This book was very much not what I was expecting, but I found myself enjoying it a great deal more than I had thought I would. I wouldn't have categorised it as a romance myself - indeed, the first third or so of the book doesn't have any romance at all and reads like a straightforward scifi horror kind of novel. When the romance is introduced, it is decidedly of the star-crossed variety and never really comes to fruition, an inevitable side effect of a relationship between one person travelling forwards in time and the other going backwards.

I really liked the way the book was written. There was something about it that just made it so easy to keep reading once I had started, and I found the sci-fi aspect, the time reversal and everything that came with it, something fascinating to observe and consider. The mysteries that Nev slowly uncovered from her futurepast actions were impressively constructed, and I really liked how the book played around with causality.

My main criticism of this book is that it appears to be written like a romance but played out like science fiction, so it's hard to say whether fans of either genre would really enjoy it. Personally, I liked it because it was more minimal on the romance and seemed to focus on the sci-fi, but the writing style was something I would more expect from a romance. This wasn't a dealbreaker for me since I rather liked the way it was written, but it means that anyone looking for something more traditionally sci-fi might not be so much of a fan. All in all, it was a very interesting book.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

I received an advanced reading copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Thank you to NetGalley, Rebellion, Solaris, and the author R A Sinn.
I found this quite a frustrating read, although the premise was good and it was involving at times.
Incredibly annoying to end on a cliffhanger as well. Overall, pretty unsatisfying. 3 stars as the premise and the fundamentals are there, but overall feels unfinished and underwhelming.

2.5 stars
I really loved the concept of this book but it could have been executed a lot better.
Time travel can be a tricky thing to pull off in a story as it requires the author to create a technological concept that is believable, whilst being completely fictional. In this instance, there were far too many flaws in the time travel system and it was really distracting as a reader. The story itself was okay and I liked how the time jumps were organised throughout the book. Unfortunately, the ending ruined it all for me. I absolutely hated how abrupt it was and it didn't wrap a single thing up.

This could have been really good as there was a lot of scope in the concept. Sadly, the final result was disappointing and completely ruined by how things ended.

Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for sending me a copy of this book in return for an honest review.

Really enjoyed the premise, the world building, and Nev as a character.
Took a little while for me to get into, but absolutely worth it.
Will 100% reread in the future.

i really enjoyed this story. it was an interesting concept and i enjoyed the journey. i loved the two main characters <spoiler>it was so interesting experiencing nev and airin falling in love in reverse from each other. i loved that the ending wasn’t the typical ‘we figured out a way to be together and live happily ever after’ but still left me feeling like there was closure on a lot of things, and what we were told was going to happen through nev, did happen in the end, she accomplished what she needed to and got to make amends for some of her past mistakes. i loved following nev in her journey of self-improvement, appreciating what she had more and more.</spoiler>. it took me a little while to get used to the writing style, talking about tech-heavy stuff and time issues but i mostly got my head around it and it did add more depth to the concept.

The chance to reset our lives has always held a deep attraction. Not say those words, be there on time and who knows perhaps our lives would be better? It is a rich theme in SF from Doctor Who, Star Trek and Groundhog Day. In RA Sinn’s SF novel this is explored with a focus on the future and changing your life but I found it a bit of a disappointment.

Nev is a skilled software programmer working on a top secret project. Suddenly Nev finds they’re floating in and out of time through their life. Are they lost or is there something else going on. I’ll be honest I found this a mess of a story. While diving us deep end into Nev’s life and the weirdness of time travel there is a complete lack of character in Nev and while I think the idea is like Nev we re-discover themselves by re-examining their life with perspective and making changes there nothing done early on to show us who Nev was early on to make it work. This feels more a screenplay than novel lots of short images and scenes but for me not really hanging together enough to really keep me interested in the world or story. A little bit of set-up beforehand may have helped but overall my take reading the story was this was a messy novel with a flat style of writing that failed to grab my attention. The world-bulding feels slight with a focus on the crunching world software programming which I admit is not an area that excites me either. sadly not one I can recommend.

3.5⭐️

I have a lot of mixed feelings about this novel and definitely think it could be a divisive read for some. I was extremely confused for the first 40% of the book of how the timeline went before I finally started to understand. However the concept is super interesting and unique and did keep me reading even while I didn’t understand.

