When I heard this was chosen as Reese's book club pick, i was even more stoked to read this advanced reading copy. This book fell flat for me and just could not get into it. This is a book that would be better adapted for tv. thanks netgalley & the publisher for the ARC

Thank you to Netgalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the eARC! I love a good time travel story, especially when there’s self discovery and mystery involved: Cassandra In Reverse ticked all of the boxes and infused some humor here and there. This was such a good story, I loved it and felt that it really captured Cassandra’s identity, I appreciated the emotional journey she embarked on and time travel was an excellent vehicle for her self realization. The inclusion of synesthesia was unique helped to immerse the reader. I do feel like this was just a tad long but overall an excellent novel. 4.5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌟

The story concept of time travel was interesting and if you like Greek mythology, you will like the way Holly adds it into her book. Cassandra, the main character, has moments where she is likable, not often for me though.
After being dumped, fired, and having her break time café run out of her favorite banana muffin, she discovers that she can travel back in time. This becomes interesting for Cassie who doesn’t get along well with others. When something happens and she realizes she should change it, she turns back time. Often I said to myself, I am not going to finish the book as the character was getting annoying, but I stuck it out to the end, and I am glad I did!

Unfortunately this book was not for me. It was very confusing at first and a little italics sentence of what time table we are in would have been helpful. Although, maybe that was impossible given how often she switched. It was just a chaotic plot and I wasn’t a fan of the Greek mythology. I did like Cassandra and would have enjoyed the book more if it was her figuring out who she was without time travel. Also, in these recent times, I don’t think she could have made it to 31 without knowing she was autistic or at least on the spectrum or even what on the spectrum means. It doesn’t seem feasible. I wish I had liked it more.

Thank you to Mira Books and NetGalley for the ARC.

Cassandra Dankworth is having a really bad day, dumped by her boyfriend, fired, and getting thrown out of her apartment; but she gets the chance to start it over and fix what went wrong. Not only that, she discovers that she can go back a few months in time, or only a few moments to repair even the smallest of mistakes. What she can’t do is go back ten years, as she would like, to fix the most life-changing moment of all.

Cassandra has always been told that she is not a people person, doesn’t understand the emotions of others, and is difficult to get along with. She has spent a lifetime seeing the colors of other’s emotions but not knowing what they mean, nor do others understand her. Once she realizes that she has some control over time, she sets out to fix herself and her encounters with the people around her, in hopes of not having that opening horrible day again.

Through her pitfalls and do-overs we learn about Cassandra’s life and relationships that have helped make her who she is, with a dose of Greek mythology thrown in. In the end, she has also learned more about herself, who she is, and who she does and doesn’t want to be.

I have always been fascinated with time travel and read every time travel novel I find. The time loop is also fascinating, and though this treatment of the time loop is a bit different, it is a refreshing change. Highly recommend this book.
Thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA & Netgalley for allowing me to read and review this book.

This was a hard pass for me and I should have DNFd it. I could not get in to Cassandra and I have LOVED other neurodivergent characters. I think the beginning was too heavily focused on her relationship with Will that I stopped rooting for her and just tirelessly read through the rest of this ARC.

What was supposed to be eccentric came across to me as unfunny. The relentless and overwhelming Greek mythology 🤢 The time travel 👎🏼 A misstep from @reesebookclub for me.

Thank you to the author, publisher and @NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

4.5 stars rounded up: Cassandra in Reverse is a story that I had to get into, then it took off for me. If you find it a bit confusing and too much at the beginning, hang in there. Casandra Dankworth works in public relations, which I found funny considering she is on the autism spectrum and doesn't have very good social or people skills. She likes things done a certain way, she doesn't want to be touched and she certainly doesn't want other people to touch her stuff. She runs away when things get tough and shuts herself off when she is in a awkward situation. Thus, she has been fired, her boyfriend has broken up with her and her local coffee shop has run out of banana muffins, disrupting her day completely. Her roommates also want her to move out, so she is definitely at loose ends. Fear not, she blinks and her day begins again. She can travel in time to go back and fix things. Unfortunately until she fixes the right things, she will repeat time over and over.

This sounds like something I had read about before, but it has a totally different feel to it because of Cassandra. This story is told from Cassandra's POV, so what she sees, and interprets may not be what everyone else sees. I guess when you change something in time, there is a chain reaction and she has to be careful that she doesn't disrupt too much. Her main goal is to fix her relationship with Will, the man she has had the longest relationship with, ever. Cassie has had a lot of heartbreak in her past with the death of her parents and something that happened with someone who keeps writing her letters that she throws away unopened. She has blamed herself for her parents' accident because they were on their way to her graduation, and that has colored her life. She wasn't able to go back that far and fix it though, as much as she would have liked to. It takes a lot of do overs until she finally figures out what she needed to fix. I love that she got fired more than once, and eventually saw her co-workers in a different light. As Cassie continues to make different decisions and choose different paths, she finds out who she really is and what she wants to do with her life. I enjoyed being in her neuro-divergent mind. There were times I laughed out loud, and times I wanted to reach into the book and give her a hug. I enjoyed seeing the journey Cassie takes in this book, finally figuring out how to fix her relationships, at least the one that is the most important.

