I so love historical fiction and even more so when you throw in a twist composed of a modern day in character who travels back in time. I was excited than when I came across A Rip In Time. Thank you McMillan books for my e-arc and audio book.

Catriona/Mallory was an intriguing character and I enjoyed seeing how she navigated her way through her new surroundings in time. Her background as a police officer, combined with her work as a maid and assistant to a pioneering forensic Dr. made for an interesting and entertaining read. The addition of a serial killer who may or may not have travel through time with her was a clever addition to the story.

As always a narrator can make or break an audiobook in Kate Hanford did a good job bringing this tail to life. I enjoyed listening to her and appreciated the differences she brought into the characters. I’m looking forward to future books in the series and what Mallory/Catriona will become involved in next.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Kelley Armstrong for providing me with a complimentary digital ARC audiobook for A Rip Through Time.
I’ve read many books by Kelley Armstrong and I love her writing. I was excited when I saw the title of this book. Time travel is one of my favorite genres.

Modern day Mallory wakes up in the body of Housemaid Catriona Mitchell in the year 1869 in a Quantum Leap-esque situation. They seemed to have switched places. She can only assume Catriona is in her body in 2019. I loved that the story is set in Scotland. I feel like we have a lot of stories about Victorian England, but not as many are set in Scotland during that time.

I really love Quantum Leap, so I was all for this concept. Mallory really has no knowledge of Victorian times, so she brings up a lot of forensics that just didn’t exist at the time. She becomes Catriona who is the housemaid for an undertaker Dr. Gray. Luckily, she is able to assist him in solving cases.

Mallory brings up the Butterfly Effect but largely ignores it by telling Isla that she’s from the future. She also brings up several modern things that don’t exist at the time. There were times I felt Mallory talked way too much and gave too much information about herself. It was a wonder more people didn’t know she wasn’t who she said she was. She was constantly using modern terms. As a detective, I feel like she would be smarter about hiding her true identity because it could be dangerous if the wrong people found out she was from the future. Despite some of her shortcomings, I thought Mallory was a strong, deep character. She was overall good at her job and she had some hidden depths. I just think it would’ve been beneficial to have another point of view. It seems like we didn’t get to know Dr. Gray or McCreadie as much. It also would’ve been nice to see what was going on in 2019 with the real Catriona. Maybe that will be explored in other books.

The ending got slightly convoluted listening to it. I didn’t quite follow everything that was going on. There was a lot of Mallory’s reaction to everything and not so much anyone else’s reaction. Gray found out about her not being Catriona and they worked out a deal for her to stay employed by him until she could find a way home. I’m not exactly sure who Colin was. It might be better reading the ending.

Overall, I loved the book. It had time travel and intrigue. It had murder and suspense. It was fast-paced and interesting. I really enjoyed the study of early forensics. They didn’t have a lot to go on in Victorian times so I admire they still tried to solve murders.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys time travel and murder forensics stories.

A Rip Through Time by Kelley Armstrong was my first novel by this author. I knew it was a novel that employed a time travel device, but except for Mallory's sudden experience of being switched from current day Edinburgh to 1869 Edinburgh, there was little sci-fi in the rest of the novel. The vast majority of the novel was spent with Mallory, a modern day detective living as a housemaid in 1869 attempting to try to solve the mystery of a budding serial killer.

Mallory was a great character that was likeable and funny despite the serious situation she was in. Her employer, Dr. Gray was also quirky and fun as a socially unacceptable medical examiner with a healthy interest in the budding field of forensic study.

The mystery of who the serial killer had an interesting twist on the usual whodunnit in that Mallory had to track him not only knowing who he was, but also trying to figure out a killer from her real life back in 2019. Given her circumstances as a low-social-rank AND being female in 1869 made the task even more challenging.

I enjoyed this book start to finish and can't wait to read the follow up I hope will be coming very soon as I NEED to know what happens next. This is a VERY good book for mystery lovers AND for historical fiction lovers.

I loved the unique plot in this book! Modern day detective Mallory found herself a victim of a crime, but traveled through time and into housemaid Catriona's body.

I found a lot of aspects interesting in this book such as Mallory trying to talk/fit in to Catriona's life. She was always having to worry about her secret getting out since she didn't know who to trust. Catriona was definitely not an easy character to try to be since she had many less than desirable doings and traits. Working for an undertaker ans scientist also gave some insight to the development of forensics.

The best of all was trying to solve a Victorian crime when women really didn't do police work, so Mallory has to get creative.

