I enjoy a time travelling book and read a few lately. This one, from the blurb, sounded great and I was really looking forward to reading it. We get to meet Cassandra who, when she loses her job and her boyfriend, finds she is able to travel through time to try and change what happened. Looking at the advance reviews so far, it's going down well, but I have to admit I struggled with this one. I liked Cassandra and felt for her with everything going wrong all in one day. I found the time travelling a little confusing however, and for me the first half of the book was slow and difficult to understand. By the time I'd reached the last half of the book, I had sort of lost my enthusiasm for the story. However, stars given for the idea of the book, which was great, unusual and quirky and for Cassandra who was a really likeable character.

This is an intricately woven story of grief, unhappiness, not fitting in and learning to understand yourself. I found it slightly complicated but I have been very unwell recently and blame how I am feeling for that.

The time travel narrative has been covered before but this book gives it a really fresh twist. I found the descriptions of Cass's autism (though it isn't called this until the end) really fascinating and illuminating - at times it was painful to be in her skin. The journey the book takes you on is unexpected and all the better for that. A great read.

I’m finding it tough to find the words to tell you how much I enjoyed this book. From the annoyingly loveable main character, right down to the links to Ancient Greece. It’s incredibly smart, hilariously funny and thoroughly enjoyable.

This is a strange book.
Cassandra is autistic, (but doesn't know, although people keep telling her) and has synesthesia , which is how she identifies people's emotions and reactions to her. Her boyfriend Will finishes with her, and she discovers that she has the ability to travel in time, so goes back to the beginning of the relationship to try and improve things. However, by changing her past actions, other events which didn't happen now become possible. The first half of the book was quite hard to get into, but I really enjoyed the second half, as it became more fluent. Cassandra has no filter, and comes across as incredibly rude at times, especially at work, which is really funny. There are hints of Eleanor Oliphant, but much more brutal.
I was sorry about the way the book ended.
Recommended.

What a fascinating character Cassandra is. She knows she doesn't quite fit in with social norms, she knows what she is and isn't comfortable with, and has her own coping mechanisms.

But losing her boyfriend and her job in the same day is a bit too much for her and she somehow ends up with an even more extraordinary gift.

From which she has the ability to try to change her life, if only it was as simple as it may sound.

The more I got to know Cassandra the more I loved her, she has the most unique brain, and with her love of Greek mythology and her general awkwardness, she reminded me of one of the authors characters - Geek Girl.

Holly Smale has a knack for writing unique characters that you can't help but want to get to know, root for and love. And reading the acknowledgments it is clear her own experiences played a big part in the formation of Cassandra.

We need more eye opening books like this with a neuro-diverse heroine. Utterly brilliant.

Thank you to Penguin and Netgalley for this copy which I have reviewed honestly and voluntarily.

This is such a great book. Really well written with great characters and wonderful character development. You really wished them Cassandra on. It was nice to go on the journey of self discovery and self love with her.

I loved this book so much. SO MUCH. I know I'm going to be recommending it to everyone as soon as it's out (I'm already recommending it, but I know that's annoying when there's almost six months to wait). I didn't really know anything about it before I started reading, but I was intrigued by the description of Cassandra and also I love a bit of time travel. Cassandra is a fabulous character and the time travel aspect was really well done - who wouldn't like the ability to simply close their eyes to undo a mistake or embarrassing situation? But the book is so much more. It's about love and family and working out who you are and learning to love and trust yourself. I didn't want it to end, but I also couldn't stop reading. And the ending blew me away. I really, really loved it. (Can you tell?)

I really enjoyed this read and loved the character! Cassandra was well written and so was the story.

I absolutely loved this delightful gem of a book it will be one of my top reads of the year combining 2 things I love in novels Autism and Time travel
The book is witty bright and fun I was instantly captured by the first chapter and struggled to put the book down to eat and sleep
I adored the narrator an undiagnosed autistic woman in her 30s , she was so real and believable.Her emotional syneasthesia was described so perfectly she sees emotions as colours .I particularly liked the fact that the colour itself wasn’t fixed so anger for example wasn’t always red .I’d never seen this described in this way and found it interesting to have a character in a book see the world in many ways like I do myself .I have friends and family on the autistic spectrum and loved the way that autism was so integral to the story her characteristics and behaviour were so believable as were the responses other people had towards her .I picked the issue up quickly but the author chooses to leave the diagnosis discussion to near the end of the book ,ultimately it doesn’t matter if you know it or not Cassandra comes across as a uniquely quirky interesting individual who’s strengths are as clear as her difficulties
Cassandra has a running commentary with a critical voice rather like a school report I loved this
There are elements of mystery in the story with mysterious letters being mentioned tantalisingly but not elaborated on until much later in the book
The time travel element in the story is subtle and well used and allows Cassandra to explore her emotions and behaviours and the effects they have on others and the way this influences her life events by repeating short periods of time
The book has an emotional element which moved me greatly
The setting in both Cambridge and London was cinematic and I can’t help but think the rights to this book for film and Tv will be snatched up quickly .the story and characters would also make a fabulous play
I will be strongly recommending this book .Similar novels I have enjoyed are Eleanor Oliphant is Completely fine by Gayle Honeyman and The Rosie project books by Graham Simpson
The book is published in May 2023 by Random House Uk Coornerstone Century I read an early copy on NetGalley Uk .This review is published on NetGalley Goodreads and my Wordpress book blog Bioniv Sarah’s Books

Thank you for my earc of this book. I loved loved loved this book. The writing style is great and well-paced, the story is brilliant and perfectly balances the repetitive nature of the time loop with the character and story development.
Highly recommend!

