I loved the back and forth timelines and the time travel while no one knew what was happening and figuring it out right along with the characters.

I read an advanced readers copy of James Goodhand's The Day Tripper. I really enjoyed this book - it provided a twist on the time travel motif. Instead of jumping back and forth in time, the main character, Alex Dean pops in and out of different times in his life, with no knowledge of what has transpired from point to point - at least initially. Alex discovers that the love of his life has died, and is determined to see if he can change his decisions in a way which might impact the future. The story is more complex, but it draws you in. It is a bit of a slow burn, as Alex seems to make the same destructive choices over and over, but eventually it starts to make sense, and the story really begins to shine. An interesting read, and worth the time.

The Day Tripper reminded me of Matt Haig's Midnight Library and About Time (a Rachel McAdams movie). It took me a while to get into the story as it was a little confusing in the beginning. Once I understood what was happening, I started to love it. The story was beautiful and made me think about life in general and how little moments can impact our lives in a large way. Loved!

Thank you NetGalley and publisher! The story was a little confusing to me at first but I am so so so glad I stuck with it. It was a magical ride!

I'm not sure what Shelby Van Pelt read, but there's nothing witty or fun about this book. It's a good read, but depressing and tragic. The romance/love interest plays much too large a role for how little we are invested in the love story. I was fine with the "how," not as much with the why.

If this is sold as a sad love story about the tragedy of being human, I like it. It's not a silly romp through time or quirky love story as some blurbs would have you believe.

Thank you to NetGalley and LibroFM for the ARCs. I purchased a copy for my library.

The Day Tripper starts off slow, but about a third of the way through picks up. It took a bit for me to get invested but once I did, I flew through it. It was a little hard to follow along, given how it bounced between timelines. Maybe that was the point? Keep us as bewildered as the main character. It certainly made it believable why Alex (MMC) took an eternity each day to figure out what was going on. Alex is pretty dense and it seems to take him quite a while to catch on to why things are happening (while me as the reader figured it out about half way through, and was able to make some fairly accurate predictions). The story does a good job of making you question what you know. Is this happening because he’s a drinker? Or is he a drinker because this is happening. A real chicken-or-the-egg situation. There was a lot of stuff he had to work through in this story, but when we finally get to the part where he starting to acknowledge his childhood trauma (dad, childhood bully, etc.) he moves on a little too quickly. It’s all tied up in a neat package. Which, okay who doesn’t love a happy ending, but it was a little too perfect. And a little too predictable. That being said, while it’s not the most original storyline, it was entertaining and interesting. 3/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Day Tripper in exchange for an unbiased review.

I liked this one but it felt a little bit too long for me. I did really enjoy the premise of the book, but I also wanted to smack the main character a whole bunch of times! I'd give it 3.5 but rounding up to 4.

This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. A London man lives his life in random succession, all while struggling with alcoholism. He is guided by the northern star that is Holly, his true love, through every day he lives. We see the effects of his own choices on his life. Maybe the moral of this story is about taking ownership of your choices and embracing love and truly living? It’s a fresh take on how to approach life.

Some people said it was a lot like Oona Out of Order, but I haven’t read it, so I cant compare. From a therapist perspective, I think there were nuanced thoughts and beliefs that were so subtlety changed that they felt so real. I think that was my favorite part.

The moments of vulnerability and all types of love (with his mother, with Holly, with friends, with mentees) brought me to tears. I sobbed at the ending. Is it weird to want to hug a book?

The premise was so exciting, but I couldn't get into the story. The writing style just wasn't to my liking. Hopefully, it finds its proper audience.

As many other reviewers have already noted, there's not a lot to like about Alex Dean, the main character in The Day Tripper. As a matter of fact, there's a lot to dislike about him. So, it made it very hard to care too much about what he was going through. And, as many others have already mentioned, I considered not finishing this book quite a few times. I can't quite say what kept me reading other than that I was curious how the time traveling would work itself out.

I can't say that the ending was worth the slog. I was glad for a happy outcome. But that's about it.

Thank you to James Goodhand, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This book followed the MC on a journey of experiencing parts of his life out of chronological order. The temporal element of this book is wild and the way that the story is portrayed is tied very closely to the way the character, Alex, feels. Alex feels disoriented, out of control and confused, the reader feels just as disoriented and confused. He starts to feel grounded but sad and dejected and the reader feels that for him too. It was a wild read.

#arc
#netgalley
#thedaytripper

This book was a great read! The story follows the main character following a life altering by event. As the story unfolds into different times within the main character’s life, the reader is rooting for his success. The reader is discovering right alongside of the main character. As changes within the main character occur, the book becomes a page turner as the reader tries to learn more about how the main character’s life may turn out.

Immediately, my interest was piqued by the concept for this book. Throughout the duration of my reading, I tried very hard to connect with the characters, immerse myself in the setting, or simply just read the book. While I can see how others would love this book, it just wasn't for me. I loved the idea and it had a lot of potential, but the writing and tone were unable to hold my interest. I hope others are able to enjoy this book and I wish the author success!

Sometimes I really love this genre, and sometimes it just doesn't work for me. This one didn't work for me, unfortunately but I can definitely see why others love it.

