I really loved this story. It is book 2 of the A Rip Through Time series. I have read book one as well and really loved it also. Although it isn’t necessary to read book one, the author does a great job of bringing you up to speed, I would highly recommend it. You do miss how Detective Mallory Atkinson ends up in the past.
This is an easy fun read. I mean come on, you have time travel, murder, mystery, intrigue and a touch of romance. You can’t go wrong. I also love these period pieces and the author does a good job of comparing the way things are in modern times to the way things were in the mid to late 1800s. Mallory has to get used to the sexism, racism and differences in class in Victorian times. I look forward to and will watch for book 3!

I did not know that this was the second book in theory, so I didn’t really understand what was going on. I’m not gonna lie. I didn’t finish it because I was 100% completely lost. The NetGalley description of this book did not say it was the second book in a series or I would not have requested it without leading the first one.

The Poisoner's Ring (A Rip Through Time #2) by Kelley Armstrong
Narrated by Kate Handford
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
Genre: Historical Fiction
Expected Publication Date: May 23, 2023

The Poisoner's Ring is the 2nd book in A Rip Through Time series by Kelley Armstrong. This book was so good and I did not want it to end!!!!

This was such a wonderful book! I loved every minute of it! I found it to be truly captivating and a wonderful story! I need the next book to be released soon because I'm ready to go back!

The world the author created is absolutely fascinating! I love the characters and the blend of modern culture into 1869 Scotland life. This book is filled with heart!

The narration by Kate Handford is brilliant! I love how she brings this book to life!

This is definitely a must read of 2023! I will be reading it again and adding it to my lift of Christmas gifts for this year!

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I absolutely adored A RIP THROUGH TIME when I read it last year so I was so excited to receive an early audiobook from Netgalley / Minotaur. For those who haven't read the first book, while they mysteries are stand-clones, I really think the first book needs to be read before jumping into THE POISONER'S RING because without the context of the characters and Mallory's time traveling to the past, it probably won't be nearly as interesting.

THE POISONER'S RING was much more straight up mystery than the last book. Though ARTT was largely a mystery novel, it was also a fun blend of the time travel concept, getting to know Mallory and the other characters, and the dilemma of how to get back to her present day that really keep the novel moving. This book suffered a little bit, just completely ignoring a lot of development and focusing solely on the mystery. I've enjoyed a lot of mysteries in the past but I much prefer the thriller aspect of the genre nowadays so it dragged on a bit too long for my tastes without a lot of other things to keep the reader interested. The character growth is minimal, the love story growth is even more minimal, and we don't get anything at all about how Mallory might return home except for the fact that we're still expecting she will. Don't get me wrong, I DO like that it's a slow burn love story, so I'm perfectly happy with taking it slow, but I was hoping for a bit more than that to keep seeing sparks on the page.

The mystery was fine. I didn't really care about it as much and wasn't super invested in it. There were a lot of new and outside characters, which happens a lot in mysteries because you can't have your characters personally invested in ALL of the cases, but I just had a harder time caring about this one.

Despite all of my criticisms, I still did enjoy the book. The second half dragged a bit longer so it left me with some feelings of disappointment in the end, but I still wound up rounding up to 4 stars with an actual rating of about 3.75 stars.

I received an ARC (advanced reader copy) of this audiobook through Netgalley.

Title: The Poisoner's Ring
Series: A Rip Through Time Novel
Written by Kelley Armstrong
Narrated by Kate Handford

I didn’t read the first book in this series, and believe me - I will rectify my mistake immediately.

This book is incredible. I thought it might be good, but it might suck. I was willing to take the chance. Well, it was way better than expected.

At first glance it may look like a rip off of Outlander or Sherlock Holmes, but it’s not. Just because books have similar aspects doesn’t mean the entire book will be the same. Ideas that are good are often used again and again in books. So don’t let worry that a trope is being overdone stop you. This book is it’s own book. And it’s damn good.

The story is written from the perspective of our heroine, Mallory Mitchell, who has fallen in time to Victoria era Scotland. She’s a 29 year old woman in the body of a teenager.

She’s a hardened police detective who is now in the body of a ferocious chamber maid that used to bully others. Lovely girl - right?

She has 3 true friends to help her in her new life - Duncan Gray, a doctor and a sort of detective, Ayla, his sister who is a brilliant chemist, and Hugh Mcready an actual police detective. They are her support, and she is theirs.

The story from there centers around a suspected Poisoner’s Ring aka a ring of women poisoning their misbehaving philandering husbands - offing them for one motive or another.

Let the detective work begin…

Kate Handford does an excellent job of narrating. She’s so good at it. If I tried to do a Scottish accent I would sound like part frog, part silly Irish, and part amateur actor Scot. Kate is not me - her accent is impeccable. I was impressed with her audio performance throughout the entire book.

I recommend this book for anyone who enjoys a time travel mystery!

Not gonna lie, this second installment in the A Rip Through Time series kind of dragged for me. I liked the premise of local husbands behind poisoned and all their wives/female companions being suspects, but I felt like there were so many characters introduced that I was kind of lost and jumbled. I actually read the first two thirds of this book in physical form and finished the last third of the book on audio and enjoyed that much more, but by then I had sorted most of it out. The audio narration is really excellent with the accents and helped me identify the characters in my head a little better.
There are LGBTQIA aspects to this one as well, which is a great addition to a unique premise. It maybe just felt like there was too much being thrown at one book for my liking - probably hoping to make this series stick.
I’d read more, though I preferred book one over book two, and I’d definitely listen to more audio versions because it really brought this time-traveling mystery to life.

This is the follow up to A Rip Through Time, the first in the series. Detective Mallory is still stuck in Victorian Scotland, with no hope of getting home. Now officially Dr. Gray’s assistant, she continues to work on cases with him. When his older sister comes to them concerned she will be blamed for her husbands death, they find surprising connections to other poisonings currently under investigation in Edinburg.

It was a fun read but a bit predictable and the author seemed to be trying to leave options open for the third book by not committing to certain story arcs that have been hinted at since the first book.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced audio book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

Kelley Armstrong's Rockton books is one of of my favorite series of all time. The second book in A Rip Through Time is a great read. The author has a way of making her characters so real. Mallory and Gray are in search of a Victorian poisoner and Mallory tries to adjust to living in 1869. I thoroughly enjoy Mallory and Gray learning more about each other's time. I am curious to learn more about what is happening to Catriona in Mallory's body/time and how this could have happened. So many wonderful characters.

Excellent narration by Kate Handford.