just active in the bookish community, so from what she's shared online, her MC in the book, felt really familiar and not at all original.
Aside from that issue, I just had so many other issues with this book. From the whole conflict involving mythology and lore, and the 5 day timeline of the whole thing, to a 16th Scot - Callum (a man way out of time) being able to drive a car, to Klara learning how to wield a sword in like one evening, and just a myriad of other things, I was vastly unimpressed and quite honestly annoyed I spent time reading this book. I was really disappointed, and the fact that it's pretty much marketed as a stand-alone, and it isn't....

Of course it's brave of anyone trying to tackle a Scottish time-traveling romance after "Outlander," but this had just enough of an interesting premise to be slightly apart, especially with the mythology involved, and yet...combined with that very mythology not seeming all that coherent as it emerged, the characters weren't fleshed out enough to make me care. Even the audiobook, I realized, couldn't keep me interested, despite decent narration. So I stopped.

Breaking Time

First off let me start with the cover is absolutely stunning!!

Breaking Time follows Klara as she encounters Callum a time travelling Scotsman in present day Scotland. When they both get attacked by shadow demons Klara finds out she possesses magical ability and it’s up to her to save time and reality.

I’ve followed Sasha loosely on social media over the years so I’m familiar with her love of Outlander. Unfortunately I think she tries too hard to incorporate too much of it into this book and it doesn’t feel organic. More like swap of characters with Callum, the male lead, to the present instead of Klara, the female lead, to the past like in Outlander.

Sasha also wrote a lot of herself into Klara. One of the biggest similarities was the loss of her mother at a young age and still processing the emotions that go along with that. Klara is dyslexic similar to Sasha. Klara’s living situation is even similar growing up in the US and now living in the UK. Unfortunately Klara’s character fell flat and Sasha is anything but.

I also couldn’t get behind the writing. There was so much “telling”. Emotions were told, not shown. Descriptions were dumped in instead of experienced. And unfortunately that translates to the romance. Were they in love? More like we were just told they were in love. It felt very instalovely and that’s one thing I have a hard time swallowing.

Overall the book was OK. Maybe good for a young reader looking to get into the word of Outlander and Scotland without committing to such a big series. But I would be hard pressed to recommend it to an already fan.

The story was good, but not right for my audience. I enjoyed the time period descriptions and the fantasy elements. The ending did leave me frustrated as often happens when I go into a book not knowing it is a duoligy/trilogy/series.

For the right reader, I believe this book will do well.

Thank you for this ARC. This was a time travel novel. I couldn't get into the characters or story and didn't finish.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Ok, so I rarely leave these kinds of reviews. This book was honestly bad. It feels like bad fanfic. Fanfic can be amazing, but this didn't work at all. It was hard to read, hard to understand, and felt like the author was trying too hard with their word choices. I know that Alsberg has a following from her platforms, but that shouldn't lead to publication. I've read much better from authors who are trying to get their books sold.
All in all, everything about this book fell flat, and I was honestly hoping I would love it.

I started this book thinking it was a standalone. I wasn't looking to start any new series as I have soooo many that I am trying to keep track off, I just wanted a one off to reads, enjoy, and move on. Well, now I'm disappointed that I have another series I need to keep track of. And man, what a cliff hanger this book has!
After witnessing the murder of his friend, Callum is sent forward into time and meets Klara when she hits him with her car. This book is full of adventure, mystery, magic, and a little bit of romance. It could be a bit more polished, but I liked the premise and the path of this book enough to continue on with reading the series. Will appeal to young adult readers.

Thank you so much InkYard Press for my #gifted copy of Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg! 🗡️

𝙈𝙞𝙣𝙞 𝙍𝙚𝙫𝙞𝙚𝙬: I'm a HUGE Outlander fan, so any book that says "for fans of Outlander" I am all in! This one was really good! I enjoyed the world building and the characters too. I thought this book was entertaining, beautifully written and fun! I loved getting lost in this magical world. Ot doesn end on a cliffhanger so be prepared for that!

𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙚𝙣𝙟𝙤𝙮:
• outlander
• insta love
• scottish highlands
• fantasy
• time travel
• mythology
• folklore

"Fate brought them together. Time will tear them apart."

3.5⭐ rounded up

In Sasha Alsberg's novel, Breaking Time, romance meets historical fiction and time travel. If you love the idea of these elements coming together, you've got to check it out.

Klara's whole life changed the moment she (nearly) hit a man with her car. Not because of mundane consequences like a prison, but because that was the moment she learned time traveling is real. The man she nearly struck, Callum, is not of her time.

There's more to this story, as Klara quickly learns that his appearance is no coincidence. She has a role to play in traveling time, and it is about time (no pun intended) she gets involved. Without her, the whole world may be in danger.

So, I never actually read (or watched) Outlander, but to me, it felt like Breaking Time is heavily inspired by it. Perhaps I'm wrong – could a fan of the series comment on whether this feels right? Naturally, that isn't a problem. I love reading books with similar vibes or even outright retellings.

However, there's also a reason I've never read Outlander, simply because it isn't my cup of tea (no offense to fans – seriously, love what you love!). Obviously, I'm also saying that Breaking Time was ultimately not my cup of tea, despite my hopes.

My problem with these tropes is that I always (always!) end up screaming at the main characters. It's like watching a horror movie – you know, going into the basement alone will get that character killed, but of course, they're not listening to your words.

One final point before I conclude my review: readers that originate from Ireland, Wales, or Scotland may find themselves put off by the mythological portrayals in this book. So will those that know a lot about these subjects. This is mainly because the themes kind of bounce around, meshing them together in odd ways.

Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg is about Klara, a girl who’s just suffered a terrible loss and facing a huge choice in her life. What she wasn’t expecting was to run into a handsome Scottish boy dressed in clothes from 500 years ago.

Think Outlander but reverse. Boy from past travels to girl from present.

I’m not going to lie, I did not vibe with this book at all. I struggled to get through it. For me there was too much dialogue and not enough action. Plus I really did not like either perspective of Klara and Callum. The plot was pretty linear too.

The characters had no weight to them. There was nothing for me to grasp onto and so I didn't really care for them.

The ending cliffhanger was fun and intriguing, I’ll give you that. However I don’t think I’ll be reading the sequel.

I was excited to read this book but the first couple chapters determined that this book was not for me. The writing style is amateur and not something I expect from an author who has written a book before. The parts I've read sound like a fanfiction of Outlander and knowing that the author is a fan of it I'm sure that the plot will be very similar to it further into the book. I didn't connect with any characters and found our main character annoying with how she kept lying to her family about school when it was really no big deal. The cover of this book is amazing and gives me high fantasy vibes. I don't think it matched the book at all.

This book was just all over the place and just wasn't for me. I was excited about the premise but the execution wasn't there.

For me, this book was Project Red for a long time. I'm so happy to have read the ARC, I enjoyed it very much.

Klara feared she hit the strange Scotsman with her car, but Callum is from another time entirely. Klara is the last Pillar of Time, an anchor point in the timeline and a hiding place for magic. Callum must protect her, especially after he was unable to protect the previous Pillar. A force is hunting the Pillars to claim the power within them. Klara and Callum must learn to trust each other and work together to stop that force, and they may create a tighter connection.

Starting with Callum in the past, we see exactly how traumatic his friend's death was, and why it's personal for him to protect Klara. As for her introduction, it's the ordinary, everyday world that we're used to, so painfully bland that we want that inciting incident to come to shake it up. The pacing is interrupted with extensive dialogue giving us backstory as Klara learns it, but it doesn't feel exciting. Learning what the pillars are and why they were created doesn't feel important, even if it shakes Klara's perspective. Too much seems to simply fall into their laps, so there's no real struggle in discovering the truth.

I think part of the problem is that the plot is very common, and the only new aspect of this seems to be the Celtic mythology layered in. As much as I enjoyed the premise and looked forward to reading this, the actual reading felt more like a chore. It's not a bad book, just one that didn't seem as gripping as it should have been.