Alex Dean has everything going for him. He’s got the girl, a place at Cambridge in the fall, and a nice future to look forward to. Until….

After a traumatic event, he wakes up not knowing where he is….or even what year it is. And the same thing happens the next day. And the next, each in a different year, and his living situation is always a surprise.
What is happening to him? And why? Where can he find an explanation that will solve this mystery and help him reclaim his life?

This is a story that will mess with your mind AND your sense of time! James Goodhand has done a wonderful job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. You will not want to put this one down!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, James Goodhand, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

The Day Tripper is author James Goodhand’s first published adult novel, but he has previously penned two young adult books, Last Lesson and Man Down. For about the past twenty years, he has earned a living as an auto mechanic, which he enjoys and finds satisfying. He is also a musician who did not formally study writing, an impressive fact considering how skillfully written and memorable The Day Tripper is. He says he often gets story ideas during walks in the woods near the home in England he shares with his wife and son.

“What if you woke up each morning on a different random day of your life?” That’s the premise of the story that opens in 1995. Alex Dean is twenty years old, has been admitted to Cambridge University, and has been dating twenty-one-year-old Holly, who is studying to become a doctor, for just five weeks. But he already knows she is the woman for him because “becoming the person I should be for her is more important than seeing her,” he notes in the first-person narrative Goodhand effectively employs to relate Alex’s story. Alex grew up a loner who hid in his room playing his guitar and earning excellent grades. Their perfect date is blissful until he encounters Blake Benfield for the first time in four years. Alex admits that “just hearing that name in [his] head” can paralyze him. Clearly, they have a troubled history (revealed later in the story). Suddenly, Benfield strikes him, but Alex is incapable of defending himself or fighting back, leaving him puzzled and frustrated. “Why do I pity him?” he asks himself. Benfield beats him so badly that he blacks out and plunges into the Thames River.

Next, he wakes up hungover in a dank room that is barely twice the size of the single bed on which he has been sleeping. Dirty clothes are scattered about, and the windowsill is littered with empty bottles and cigarette butts. Emerging into a dark hallway, he encounters Kenzie, a young woman he does not recognize, in the kitchen. But she obviously knows him and seems accustomed to Alex being confused on mornings that follow a night of blackout drinking. She responds to his inquiries with sad amusement, but Alex finds no humor in Kenzie’s revelation that it is November 2010. Fifteen years since Alex’s violent encounter with Benfield. He cannot figure out why he has no recollection of fifteen years of his life. Is it a joke? Or has he been in some sort of fugue state? The landlord is banging on his door, demanding payment of past rent, but his focus is immediately on Holly. Where is she?

Making his way back to the bar by the river, he runs into Jazz, a young man who, like Kenzie, is acquainted with him and fills in some of the details about the life Alex has been living. He also goes to Holly’s home and has a deeply disturbing verbal altercation with her father. Readers learn that something terrible happened a couple of years ago, for which her father blames Alex. In fact, he reminds Alex that he is violating an injunction prohibiting him from having any contact with Holly’s family.

When he next wakes up, he finds himself in 2019, and with each successive visit to another time period, Alex begins to piece together not only what has happened to him, but also the fates of the people who mean the most to him. His visits to his parents’ home are particularly poignant and revelatory, as Goodhand demonstrates how much Alex loves and admires his mother, the dynamics of his parents’ marriage, and Alex’s troubled relationship with his father. He is often baffled by the things he learns from other characters but recognizes that he cannot express his confusion or the circumstances in which he finds himself with them because they would surely think he is delusional. Perhaps he is. But he confirms that his life has continued uninterrupted, even though he does not remember anything that happened to him after Benfield knocked him into the river. He pieces together that he has barely eked out a living as a street performer, playing his guitar and singing, and he never attended Cambridge. Holly is no longer in his life. And he is an alcoholic.

Alex recalls a conversation with Holly on that fateful day before everything went wrong. They discussed cause and effect. “This life I’m experiencing is all effect. But what of the cause? What has led me to this?” Alex asks himself. He meets Dr. Paul Defrates, a mysterious scientist who calls himself an expert on Alex’s situation, studying the phenomenon in a quest to fully understand it. (Goodhand injects a plot twist involving Paul that is shocking and brilliant.) As they meet from time to time during different time periods, Paul tends to ask many thought-provoking questions, but provide few answers. He suggests approaches Alex might pursue in his effort to escape his predicament. Because Alex is intent on finding a way out and restoring his life to a linear progression. With Paul’s help, he begins to find that if he does something different on an earlier date, circumstances are in fact different when he wakes up at a later time in his life.

Goodhand says his uncle, an alcoholic lost to addiction at the young age of thirty-nine, was “a lot of the inspiration behind Alex’s story.” His research revealed that his uncle suffered trauma in his early life and that made him wonder, “What does that do to somebody?” He concluded those experiences may have been catalysts for his uncle’s troubles and employed that concept in what he describes as “an investigation into why things have gone wrong for Alex, what those small decisions are, and what small decisions he can make at the right times that divert him from” alcoholism, instead of “just reaching for” a drink. In The Day Tripper, he wanted to explore very serious subject matter but “lighten it by looking at it through the lens of a high concept idea.” That is “why readers see Alex both at his worst and his best” as they develop an understanding of the trajectory of Alex’s life and, hopefully, refrain from judging him or others struggling with addiction.

