4.5/5 stars

The Space Between Here & Now is a Young Adult time travel coming of age story.

The heroine is 17 year old Korean Canadian Aimee. She has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome (STWS), a rare condition that has her disappearing from the present to re-watch moments from her past. She smells something linked to a past memory. And she time travels to view said memory. But only as an observer. She can't change anything.

This book focuses a lot on the Korean culture, which I loved. And honestly everything about STWS is so fascinating and original. I loved all of the questions that Aimee had and I was so invested in her story.

This book is so unique. It features time travel and magical realism. It is our world, but where this condition exists. There is a mystery to do with her mother who left when she was little. Also much of the book takes place in Korea. The whole story is so interesting and unpredictable.

The supporting characters include her dad (who is very closed off and doesn't want to talk about her condition, her aunt (who supports her), her best friend (who always want to help), and a boy (who she met as a child). There is a bit of romance (but it's not the main part of the story).

Overall, I really enjoyed this story. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes an original premise and lots of Korean culture.

i love stories that play with time and this was such an interesting concept that integrated the magical realism element so well. loved that the story went a lot into better understanding and connecting with your loved ones. an easy and enjoyable read!

thank you to HarperCollins / Harper360YA for the e-arc!

I really enjoyed Aimee's character and her relationship with Junho. They're so cute and this provided a much needed humor break from the seriousness of Aimee's experience in Korea. The time warps are terrifying for her and you can really connect with the anxiety and trepidation of the character. I found myself really feeling for her in these tense, emotional moments as she tries to find out more about her mom.

This was such a pleasant surprise and ends like a warm hug. I highly recommend this book if you're looking for a book to read in one sitting.

I really loved this. It was such an interesting concept and had a combo of so many things I love like Canadian characters, family drama, all the emotion, a dash of romance, and obviously the magical time travel element. This was such a gorgeously crafted novel and I cannot wait to read more of Sarah Suk’s work!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for providing me with an eARC of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review!

The Space Between Here & Now follows Aimee, who had Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, which means she gets transported back to a memory associated with her trigger, which is smell.

“I guess that’s how memories are, even for someone like me who can go back and visit pieces of them/ some you hold on to tight, some you lose to time. Some you find again in the present in a new and different way.”

I was in awe of the gorgeous cover created for this book and second by the idea of Sensory Time Warp Syndrome or STWS. I was super intrigued and couldn’t wait to dive into this book!

The story itself stars off super interesting, with a great introduction of Aimee, the main character, and STWS and how it influences her whole life. It was very easy to get sucked into the story just by the first few chapters. To be honest the very first sentence was enough to grab my attention;
"It’s not easy explaining what it feels like to disappear in ten words or less"
I also really liked how this sentence kept coming back with different answers every time. It was a nice was to tie the story together at multiple points in the book. What I also really liked where the bits of context and information at the end of the chapters! A very fun way to give us as readers more information or context without it feeling rushed or like an infodump.

The writing also was phenomenally done! The story was so easy to get lots in and I breezed through the pages. Before I knew it, I was already in the last few chapters! I read this whole book in one setting, because it was so great and I honestly hadn’t noticed how much time had passed.

Aimee is such a great character! I really liked going on this emotional journey with her, trying to find out what happened when her mom walked out on them and at the same time navigating the world while having STWS. She grew beautifully, becoming more confident in herself and wanting to continue living her life fully instead of always at attention due to the possible disappearance that could happen at any time. I also really like how aware she was of her own behavior in the end and could say sorry and acknowledge that what she did was hurtful.

The relationships in this book were so good and complicated at the same time! Especially between Aimee and her dad! Both struggled communicating with each other and Aimee felt misunderstood or often unheard. I think that especially is something a lot of teenagers or young adults can relate to, which makes it real and believable. Seeing them learn to communicate more and more was beautiful!

I also really liked the friendships! Natalie is the best cheerleader Aimee could ask for and their friendship was honestly so fun to see and read! I also loved the tiny bits of romance added between the emotional rollercoaster this book is. It didn’t take over the main theme in the book, but was really complementary.

Overall, The Space Between Here & Now is a great contemporary fantasy book with a super interesting element which is Sensory Time Warp Syndrome and has great characters that take us on a beautiful, emotional journey.

Thank you to NetGalley, author Sarah Suk, and HarperCollins Children's Books: Quill Tree Books for providing me with a free ARC in exchange for my honest opinion!