An excellent book from a unique perspective. We follow Cassandra as she tries to navigate life in a world that she doesn't understand. Even though Cassandra is in her thirties, she struggles to make friends, keep jobs and not have meltdowns in public when things don't go as planned. The outside world may look at her as mentally ill or just difficult but neither is correct. You will commiserate with the daily reality that she faces as someone on the spectrum. Cassandra is given a skill that allows her to re-evaluate her decisions and see herself as others see her. If you have someone in your life that is on the spectrum you will recognize some of the Cassandra's triggers. The ending makes sense for who Cassandra is but I wish she had been a little more selfish in the end. The best book I have received from Net Galley to date. Thanks for early access to this excellent read.

This book didn't keep my interest as much as some of the other picks that Reese's Book Club has chosen in the past. I liked the quirky main character, Cassie, but I also got a little bit tired of her neediness near the middle of the story. I liked how she reconnected with someone from her past and the way she made some much needed friends as the story went on, but I wasn't a big fan of the overall story line. The time traveling and reversing time thing was a little hokey in my opinion.

Cassandra may be considered unlikable by some of her colleagues, but she’s perfectly lovable to me. Seeing the world from her perspective makes it so much more interesting. Between the time travel and Cassandra’s personality quirks, this book was a page-turner from the beginning. Much of the first 3/4 was somewhat predictable, but the ending had several twists I didn’t see coming. If you enjoyed “Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine” you’ll definitely want to give “Cassandra in Reverse” a read. It’s a heartwarming story of family, acceptance and forgiveness.

This is a strong 4 stars from me—at some points, I thought this could be a 5 star book.

Cassandra’s life is planned and predictable. Then she gets dumped by the guy she’s falling in love with and loses a job she hates, and even this isn’t too unusual for her: she’s never been in a relationship longer than four months and she’s been fired from every job she’s ever had. But something is different this time: this time, she time travels, and maybe this time, she can fix everything.

I thought this was heart-warming and enjoyable and a fun take on time travel (note: fantasy time travel rather than sci-fi time travel). The characters were interesting, and I cared about them. It was, like, a smidge too predictable, but I really enjoyed it. And I like that Smale wrote a neurodivergent heroine who was not a walking cliche. My love of Greek mythology also contributed to my enjoyment of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins!

CASSANDRA IN REVERSE Is an absolute must-read. THE MAID by Nita Prose meets THE MIDNIGHT LIBRARY by Matt Haig, with big ELEANOR OLIPHANT IS COMPLETELY FINE vibes, Cassandra is completely herself and unique and lovely. It's part romcom, part time-travel (but not in a sci-fi way; in a plot device way!), and I stayed up long past my own bedtime to finish it.

Thank you NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing, MIRA for granting me access to this book in exchange for an honest review.

DNF I just had to stop around the 50% mark because it was awful. I kept reading hoping it would get better and unfortunately that was not the case. I am all for going back in time (Groundhog Day storyline) and I even enjoy Greek mythology. However, I quickly realized the entire book was focused on repeating Cassandra's breakup with Will. During the whole story, Cassandra was trying to changing herself to hold on to her ex. That is absolutely depressing and a red flag for me!

I really wanted to love this book but sadly it just was not for me.

The perfect & quirky time travelling story for fans of Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine.

This novel follows Cassandra's life starting from the worst day of her life. After being dumped, fired, kicked out of her apartment and getting stuck in a fashion boycott, Cassandra realizes that she is able to time travel to the moment right before she meets her (ex) boyfriend Will. Cassandra tries out her new powers of time travel to ensure that Will never breaks up with her... but time travel can be tricky.

I'm never a huge fan of time travel stories, but I surprisingly loved this one. I've been a fan of Holly Smale's other books in the past so I was excited to pick this one up, and I am so glad I did. I loved the main character and I loved watching her personality develop throughout the story and as we get to learn more about her. She reminded me a lot of Eleanor from Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine (also highly recommend that one), especially in her social awkwardness and awareness.

Beautiful book, beautiful main character and a fantastic story. I absolutely loved the ending & I wish I could have stayed in this world a little longer.