A really great story with neuro diversity at the heart of it, clearly showing how misunderstood it can be! Cassandra is a great character and you really feel for her throughout.

Cassandra Dankworth is a woman of structure and routine. The same thing for breakfast every day, the same lunch at the same time every day, a place for everything and everything in its place. But she struggles to understand social interactions, like how long to look someone in the eye before it becomes creepy, or sarcasm.

In a cataclysm of disaster Cassandra manages to get dumped by her boyfriend, fired from her PR job, and her favourite café has no banana muffins. Overwhelmed by the events of the day, and by being swept up in a protest march, Cassandra accidentally travels back in time. At first she doesn't realise what has happened and thinks her boyfriend Will has had second thoughts, or perhaps she misunderstood his intentions.

Soon Cassandra discovers she can travel back in time but no longer than a few months earlier, certainly not long enough to save her parents from dying in a car crash a decade ago. so she uses the time to curate her relationship with Will, trying to fix whatever it was she did to make him break up with her. Time after time she relives brief moments trying over and over again to say the right words do the right thing.

So far, so standard romantic time-travel comedy right? Wrong. Cassandra is obsessed by the Greek and Roman gods, practically everything is likened to an ancient myth. She also 'sees' emotions as colours, unfortunately colours mean different things in different circumstances and with different people, so she can't just see a fuchsia emotion and go 'ah, he's irritated'. Her narrative reminded me very much of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, she takes things literally, she doesn't understand other people, she has to 'translate' their words and actions to try to decrypt a language she doesn't understand.

Not a romance, not a time travel novel, I'm not sure how to categorise this, other than very quirky!

I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This is a fantastic read. Highly recommend and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Huge thank you to the publisher for this ARC.

Wow. Now, this was something special!
I thought it was funny, fresh, and pure genius!

Cassie was a really endearing character.
She came out with some fabulous one-liners that made me laugh out loud.
But she was equally quite vulnerable and alone, which made me sad for her.
I wanted to squeeze her in a tight hug and tell her everything was going to be OK.

Time travel isn't something I read a lot, but I actually really enjoyed this. It wasn't in your face or confusing, and it flowed really well.

But the main thing I loved most about this book?
That the main love story was never really about Cas & Will.
It was about her and her sister.
And that beautiful ending was perfect.

This is going to be big next year. I can feel it!
I can't wait to read it all over again

Cassie is the “worst time traveller ever” I thought it was good that the book didn’t go in the obvious time traveller direction. Cassie is a good leading lady and it was easy to relate to some of her characteristics. I did get a little bit bored in the middle but on the whole enjoyed this book and would recommend it. It’s a nice book that’s makes you think about how different things can seem at different moments in life.

Thank you to NetGalley for this advanced reading copy.

This was one of the most amazing novels I've read. I loved every minute of it and I was extremely sad when it came to an end.

Cassie is FANTASTIC and her ways of behaving and looking at things sometimes made me laugh and sometimes made me feel so much empathy and understanding. I felt a great deal of compassion and love for her and I really wanted her to become the best version of herself, which she does in the end.

This novel has everything and raised important topics, apart from being absolutely delightful! It deserves to be a bestseller!

Meet Cassie who struggles to connect with people, who is in a flat share with people who hate her and about to be dumped fired and evicted on the same day.

Eeee this book was such a fun read! A couple of seriously laugh out loud moments, and a well worked story that, I think, did just enough with the time travel narrative.I felt like this book was a great depiction of a life with autism and while knowing everyone’s experience is different, this was a real and tangible experience that feels realistic and like I learned something about how another person’s mind could function. 

Cassie is really engaging to read and her love of Greek mythology is infectious and well written without being alienating. Throughout the book there’s another plot lurking in the background and it’s tempting to read it all again to pick up the clues and hints that have been dropped about the true story. My only criticism is that Sal is possibly a bit too mean at the start of the book, given how nice she is capable of being. Reading this filled me with joy and truly made me wonder what I would do if I gained the power to time travel (with some very specific limitations).

The protagonist in this book is Cassandra, who appears to have the ability to alter time. On one particularly bad day she is dumped by her boyfriend Will, fired from her job in PR and falls out with the couple she shares a house with. What follows is the story of Cassandra realising she can travel in time, and her attempts to re-live the last four months, the time she was in her relationship with Will. Throughout the book there is the presence of a female, and letters that Cassandra is ignoring and I loved the mystery this brought as you get the sense Cassandra is withholding part of her past, and when the truth is revealed it is a really great twist to the story.
The story is punctuated with references to Greek mythology, which brings a richness to the story. Cassandra sees emotions in colours and feels touch as pain, this brought a great dimension to the character and leaves you asking if she is neurodiverse. I really enjoyed the characters in this story and how as Cassandra turns back time, she meets different obstacles in her quest to have a lasting relationship with Will. The book has lots of humour in it, and some laugh out loud moments. It’s written with a lightness to the story that I loved, and I was honestly pulled in from the outset.
I loved this book, it was light, funny and has adorable characters that you will fall in love with for sure. When this book is released, I highly recommend it and I have been very lucky to read an advanced copy in return for my honest review. A huge thank you to
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

Cassandra seems to be failing at everything. She has just been fired at work, her boyfriend Will has dumped her, and her flatmates want her to leave.
However, she discovers that she can reverse time and go back in the past. Unfortunately things don’t always go to plan, and the story explores the mishaps which can happen. There is lots of humour in the story, although I found the plot to be weak in places. I didn’t really ‘get’ Cassandra, and felt little empathy for her. However, worth reading as others may enjoy this unusual plot.