I'm so sad that I didn't enjoy this more, as I had really high expectations for this read! I have been really into science fiction lately, and the premise of someone being able to revisit memories sounded so interesting. When Aimee was actually talking about her Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, I thought it was well-done and a fascinating topic for a YA book. I also really enjoyed reading about all the places in Korea that she visited and learning more about her Korean heritage. Even the small romance plot line worked pretty well for how short of time they had to develop it! However, besides the fact that Aimee has a condition that doesn't exist, it would be a STRETCH to call this a "science fiction" book. There's basically no context or world-building of any sort to place this condition in the setting of the book. The book reads like present-day, so it makes this "syndrome" even more confusing to read about. I wish Suk would have leaned more into the backstory of STWS and explained more. I also really did not like the reveal about Aimee's mom, as I thought it came a bit too late in the story for the manner in which it is revealed and handled. This was a quick read that had enjoyable parts, but ultimately, I was let down, as it wasn't quite what I was expecting in terms of a marketed sci-fi book.

The Space Between Here and Now by Sarah Suk.

✔️ Time travel
✔️ YA fantasy/sci-fi
✔️ Asian lit
✔️ Family drama

Seventeen-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome (STWS). This is a mysterious condition that transports her to the past when she smells certain scents linked to specific memories. Her father won't talk about it and her mother disappeared two years ago without a trace. It's happened nine times, the longest being ten minutes. Aimee wants to know more about it and find a way to stop/lessen the times she disappears.

The world building was great. I loved diving into Korea. From the food, language, and cultural practices, I could picture everything. Aimee wrote journals about disappearing. She's confused and scared going about her day then poof, she's gone. She's disappeared in front of people and feared getting stuck in a time loop. Life at home with her father wasn't the best, never discussing her condition or her mother. They grew distant once her mother left, and he refused to take her to a doctor.

The characters- Aimee Roh was longing to know what happened to her mother. She wanted to know more about her STWS, so she read forums and even did meetups with other people w/ STWS. Her father James Roh kept telling her it would go away if she tried to make it so. He was in denial and kept so many secrets from Aimee. I loved her aunt Gomo because she made Aimee feel at home cooking for her. I thought Mr. Kim and Junho cared about Aimee more than her father because they talked to her and tried to help find her mother. There was a cute little romance spark between Aimee and Junho. They shared their art with each other-Aimee film photography and Junho illustration of webtoons. I felt sympathy for Aimee and her father because of how Aimee's mother Baek Youngmi treated them. I thought she was just selfish for abandoning her family even if she was unhappy.

Overall, I enjoyed this Asian inspired time travel YA fantasy. It reminded me of the movie Jumper with Hayden Christensen. Aimee didn't have as much fun, but the family relationships were similar.

Rating: 4/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐

~•~•~
Thanks to NetGalley and Harper Collins (Quill Tree Books) for this ARC 🧡! I voluntarily give my honest review and all opinions expressed are my own. Publication date is 10/31/23.

4.25 stars

I had no expectations going into reading this other than that the premise sounded interesting and I loved the cover. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it!

Aimee was a great MC, and she handled situations in a way I would expect a teenager to handle with the little information and agency she had. She is wanting to know more information on her diagnosis and her mother. She makes a last minute decision to book a flight to Korea to stay with her aunt for spring break despite her father’s wishes. She spends time with her aunt in Seoul and also unexpectedly gets to spend time with Junho, her childhood crush. The moments they shared were so cute, and I loved how easily their friendship flowed with open communication and working to trust each other. Their texts to one another were the CUTEST. I loved every moment they shared.

Once her father shows up in Korea as a surprise to her, she is forced to make a decision to share her experiences and feelings with him or continue on their path of isolating one another from their lives. I enjoyed how she discussed the difficulties of speaking with her father and also that he is so reserved. When they reconcile, I found it it be such a real and vulnerable moment for the both of them, especially about Aimee’s mother, why he chose to keep things from her, and his hesitation for her to seek mental health treatment for her STWS diagnosis. He acknowledges that he was raised to look down on mental health treatment, and it really is a great moment between the two of them.

