Thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for my gifted audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

Time's Mouth by by Edan Lepucki is a book that I do not see often but I really enjoyed it. There is a little of everything in this one with a cult-ish vibe, family drama and time travel. I liked the characters and really wanted to see where their journey went. I wouldn't say that I was completely happy with the ending but it did wrap everything up nicely and I appreciate that.

The narration by Alyssa Bresnahan was also fantastic and even though this is a lengthier book, I was hooked.

Although this book had a lot of promise, it just didn’t deliver for me. I was hoping for more of a “cult focused” story, however it veered off into a family drama direction. The spiritual “life energy” curve completely lost me.

Despite this book not resonating for me, it was an interesting take on 1970 and 80’s California. I enjoyed the settings and era and could envision the characters’ lives. I also found the plot intriguing. It kept me wanting to know where it was going but just never delivered a clear direction. I felt lost and uninterested in the characters.

I think this is a book that readers will either love or hate but I can see how others might enjoy it more than I did. Readers looking for a character driven literary fiction involving dysfunctional families that are okay with a slow paced, meandering writing style may want to give this one a try. I just never was able to connect.

I received an audiobook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

i never turn down time travel novels and I thought this was an enjoyable and unique take on the trope. I did find it to be a bit too long but enjoyed the narration overall.

2.5
Gosh this was a slog. I don’t think I’ve ever read a time travel book that I didn’t enjoy until now. This is probably because it’s missing all the bits about time travel that usually make it so engaging.

In Time’s Mouth Sharon realizes as a teen she can travel back to her past selves and relieve memories for a time until they become degraded. However, once there she pretty much just watches like a ghost. Over time she gets better and better and can slip back more easily and takes up a place at her rich friend’s manse directing a cult for women where they watch her fall into these trances, it becomes euphoric for everyone around her. From there, she takes in women and their children only to work and live on her compound. Neglecting all of the kids except for her own son. As the novel goes on we transition to her son Ray, his partner Cherry (also raised on the compound) and their child Opal as they escape the place and make a life in LA. But there are some inheritances you can’t run from and mysteries born from trauma that need solving.

A generational story about child abandonment, breaking cycles of neglect and abuse and the tethers of family that can be so hard to escape.

I’ve seen great reviews for this book so it could very well be a me problem—when you say time travel I have specific expectations—but beyond this, I listened to the 17+ hour audiobook and maybe that also did it a disservice. The narration was slow and a bit monotone. I enjoyed the first half of the book ok but never felt connected to or invested in any of the characters. This book was too long with far too much filler. I did not need to experience Ray’s therapy sessions or learn all about the machine he puts in his garage. Honestly, I was just bored and had to speed this up as fast I could just to finish it. But other people (that I trust!) really loved it so if you’re interested, see for yourself. But I’d avoid the audiobook.

Thanks to @netgalley and the publisher for the review copy.

I thought this novel was well-written and absorbing. I appreciated the exploration of mother-daughter relationships and loved the time jumps.

Time's Mouth is a unique take on time travel, and mother-child relationships. With a storyline that jumps from generation to generation, I was just as enthralled with each.

I got absolutely lost in this fantastic story and was devastated when it ended. I could’ve spent another couple hundred pages learning more and more about Ursa and Cherry and Opal. Truly magnificent!

This is the most fascinating novel I’ve read in a long time. The title of the book is perfect, even though I didn’t understand it until about halfway through reading. Unbelievably exciting, yet it took a little bit to get interesting in the beginning. PLEASE stay with it for it was SO worth reading as the book unfolds its AWESOME tale! I thought this would be more science fiction based but was surprisingly pleased to figure out the basis of this story is about regret, love, trauma (in a very life grasping way), and our ability to delve into our own stories. This novel was VERY well put together, including Edan’s way of incorporating the different generational gaps, her descriptions of even the smallest actions, landscapes and events. I HIGHLY Recommend this book to anyone who has a memory.

I loved this story so much!
And I am in love with Bresnahan's voice! She's one of my favorite narrators.

read if you are a fan of; cults, magical realism, lost families

I just reviewed Time's Mouth by Edan Lepucki. #TimesMouth #NetGalley

This was my first title from this author. The description seemed interesting and a departure from my normal go to so decided to give it a listen. Ursa was discovered her “superpower” when she was just a young girl. We go along with her through time and space dealing all while she is dealing with it family, life, drama and so much more. It was a well narrated interesting emotional listen.