I liked this mystery and the end of the book left me wanting more. A sequel perhaps?

Thank you to MacMillan Audio and Netgalley for providing me a copy of this Audiobook for my honest review.

Thank you NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

4.5 stars, rounding up.

This book has quite possibly one of the most original plots, and it was very well done.

There were points where it felt like the story dragged a bit due to a lot of internal dialogue from Mallory, but the narrator was fantastic at keeping you engaged.

A murder mystery in Victorian Scotland is truly a dream, the dialogue was great and the whole book felt very atmospheric. I felt like I was watching a Sherlock Holmes movie, with time travel sprinkled in.

The nods from Victorian era characters regarding racism, immigration, religious differences, sexual orientation and sexism were *chefs kiss.*

With time travel movies that we’ve all seen, there’s always talks about making even the slightest change to the past could have an exponential effect on the future; I was waiting for this to happen in the book. Skip to the second half where Mallory is questioning whether she is the only one who went through the rip in time, the mention of Jack the Ripper, and how the Raven killer had copied that murder, 20 years before it would even take place.. brilliant.

The relationships and dynamic between Mallory, Isla and Duncan were my favorite part of the book.

I can’t wait for the sequel!

I didn't get very far with this. The writing and characters just didn't engage me, and I couldn't convince myself to keep writing.

Overall, this book is a winner. It was a fun read that kept my interest and attention. The narrator does a bang-up job and it was an easy listen. However, there are a few glaring issues.

Firstly, my version seems to have a few chapters missing. Chapters 36-38 repeat, then it jumps to the next chapters, and some critical information is missing.

The reader is expected to suspend a bit too much disbelief - a 21st century woman time travels into a 19 year old housemaid's body in 1869 and never once freaks out? No anger, no real fear, no real issues? Everyone around her completely accepts her, then her time travel story, without issue? No one thinks it is weird that she is using language that is not all ubiquitous with the time? It all felt way too glossed over, and even the bravest and strongest heroine would struggle with that situation.

I also felt that the story was a little long. Trying to tie in Jack the Ripper was unnecessary, as was the attackers changing bodies and time periods. The latter was also confusing, did not make more sense as the story went on, and did not add to the story at all. Had the culprit been the culprit without the time travel/body switching instance, the story would have been just as good.

Lastly, this is somewhat of a cliffhanger, which I don't love and probably won't go over too well with some readers.

Pros: Isla is a great character and I would love to see and hear more of her. Gray is interesting and his work is intriguing, plus his character is both likable and believable. I will definitely read more in the series.

Loved this book. I will say I was very much afraid that it was going to end in a way, where each book would send Mallory home and then to a different time period. I enjoyed the surrounding cast of characters so much that I would have been horribly disappointed.

So much time was put into the time period, the characters and relationships that were built that starting from scratch each time would have been a lot!

The narrator was fantastic in taking on so many different characters and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the one point of view did not get tiring.

Armstrong takes a hard left from her usual crime novels to pen this time travel story. Homicide detective Mallory is taking a break from caring for her dying grandmother in Edinburgh by taking a run when she’s attacked and left for dead. One hundred fifty years earlier, parlor maid Catriona was strangled and left for dead in the same spot. When Mallory gains consciousness, she finds herself in Catriona’s body in 1869. Considering the situation she finds herself in, Mallory recovers quickly and acts the part of the Victorian housemaid. At the same time she discovers her employer, Dr. Gray, is a part time medical examiner and his latest body is that of a young man strangled to death, much like Catriona. Mallory hopes that finding the killer may somehow lead her back to her own time…and her own body. An enjoyable romp through Victorian Scotland

I was first introduced to Kelley Armstrong's writing through her Rockton series and really enjoyed it, but I hadn't tried any of her other books until now. So happy I gave this series debut a try! I've enjoyed time travel books in the past, but fantasy isn't often my first choice. This one was quite enjoyable as the reader travels back in time from 2019 to 1869 with Canadian detective Mallory Atkinson. 30 year old Mallory is attacked in her time, only to awake as 19 year old housemaid Catriona who was also attacked in the same spot in Scotland, on the same day, 150 years prior. Someone is murdering people and Mallory is determined to figure out who. Who can she trust? How does she get back to her own time? Are people in Victorian times as smelly as she always thought? I enjoy how Armstrong does involve romance, but in a background way that doesn't detract from the mystery and plot. This book ended and I was wishing the next was available!

Thanks to Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC in exchange for my honest review.