CW: abandonment

The Space Between Here and Now by Sarah Suk, 320 pages. Quill Tree Books (HarperCollins), 2023. $20.
Language: R (30 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: G; Violence: G
BUYING ADVISORY: HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH
Going back in time sounds like a superpower, but, for Aimee (17yo), it’s a nightmare. Aimee has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome (STWS), which, for her, means that sometimes a smell will send her back in time to watch an old memory, making her physically disappear from the present for an uncontrollable amount of time. But her dad is in denial about the issue, even as the disappearances are starting to occur more frequently. Aimee needs help, and she’s desperate enough to fly halfway around the world to find it.
The story was initially unclear about whether Aimee’s disappearances were mental or physical absences, and the book was more enjoyable once that detail was made clear: the disappearances include a change in her physical location. While Aimee’s condition is fictional, her struggles to talk about and find help for STWS are relatable. She wants to be in control of STWS before she lives her life instead of learning to live with STWS and the ways it might disrupt any given day. The ending is more about closure than solutions, more about mindset than being bestowed with a magical happily ever after.
Aimee, Junho, and their fathers are Korean-Canadian; Nikita is Taiwanese-Canadian; and most of the other characters are either implied Canadian or Korean.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen

I absolutely LOVED this newest from Canadian ya author, Sarah Suk! The plot for this unique time twist novel was so original and transporting (literally)!! The book explores some tough topics from a rare disability, grief, loss and family secrets. I couldn't put this one down and HIGHLY recommend!! Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy in exchange for my honest review!!

The Space Between Here and Now was such a lovely story with a huge focus on family, and a very therapy-positive perspective. Aimee has something called Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, which basically means she loses chunks of her life falling back into memories. She's not living them again, she's watching her past self live them. I figured this would be either incredibly hokey or incredibly cool, and luckily, it was the latter. In Aimee's case, smells trigger her going back into these moments, and they quite often revolve around her absent mother, who left the family quite abruptly. As you can probably imagine, Aimee has a lot of questions about her mom's disappearance, but her dad simply does not want to talk about it.

One day, Aimee disappears for a long time, longer than she has before, and decides that enough is enough. She's going to head to Korea and track down traces of her mother, and she even thinks that perhaps her mother left because she suffered from STWS too. I loved that Aimee made this big decision, because it was brave and a thing she just plain needed to do for herself so she could (hopefully) have some closure. Her dad, who very much did not want her to go, acquiesces, and arranges for Aimee to stay with her aunt, his sister.

I loved the Korean bits of the book. First of all, the book had me really, really needing to locate my nearest Korean restaurant (just kidding we don't have good food around here, the closest one I found is like 45 minutes away. Still, when I have the time, I'm there.) because obviously the amazing smells of the Korean cuisine was going to trigger Aimee (and me, to do a deep dive into how far UberEats would actually go, and just the discussion of the culture in general. A huge piece of this story is the Korean-Canadian diaspora that Aimee is experiencing, which comes into play in a big way in terms of stigma around mental illness, and even the communication between family members. Aimee's dad is so reluctant to tell her things, and the cultural piece is extremely relevant in that regard.

I also loved that Aimee got to hang out with her aunt! More of her, please! Aimee needs her in her life, frankly, and she seemed like an awesome influence. I also really enjoyed the character of Junho, who was Aimee's first crush, who somehow is in Korea at the same time she is. It was really important for her to have some people to trust, and while that was incredibly hard for her (and you can understand why), it was an important part of her journey.

Bottom Line: Ultimately, the focus on family and mental health made this a huge win for me. Bonus points for the cool memory-travel situation.

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.
I read a previous book by Sarah Suk, and while I had mixed feelings about it, I was impressed enough to try again. The Space Between Here & Now stood out from a lot of what I was seeing being published, as while time travel and time-warp stories aren’t new, the approach seemed unique. And that’s the aspect that really impressed me with this book. I like how the book doesn’t feel overly scientific, but it has layperson characters dealing with what is a diagnosable condition, Sensory Time Warp Syndrome (STWS) with some semblance of actual scholarship in-universe, and I liked how the way it was explored felt very similar to the documentation of any other symptoms of an illness, especially a neurological or psychological condition, and those with it are encouraged to document the phenomena in a journal.
But the speculative elements are also a clever vehicle to explore the real issues Aimee deals with. She’s navigating feeling this sense of loss, with her mother’s absence in her life, and wanting to find out what happened to her, while also reckoning with the fractured connection to her Korean heritage. While her journey to figure things out doesn’t take her exactly where she expects, I love how she came into her own and found a sense of herself, reconnecting to her roots.
I also love the strong familial relationships depicted in the story. Her relationship with her father, in particular, isn’t always the easiest, but I loved that they came together in a beautiful way as Aimee began to dig up the secrets of her past, especially learning about not just her past with her mother, but a bit about her parents’ relationship to one another.
One of my complaints about Suk’s prior book was that the romance was a bit too understated, however, that was relative to how that book was marketed. This one was marketed more for the self-discovery journey, making Aimee’s budding romance with Junho a nice surprise. It was sweet how, in the midst of the uncertainty, she found an ally outside her family who she could depend on.
This was a refreshingly original read, and I’d recommend it to readers looking for fun takes on time travel/warp narratives.