4.75/5
At first very slow and a little boring, this family saga about transgenerationnal trauma gets more and more interesting, and even totally hypnotic towards the end.

***Warning : potential mild spoilers***
In Time's Mouth, we follow Ursa, a young woman who chooses to leave her abusive family back in Connecticut to build a new life in California, during the 50s'. From there, and after some disappointing encounters, she creates a cultish community of women off grid, where men are prohibited.
Her special gift, being able to travel through her memories to relive past events, brings lost souls to her and the community of "mamas" grows.
From there, and two decades later, we follow the lives of Ursa's son, Ray, who grew up in this community, and Cherry, a girl abandoned by her parents, who was raised by the "mamas" as well and with whom he will fall in love.
Finding out she's pregnant, Cherry and Ray decide to escape Ursa's cult and her abusive behavior, and settles in L.A. There, little Opal is born, but soon, Cherry feels overwhelmed and unable to care for her infant daughter.
Ray is left alone with Opal to raise, Cherry disappearing without a word.
Another time jump in the future, and we get to see the consequences of Ursa, Ray and Cherry's choices, and how Opal, now a teenager herself, is left to deal with this heavy history as well as her own issues.

This is a story about people who leave. and also about how trauma is shared through generations.
But this is ultimately a story about forgiveness and understanding, about family bonds and what we choose to do with them.

Toward the 75% mark, I was SO sure we were going to see and explore the very beginning of this story, where everything started: in Connecticut, during Ursa's childhood. I wanted so bad to meet Ursa's mother, see if she had the gift too, and how was her relationship with her daughter (it's only briefly suggested), so that we have a sense of how deep trauma is rooted in the past.

But the author had another story to tell, and let me tell you it was great. I very much enjoyed the ending which turned out to be very emotional, The characters, to whom I wasn't very much attached, became very lovable and the resolution of it all made me happy.
I still have a question left unanswered though, I feel like something is missing, that's why I only gave 4.75/5.
Will definitely recommend!

Full disclosure—I heavily disliked this ending & epilogue. But I loved the rest of the book so much. Even the characters who I did not like, I felt invested in which to me is an enormous feat. Loved the added surrealism created by the more poetic prose portions.

Thank you to Counterpoint and NetGalley for the ARC

I listened to the audiobook and while the narration was good I found the story challenging to get into. It just didn't hold my attention and I found myself disinterested in the characters. The time travel aspect was intriguing and the cover is beautiful.

This was...not what I was expecting. I was hoping for a similar experience to Alix Harrow's The Ten Thousand Doors of January, with its mystical charm. Time's Mouth, however, is a darker tale focusing more on the seedy side of magical abilities.

At times I could see Lepucki's potential as a gifted storyteller, she paints a scene you can get lost in. But there wasn't enough dialogue, character development and chemistry, and plot to really drive the story and fulfill the reader (especially with such a large undertaking in an almost-17 hour audiobook).

Thankfully, Alyssa Bresnahan’s narration it so drawn-out, it's possible to listen at rapid speed and cut the time commitment.

Overall, I felt disconnected from the book and unsatisfied with the ending.
Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

This book was very well written with a good understanding of trauma. The only issue I had with the story was the belief that one would be so drawn to the past if the past was not a good experience. Also the random rules that were posed as random at first the author then wrote about as if they were real - a weird inconsistency. I also still don’t fully understand why the other women would be attracted to this as they don’t actually experience time travel with her.

Ursa is running away from the memories of her abusive father and taken into a home where she starts being able to transport herself into past times of her life and where a commune/cult is growing. The story goes on to tell of Ursa's son and grandchild. It tells of trauma and of loss.

While the premise of the story is good, I found that it got slow at times and almost dnf. I did finish it, and it was a good story overall.

Thank you Netgalley for the copy of this book.

When I opened this audiobook, I thought to myself, "Ugh, what could possibly warrant a book being THIS LONG?!?!" But I am DELIGHTED to say that I now know.