If you don’t like to be a little confused while reading, then this definitely isn’t for you. The middle portion of the book was my absolute favorite part. Watching Nev and Airin work together and learn each other in reverse was so intriguing and wonderful. I would have loved if the beginning and end gave me the same feeling reading the middle portion of this did. Unfortunately, those parts fell a little flat for me and so it is a mid tier read overall.

*Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for an arc in exchange for an honest review*

Time travel stories can come in so many forms! It has been a while since I’ve read a Benjamin Button–style story. A Second Chance for Yesterday has its protagonist, Nev, hurtling backwards in time. The title is everything: sibling authors writing under the name R.A. Sinn ask us if a person can reform simply by having the chance to do things over, albeit in reverse. Thanks to NetGalley and publisher Solaris for the eARC.

Nev Bourne is the lead programmer on a technology that lets people rewind time a few seconds. An accident at work causes her to relive, successively, each previous day of her life. Nev is going backwards in time, yet no one else is aware of this. It’s only through an unlikely team-up with a former college associate that Nev manages to wrest some semblance of control from this chaos and work to fix the glitch—before it can happen to the millions of people who will soon use this tech.

This novel works best when you don’t try to peek underneath the hood and question the mechanics behind the time travel. Sinn posits that Nev’s employer has a “quantum mainframe” that can somehow reset the universe a few seconds into the past whenever someone triggers an ocular implant. OK, sure. If you can handwave past that, the story itself is quite enjoyable. They take some time developing the mystery behind Nev’s reverse chronological experience. Once she understands her predicament and enlists Airin (or rather is enlisted by them, convinced by their memory of Nev’s … futurepast?), the story ramps up in intensity.

I think what makes this story so interesting is the way that it gradually morphs from “I have to escape this fate for myself” to “I have to protect others and prevent this from happening at all.” Sinn is clearly trying to make Nev out to be a flawed, somewhat selfish person who needs to learn a lesson as she travels backwards through her life. It’s a valuable idea, though I’m not sure it is executed very well.

The same can be said for the antagonist (if that is what you want to call him) and the eventual resolution of the glitch. In the eleventh hour, Nev confronts the antagonist. It’s a pretty tense moment, yet the result is anticlimactic. The same goes for the ending itself. Not quite a cliffhanger yet also not quite conclusion, the ending might be Sinn’s attempt to say, “It doesn’t matter what happens to Nev from here on out.” It might be an attempt to ask the reader to imagine Nev’s futurepast. I’m not sure—and that’s the problem.

This is a book with a very cool premise and a lot of glimmers of brilliance. But everything from characterization to plot to the final lines feels half-finished. Underwhelming. Far from crisp. A Second Chance for Yesterday has great ideas, but it never comes together to become a truly entertaining or enlightening read.

This book was really good, well written, good characters, and plenty of unusual ideas. My only gripe is the ending, which I don't want to say too much about, but I found it pretty sad! Aah...

A really unique premise bounded by technological advancement, quantum physics and it being set in 2045. The sci-fi elements to the book took a bit of time to get my head around and I’m not entirely sure I fully understood the futurepast and yestermorrow timelines. Whilst I know the intent and the logic for the plot timings, it took until the last few chapters for it to start clicking into place.

There is a lot to like about the book, the main character Nev, her narrative, her relationships, the star-crossed lover’s vibe, and the idea of the future (I really hope Savepoints don’t become a thing). The ending does not resolve everything but for me it kind of fit with the tone of the book. I would have liked to have known what happened to Jim Bone and the world, however with how the book is set-up and I wasn’t too surprised that it isn’t a fully wrapped up finish. It just didn’t feel like it would work, Nev’s journey finished when the book did.

It is well written with a novel style and plot. At points I did find it confusing, but for sci-fi and time travel fans it is worth a read.

3.5 stars – rounded up to 4.

Thank you to Rebellion-Solaris and NetGalley for an ARC in return for an honest review.

This mind-bending and emotive sci-fi read tackles the potential of quantum time travel and of parallel universes, all of which will leave your mind reeling in somersaults to keep up.

The year is 2045, and our heroine Nev Bourne is the top coder for innovative brain implants that enables users to skip back 5 seconds in time. This device, called SavePoint, proves super popular as it allows you retract something wish you had not said or done, so much so that most of humanity has it installed.