This book!

Time travel? Already sold. But this book was so much more. Aimee goes through all the things while dealing Sensory Time Warp Syndrome. She deals finding herself, falling in love, the aftermath of a lost parent, and more.

Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review.

Thank you NetGalley and Quill Tree Books for the Advanced Reader Copy!

This book follows protagonist Aimee Roh, a high schooler with Sensory Time Warp Syndrome where a specific scent of items like sawdust or perfume can physically take her back in time to a childhood memory. As the story progresses, Aimee realizes she is almost always being brought back in time to memories of her mother who walked away from Aimee's life at a young age. Aimee begins searching for answers both inside and outside of her memories on why her mom left her. Throughout the book, Aimee finds more answers about herself and her relationships with people in the present as well as finding out the truth of what happened to her mother.

The book is exceptionally well-written. Sometimes I would suddenly remember, "Oh, this is a young adult book!" It was so easy to get lost in the story and read large sections of the book in one sitting, and that is in large part due to Sarah Suk's incredible world-building and character development. This book was so hard to put down! I would categorize this book as magical realism akin to books Isabel Allende and Cristina García have written, and yet, the settings and characters felt so grounded and based in reality. Each character is so complex and flawed, including protagonist Aimee, which I think really adds so much dimension to the story overall. I think Suk did an amazing job of unraveling this story as the book progresses. The reader is slowly made privy to the reasoning for certain character motivations (what immediately comes to mind is Aimee's father, who was so complex and beautifully written). I was always kept on my toes and second-guessing how the story was going to play out. Time and time again, the book kept surprising me, in a good way! I couldn't be happier with how the book ended; I felt like everything was resolved so lovely. Admittedly, I was crying my way through reading the last few chapters of the book. This book deals with themes such as grief and identity so beautifully and with a fresh and unique lens with fantastical elements such as time-traveling.

I truly think this a flawless book! The plot was engaging from beginning to end. The characters, no matter how big or small of a role they played in the plot, were multifaceted and added dimension to the story. The sci-fi element of time traveling with Suk's addition of Sensory Time Warp Syndrome felt new and fresh; I truly haven't seen anything like this. Sarah Suk really hit it out of the park with this novel. It quickly became one of my favorite books of all time!! I highly recommend this book to anybody who loves sci-fi, mysteries, and good ol' coming-of-age stories!

We are following Aimee Roh, who has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to return to one of her memories when triggered. This is an easy read, and I read it in one sitting; this is a unique way of dealing with memories and identity. I was engorged in Aimmes world and couldn't put this book down. I love how it tackles how we interpret our memories, family, loss, and trust. The dynamics between Aimee and her father evolved. She reconnects with a childhood buddy who might develop into something more if she's prepared to lower her guard and let others in.
The fact that she doesn't ultimately find the solutions she was expecting or searching for is what I found fascinating about this story. However, she gains far more, including a relationship with her father, new acquaintances, and confidence she had never had before.

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I loved this title so much that I will rearrange our Bookish Teen Lit class to include it this year. And that's a lot of work for me. So, let me gush about it a bit. Teen Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, which causes her to time travel to a moment when she smells something linked to that memory. Her dad is convinced she’ll grow out of it if she tries hard enough, but Aimee’s fear of vanishing at random has kept her from living an everyday life. You can imagine it's hard to be a teen when smelling anything familiar could result in getting whisked away. Eventually, she goes to Korea to figure out how this all started.

This definitely gave me vibes of You've Reached Sam and I really enjoyed it. I am really glad I got to read this. It broadened my interest in books. This was such a great and captivating story.