This story spans decades, winds into places that I had never expected it to go. Sure, it was slow at times, but at others the writing invited me to float along and just go with it. It was poetic without being flowery, deep without getting lost in rabbit holes, and it had just enough magical realism and mystery to keep me wondering where we'd see things go next.

It's an investment, but one that I would absolutely recommend. Additionally, the audiobook was done very well.

Thank you to the author, publishers, and as always NetGalley, for an advance digital copy of Time's Mouth. All opinions are mine.

Time's Mouth is a time travelling story, but this element is more than that term implies. More on that in a moment. This story is also story about mothers and daughters linked into the past and future, and it is this maternal connection that powers the time travel in this story.

The women and girls in Time's Mouth are tattooed by trauma at one another's hands, in the form of abuse and neglect and abandonment and fierce, indomitable love, the kind that leaves scars. The magic these women possess exists in themselves in a series of moments in time. But their power is limited in a way that can empower the women against other, only not all of them know it. Wonder what would happen if the family suddenly takes back the cards from the one whose always been helding them all?

I didn't invest too much in the main character's personality or personal stakes, but i was very interested in the way the time travel skill worked in the book. It could be aread as a metaphor between the women, or more literally, as a manifestation of interpersonal power playing out across generations. Either way, it was an entertaining read and I'm glad I was influenced to try this one!

The audiobook was a little hard to follow, but the narrator gave a good reading. I think I'll read this one again, with my eyes this time!

Creative, original time travel device, women trying to surmount the weight of intergenerational trauma, great coming of age story, this one's a keeper!

Rating: 🕒🕞🕓🕕 / 5 time travel devices
Recommend? Definitely!
Finished: July 23 2023
Format: Advance Digital Copy, NetGalley
Read this if you like:
🌠 Time travel
🙋‍♀️ Coming of age
🤰🏾 Stories about mothers
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦Stories about intergenerational trauma

Ursa has the ability to travel through time and memory—but her gift comes at a cost. After fleeing her home for California’s counterculture in the 1950s, her unique power and ability draws a group of women to her secluded mansion in the woods outside of Santa Cruz. Soon the cult-like group of women, referred to as the mamas, takes an ominous tone, sparking Ursa’s son Ray and his pregnant girlfriend Cherry to run away. But escaping where they came from won’t be easy. A series of mysterious occurrences cause Cherry to leave Ray and their new baby girl Opal. As a teenager, Opal is heartbroken by the loss of her mother and must journey to her past to reveal the generations of secrets that made her who she is.

Thank you to @netgalley, MB Media, and @edanlepucki for the advance copy! I listened to the book on audio and the performance was wonderful. This novel is such a unique take on a family drama! The time travel was really different from anything else I have read, and it created a lot of great plot points for the book. The sci-fi aspect of books can sometimes be a bit of a turn off for me, but it was so well done and really helped develop the themes of motherhood, loss, and generational trauma. All of the characters were super complex and well developed, and I love how well we got to know them all. The writing was beautiful. Sometimes the plot was a bit slow but I didn’t mind it as we really got to dive into the the different characters and their thoughts and feelings. There were a lot of layers and complexities to this book, and it will definitely be on my mind for a while! Time’s Mouth is out now!

Time's Mouth opens in the 1950s with teenage Ursa fleeing a difficult childhood in New England for the counterculture of California. Ursa, who has the ability revisit points in her past, soon settles a matriarchal commune in the woods, a place meant to be a safe haven for women who are drawn to her powers, but the next generation, the children of the commune don't experience this mystical house in the woods as the safe space it's meant to be.

Time's Mouth is a multigenerational saga chronicling three generations of one Californian family from the founding of a 50s/60s matriarchal Commune in the woods turned cult to seeking a more traditional life in 80s/90s LA and coming full circle in the new millennium.

About motherhood and the way secrets, trauma, and fear reverberate and cycle through generations; time and its passage, the gift of the present, and memories that have the power to both heal and harm. There is a really intriguing element of magical realism where some characters have the ability to revisit their past in a very visceral/time travel sort of way, and the whole story has a hint (it's subtle, but I so appreciated it!) of dark fairytale about it.

A unique story with a strong sense of place, I loved it!

As far as the audiobook, I really enjoyed the narrator and thought the story worked well in the format.