As Nev starts an update of new code for SavePoint 2.0 at 11:33 p.m., she awakens to the morning of that same day. From there, losing consciousness every day at 11:33 p.m., Nev starts to her life in reverse. There’s a glitch in the code that has warped quantum space, and it’s up to Nev to sort it out. She’s both inventive and stalwart, and had me laughing out loud as she internally thinks of her team of male coders as the “brogrammers.” Nev seeks out help from the company CEO, having to sneak into his office to accost him, only to have him throw his hands up in the air without a denial of what is going on, and promptly check himself into a monthlong wellness retreat.

Nev stumbles upon an old college friend from Stanford, the androgenous Airin Myx, who is desperation she persuades to help her figure out what’s wrong with the code. Sparks fly as Airin, a notorious hacker, and Nev have to figure out how to work together with Nev as they both proceed away from each other in time. As Airin moves forward in time and Nev moves backwards, it often gets confusing. Even as Nev falls backward and starts reliving days of her life, Nev can remember all she’s learned since the glitch happened.

Along the way, Nev gets to repair her relationship with a wrongfully ousted colleague, her beyond-needy and arrogant boyfriend, and her deeply religious mother. She also gets to finally stand up to an oppressive C-level manager. Nev also solves the story behind the mysterious, homeless Jim Bone who seems as lost in time as Nev finds herself.

Nev emerges both savior of humanity, and far from the loner she started on Glitch Day.
And the book ends setting up book 2, so we’ll have to wait for the dynamic sibling team of authors to come up with the next installment.


Thanks to Rebellion, Solaris and NetGalley for an advanced reader’s copy.

This is a unique plot. Usually, it's about reliving the same day again and again, but this time Nev wakes up the day before, while everyone else is still waking up like normal.

It had me all in from the first page right to the end. The author must of have had fun with all the research and easter eggs.

I liked the way that Nev fell for Airin, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the next book.

I hope she finds all her answers to get her back to day zero, so she can save the world and her love life.

Thanks to Netgalley for the copy of the ebook, This review is left voluntarily.

A thought provoking, poignant and intriguing speculative fiction. Part, present and future are just concept and what would happen if you could travel back in time change something ?
A well plotted and clever story, complex and a bit slow at times
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine

"A Second Chance for Yesterday" is a book with a slightly different concept, which can be a little confusing, but still quite interesting.

Nev is a programmer at Qbito, the company that created SavePoint, a technology that lets you go back in time a few seconds in order to correct a situation. While she was programming the second version of SavePoint, our protagonist ends up trapped in a temporal anomaly, which instead of moving forward in time day by day, as is normal, takes her back to the previous day.

The writing is a little heavy, which for me, as English is not my native language, made it a little difficult to read, but that's understandable as we have to get used to this time and this concept. I loved the concept of the new words created, such as "yestermorrow".

As for the story itself, I found it quite intriguing and original. And that ending was criminal, I hope there's a sequel.

This is a book that tells us about family, queer love and redemption. I recommend it to anyone who likes a story that involves these themes, as well as a story that involves time travel.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Set in a near-future, a tech company has established SavePoint, revolutionary tech that allows users to undo the last five seconds of their life at any point of their choosing.

Expanding on this success, the company are looking to launch a SavePoint 2, which will allow users to roll back even further. However, Nev, the leader programmer is experiencing some unforeseen consequences… Those being that she’s moving backwards in time.

I absolutely loved the premise of this. I was instantly gripped. The tech, the glitch, the awkwardness of working with someone who is moving through time in the opposite direction to you. Absolutely thrilling stuff.

Unfortunately, I think the second half is less engaging than the first. The intentions of the characters is hazy and it’s not always fully developed what they’re actually doing. Some of this can hide behind the mechanics of the two main characters’ space in time. They never know the full picture so neither do we, the reader. But there’s no aha! moment that ties it all together either, which is missed.

As with all time-travel creations, there are some rules the traveller must follow (Nev can only wake up in the place she awoke in her original timeline, etc). Unfortunately, some of these rules are distracting at times and pose more questions.

Overall, a really solid sci-fi with an excellent premise.

I requested this one because it might be an upcoming title I would like to review on my Youtube Channel. However, after reading the first several chapters I have determined that this book does not suit my tastes. So I decided to DNF this one.

First off...DISCLAIMER: I requested this title on NetGalley. Thanks to Rebellion Publishing for providing an ecopy. This didn't influence my review in any way.