As the story proceeds, Goodhand explores Alex’s relationships both with Benfield and his father, who he knows he has bitterly disappointed. They have both bullied and belittled Alex through the years. Alex comes to appreciate that “by focusing hate back on them, he is being dragged into their game, expending negative energy, when what he needs to do is remove himself from their control.” His progression toward maturity and wisdom is gradual and not without hiccups as Alex realizes that he has been subjected to toxic masculinity and succumbed to its influence on his life choices.

The Day Tripper is an expertly crafted and refreshingly inventive tale. As Alex’s journey careens into the future and back to the past, Goodhand illustrates how his actions have impacted not only his life, but the lives of those with whom he interacts. It is an emotional journey both for Alex and readers as he realizes how profoundly he has hurt people he loves and grapples with his guilt, remorse, and regrets. And grows increasingly desperate to alter the future that has been revealed to him. Alex is likable, endearing, and empathetic because readers can relate to his distress about his mistakes and desire to un-do them. At one point, his “beautiful, perfect Holly” is gone from his life – they agreed “right person, wrong time” – and Alex declares that he is “broken by booze.”

But Goodhand gives Alex enviable opportunities to change both his past and the future, and the story becomes hopeful and affirming as Alex begins to implement changes that bring about better results. The dialogue flows naturally and believably, and Goodhand’s prose is deceptively profound and emotionally resonant. He viscerally conveys Alex’s inner turmoil, and Alex’s ruminations about Goodhand’s themes are richly thought-provoking and beautifully crafted.

“Ultimately,” Goodhand says, “it’s a love story,”. Alex’s overriding and unwavering motivation to understand and extricate himself from his predicament is his intense desire to win Holly back. Alex does “infuriating things” and even when his goal is almost in his grasp, he manages to “miss it.” Watching him fumble his chances and learn from his failures is absorbing, entertaining, and frequently heartbreaking. And suspenseful. Will he figure out how to get his life on track and find happiness?

The Day Tripper, despite dark moments, is an optimistic meditation on one deceptively simple truth: “Change doesn’t happen by accident,” but is possible. Goodhand illustrates that the power of love can and does inspire and facilitate positive change through an intriguing story populated with memorable and fully developed characters. The Day Tripper establishes Goodhand as a creative and talented writer storyteller, leaving readers anxious to read more from him.

The concept of this book was super appealing, as I love magical realism books, and time travel is great fun. When I first read the synopsis, I was reminded of another book I read last year - Oona Out of Order. I feel like Oona was written better, and drew me in quicker. Alex Dean suffers a trauma which then causes him to Day Trip, or live his life out of order. What a rough life it is! He makes bad choices, drinks quite a bit, and struggles to be better. Perhaps by living his life out of order, he might be able to fix some things, right? The book ends well, it just takes about 35-40% to feel that something is actually happening. I get the background and the mucking about, and it’s fine. It just didn’t make me WANT to come back every change I had. That being said, I give this book a 3-3.25. Maybe a 3.5. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review this book!

At the start of this novel, it’s 1995 and main character Alex is 20 years old. After a great day comes to a horrible end and he almost dies, he wakes up the next day, only to find it’s 2010. Then wakes up the next day and it’s 2019, and the next day it’s 1999, and so on. Each day Alex has no memory of anything but his life before and these other random days he has lived, so he is forced to figure out what is going on his life, what is going on in general causing this to happen, and where he went wrong in life.

This is a tricky one to review! Early on, I was not really feeling it - it was very depressing and Alex had made/was making such bad decisions. Happily, a bit of hope is introduced partway through the book and then things totally turned around for me. In fact, I then really got into it and couldn’t put it down. Stayed up way too late to finish (something I haven’t done in a while), and finished it really crying! So ultimately after a bit of a rough start, I ended up loving it so I’m so glad I stuck with it!

I’d say vibe-wise, think of this as kind of a cross between Oona Out of Order and The Midnight Library, so if you like those books, I bet you’ll like this too. (Indeed, the cover is similar to Midnight Library and I’m sure that’s not an accident!)

This sounds amazing, but unfortunately the formatting of this arc was unpleasant to read. No chapter breaks (or chapters in the drop down menu), and the pages themselves had no indentations for paragraphs and it was messy. HTP please fix your ebook formatting!

I think I will need to revisit and reread this book to truly understand and appreciate what Goodhand is trying to address/discuss. I am fond of the multiple timelines (think The Time Traveler's Wife) and time travel, yet I don't think I was in the right mindset when I read this book. The Day Tripper definitely keeps you thinking after you've finished it, particularly about what are the impacts of even shifting your mindset (and not just the impacts of making a different decision/changing an event). It leaves you wondering how much of our lives can we control versus what is "destined" to happen. I recommend reading this book if you appreciate multiple timelines, time travel, and books that truly make you think about the situations the characters faced (and how you might have reacted).