Book: Cassandra In Reverse
Author: Holly Smale
Publisher: Harlequin Trade Publishing
Pub Date: June 6, 2023

This was a hard book for me. In case you’re late to the game I said at the beginning of the year I was going to read all of Reece’s Book Club book of the month picks. So this is not a book I would normally choose. That said I gave it four stars because it is a very cute story. It held my attention for the most part and I really really liked Cassandra. I got a little bored and sped read during a couple chapters but it’s hard for me if someone is not dying… The author did a great job making all the characters relatable and likable. Well maybe Cassie is so unlikeable she’s likable. She has hissy fits. Do you know how many hissy fits I’ve thrown? A lot. Also, Cassandra Penelope Dankworth has autism. I don’t feel like this is a spoiler because it’s obvious yet she doesn’t find out until the end of the book. There are so many hilarious moments in this book. The emails between her and her boss were laugh out loud funny to me. Every time she doesn’t like how something is going she time travels and does an “undo.” And it might be 10 times until she gets it right. Wouldn’t we all? The only thing I didn’t care was the Green mythology. But it’s there for a purpose. Again this is a cute fun read and would be great to take on vacation. I just require dark, death and twisty thrillers.

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for this sneak peak! Publication date is June 6, 2023.

It’s only June but I may have already found my favorite summer book! I can’t gush enough about Cassandra in Reverse.

Cassandra Dankworth is a big fan of order and routine. She doesn’t like surprises or trying to decipher people’s emotions. So, when she’s fired from her job and dumped by her boyfriend, she has to face two of her least favorite things in the world on the same day. Then Cassandra learns that she can go back in time and change her past. Can she fix the mistakes she’s made or is she doomed to repeat her mistakes over and over again?

I absolutely adore Cassandra. She’s clever, prickly, sensitive, quirky and often misses social cues. Her inner dialogue shows us her struggle with trying to fit into a neurotypical world. This isn’t a typical time loop story or a typical ‘girl tries to win back her ex’ story. There’s more at stake and a bigger relationship that needs to be salvaged.
I give this book all the stars ❤️❤️

I got this book right before Reese announced it was her pick for the month of June. To say I was excited is an understatement. It reminded me of Oona out of Order which I also enjoyed! This book has time travel, stuck in a loop, second chances, growth and learning about one’s self. There was so much quirkiness and uniqueness to the main character. I loved the Greek mythology added in. I wasn’t expecting it but I also am obsessed with Greek myths so I absolutely loved that aspect.

I overall I liked the premise of what Holly Smale was going for with this book, however I didn't love it. It took me a while to get invested in the story. There were times I really wanted to quit. I decided to stick through because I'm on the blog tour for this book. I am happy I did, because the end of the book ended up being really enjoyable. I think if this book focused more on Cassandra and her relationship with the mysterious woman over her ex (no spoilers), I would have liked it more. It wasn't until that was discussed more that I got into the story. It also plays a huge part in the ending which I absolutely adored. I read a review of someone saying there was too much going on. The more I think about it the more I agree. If certain storylines were cut short and others were focused on more, I could see this being a 4 star read.

OHHHHHHH MAN. This book from start to finish was a wild ride and I enjoyed every second of it. I LOVED the interjection of Greek mythology and history. Cassandra was extremely likable and going on this journey with her was exciting and I felt like I had no idea what was going, which was part of the excitement. Highly recommend!!

I’m a sucker for time travel books or anything involving parallel lives/universes, time loops, Groundhog Day… you name it – if the book messes with time in some way, I’m THERE. This book was on my list a long time ago so I’m thrilled to join the blog tour.

CASSANDRA IN REVERSE centers around Cassandra, who is suddenly given the opportunity to time travel in the midst of a terrible day. Her boyfriend breaks up with her and then she’s fired from her job, so she goes home and takes a nap… only to wake up and it’s the previous morning again. She figures out how to choose when to travel and fix her mistakes. It’s not easy for her to interact with people and pick up on social cues, so having a second chance at certain conversations or situations really helps her figure things out. It was interesting to read a time travel story with someone who could control the power rather than just dealing with the Groundhog Day type of thing.

I couldn’t put this book down and read the first half in one sitting. The second half was equally compelling. There was a portion in the middle where I was getting slightly bored with how she was using the time travel but it very quickly moved to something more intriguing. There were some twists near the end of the book that I didn’t love (and I wasn’t a fan of the final ending/scene very much), which is the only reason this gets 4.5 stars from me instead.

As I mentioned before, Cassandra goes about her life in a very specific way and it’s hard for her to connect with other people. My heart was bursting toward the end of the book when certain relationships starting working out and it seemed like she was humming along nicely. I can’t spoil what I’m talking about but it was really lovely. The concept of someone who seems like they may be on the spectrum having the opportunity to go back in time to fix mistakes and better understand social cues was just such an intriguing concept for a book.

This book was a such a pleasant surprise! It was on my highly anticipated shelf ever since it was announced so I had high expectations, but it certainly exceeded them in many ways.