SERIOUS FUN

Here's the thing: I love narratives that play with time because they're great fun (even the tragic ones, if you get my meaning). But I also love them because, at the same time (no pun intended), they're perfect to vehiculate philosophical concepts, or simply, to make you think. This one, while I'm not thrilled about the direction it went with regard to the family angle (more about that below - I'll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum), had a lot to say about ethics, redemption, and becoming, if not the best, at least a better version of yourself - and mind you, it managed to stay entertaining and to throw a few surprises at the reader in the process (though I should probably have seen at least one of them coming - but even if I didn't because I was engrossed with the story, and not because the twist was difficult to figure out, that's still a good thing!).

SCIENCE AND CONSCIENCE

All in all, ASCFY is light on the science (though SavePoint is said to be based on Rovelli's principle), and it's probably just as well, because I have to admit that the rewind technology requires a certain amount of suspension of disbelief. I can buy into a device that allows you to backtrack on an embarrassing interaction by sending you five seconds into the past, but for all purposes, by using such device you rewind time for your interlocutor and the people around you as well, which poses a few problems. I was hoping that the authors would give an explanation of sorts, which they didn't - but since the premise (outlandish or not) was the very thing that had drawn me to the book, I decided to just roll with it, and I did enjoy the implications it generated, both practical and ethical. When something goes wrong with SavePoint 2.0 and Nev starts living backwards, the story introduces some mystery/thriller threads and a star-crossed romance (involving a non-binary, pan character), but ultimately, the lead's moral development remains its fulcrum. By going backwards one day at a time and racing against the clock to sabotage SavePoint 2.0 before its launch, Nev gets the chance to reexamine (and question) her past choices, all while wondering if, in saving everyone else, she can also save herself. But regardless, she can still make amends for some of her past mistakes - or has she already?

ON A SOUR NOTE

I have mixed feelings about the ending. In a way, it feels a bit anticlimactic, though appropriate - I think maybe a different execution could have strengthened it somehow. But what rubbed me the wrong way was the handling of a certain family issue. While Nev's confrontation with her parents is pivotal in her (reverse) coming-of-age journey, it doesn't exactly feel consistent with the "lead's mistakes" theme, since her parents were the ones whose actions caused irreparable harm, and they never owned up to it. The resolution here feels forced and unearned, and frankly, I think that Nev deserved better. Other than that, I really enjoyed this partly sad, partly humorous mix of time travel, thriller, coming of age and (budding) romance, and I'm looking forward to reading it again and pick up all the clues that I missed the first time around (wait, maybe I should reread it...backwards? 🤔 😉).

I really liked to concept of this one, but unfortunately I put it down at the half-way mark. I just really didn't connect with Nev as a character, so didn't really care that much about what happened to her. I also just didn't feel like the time travel aspect was as interesting as it could have been, it was largely just a bit confusing, and starting to get a bit dull as it seemed mostly to be Nev not knowing what to do.
I'm sure other people will really enjoy this one, but it just wasn't for me.

Okay: this one is not the book’s fault. This is entirely on the publisher, because the blurb Second Chance For Yesterday had on Netgalley at the time I requested it comped it to This Is How You Lose The Time War.

Which obviously made me pounce on it!

(When am I going to learn?)

Someone in the marketing or publicity department realised that was a WILDLY INACCURATE AND MISLEADING comp, and it’s not in the blurb anymore, which I am very glad of because, as I said: WILDLY INACCURATE AND MISLEADING.

Taken for what it actually is, as opposed to holding it up against Time War and finding it extremely lacking, Second Chance For Yesterday is another book that is objectively excellent: the prose is quick and addictive, the characters are wonderfully human (even if I don’t love Nev as a person, she’s a great character and I enjoyed her antics), and the future the authors have come up with is very believable, including all the probable ramifications of and uses for extremely short-term time travel.

Second Chance For Yesterday also dodges the time loop trope, since Nev isn’t reliving the same day over and over but progressively going backwards – much more interesting, imo.

Unfortunately time travel in general is not actually my jam – I never would have picked this up without the Time War comp, which led me to think Second Chance For Yesterday was going to have the same kind of…untraditional framework and storytelling style that Time War did. That’s what I was here for, and alas, Second Chance For Yesterday doesn’t have that.

So I’m DNF-ing it, but if you DO love time travel stories, then it’s very likely you’ll enjoy the hell out of this. It’s clearly a really great book; it’s just one that’s not for me!