Aimee has Sensory Time Warp Disorder. Whenever she is hit by particular smells, she’s transported back into a memory, and not just in her mind. Breathing in a scent causes her to physically go back to a memory, disappearing from the present, and only return to her usual life some time later. Aimee is constantly afraid of the world around her triggering her Sensory Time Warp Disorder, which is no way to live, but her father won’t listen to her when she says she wants to see a specialist, and it’s only getting worse. When Aimee’s memories start being more and more about the mother who left when Aimee was only a few years old, Aimee starts to wonder about her. Could it be that her mother also has this disorder? And perhaps can help Aimee stay grounded in the present? To find her answers, Aimee flies from Vancouver to Korea, in a desperate Spring Break trip. Will the answers she finds help her stay in the present, or will she be lost to the past forever?

I received an advanced reading copy of The Space Between Here & Now in exchange for an honest review.

The Space Between Here & Now is a young adult novel by Sarah Suk. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect when I picked up this book, but as soon as I did, it swept me away. I started it after a rough day of work, and was only forced to put it down to get dinner. And then, when I finished it during my lunch break a few days later, I had to blink away tears because I was just so overwhelmed. It was really rough to close the book, and it almost felt like whiplash, coming back to my regular life when I’d been so immersed in this story.

Speaking of being immersed, Aimee in this story struggles with a similar problem. But instead of willingly being sucked to somewhere else, she’s constantly battling against her body that keeps trying to take her back to the past. I thought that this STWD was absolutely fascinating, and actually provided a great way for Suk to actually give the reader flashbacks, by literally having her character flash back. I loved Aimee, and I was honestly so worried about her all the time. I will say that, at least at the beginning, there were moments that took me back too. The way she was feeling, and talking about trying to make herself numb, it was rough and I might caution some readers to be aware of this before they get into it. Aimee struggles a lot in this book, with STWD, sure, but also with trying to connect with her father. The book actually opens with Aimee trying to talk to her father, but she knows that he can only hear about ten of her words before she loses him. And when I say “loses him,” I mean that he shuts himself off. And with nobody else to turn to, it’s not hard to imagine why Aimee would suddenly want to know more about her mother.

So much of this book is about connection. Aimee is seeking that connection to the present through being connected to someone, and if her father won’t help her, maybe someone else might. But as she seeks these connections, she travels across the world, finding herself where her parents grew up, and realizing that there’s more to the story.

Also, while in Korea, Aimee runs into an old friend, someone she used to have a crush on, and he offers to help her out. I know, I know, minor spoiler, but also I just thought that these moments with this character provided such an excellent contrast to the darker moments that Aimee finds herself in. After all, not all memories are happy ones, and there’s a lot that Aimee still has to find out.

But I actually really appreciated that, while there is a slight romantic element to this book, the focus is more on Aimee and her parents. It’s not her finding herself by finding romantic love. It’s her figuring out who she is in the context of her memories, the people surrounding her, and the new moments she can create with them.

5 stars

Wow this was a really interesting read. I love the whole idea and I was immediately pulled into Aimee's world. I thought this was an interesting way to deal with identity and memories, and it was really well done. I'm not usually a fan of time travel/time loops, but I was one hundred percent here for how this book did it. The writing is vivid and evocative; it really pulled you into the story. I was not prepared for the end, I was so emotionally invested in Aimee's journy. I think many teens (and adults!) will find it a perfect coming of age story.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for sending me an ARC of THE SPACE BETWEEN HERE AND NOW by Sarah Suk!

17-year-old Aimee Roh has Sensory Time Warp Syndrome, a rare condition that causes her to time travel to a moment in her life when she smells something linked to that memory. Her fear of vanishing at random has, at times, kept her from living a normal life, like going on dates or to school dances. In a search for answers about her Mom, who left when she was a child, she goes to Korea to try to unravel the mystery of her memories.

I really enjoyed this take on a “time travel” story. I’ve read a handful of stories before where a protagonist experience some kind of extraordinary phenomenon, but what I liked about this story is that STWS was a real, documented, and diagnosable condition in this world. Granted, it doesn’t come without its stigma and misunderstanding.

At the end of the day, this story wasn’t even really about STWS. It was about family, grief, trust, and how we understand our memories. Aimee’s relationship with her father grew and changed and reshaped itself. She reconnected with a friend from childhood that could potentially blossom into something more, if only she’s willing to let her guard down and let people in.

What I found really interesting about this story is that, in the end, she doesn’t get the answers she was hoping or looking for. But she gets something even greater - a connection with her father, new friendships, and confidence she never had before.

Perfect for fans of The Astonishing Color of After, or anyone who likes their YA books with some extra heart.