While definitely interesting, I just could not engage with the story. I like time travel, but something about the narrative style didn't suit me.

I was a huge fan of The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger and was thrilled about the opportunity to read something in a similar vein. Add to that the promise of a female-focused STEM story, and I was hooked. The shifting timelines and the multiple narrators gave this story an immersive quality that aligned perfectly with the theme of time travel. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book.

I’m a huge fan of time travel books and like to think I can keep up with all of the intricate details that come along with these types of plots. However, I met my match with The Psychology of Time Travel . This is a complex and detailed look at how time travel could be incorporated into and alter everyday society. What I appreciated most about this story was the unique fatalistic perspective it took with time travelling. In this book, time travellors are encouraged to interact with past and future selves, family members, events, etc. The interactions do not change fate but rather lead to fate.

I loved the science behind this plot. It made me think and puzzle. The time travel terminology used by the characters added a layer of authenticity to this sci fi tale. Where things went off track for me was in the plot and character development. The plot got lost in the science to a degree. There was much description about time travel and characters living in multiple time lines but there was little emotional depth to keep me connected to the events and characters. I didn’t really know many of the characters all that well or care about them very much.

Despite it’s weaknesses, The Psychology of Time a Travel is certainly a thoughtful book. Readers who enjoy time travel plots will probably enjoy this a lot if only for the sci fi aspect. I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A fun read. If you like this type of fiction, particularly modern scifi and scifi with consequences you'll probably like this book.

While I really wanted to like this one and loved the idea and many, many aspects of the story, I just didn't like the writing itself. No matter how fascinating I found the story, I could never really get lost in it because of the writing style.

Murder mystery, time travel, groundbreaking female scientists—I am 120% on board with this book.

The beginning dragged a bit—too much announcing that things had happened rather than letting the story unfold. Luckily that faded once the mystery got going and the timelines more convoluted.

It's a good and twisty story, with interesting questions about how you might feel about death when you're constantly visiting past and future selves and some brutal answers about what the psychology of time travel actually might amount to. Plus, queer characters.

I finished up 2018 by reading one of the best books of the year (way to sneak it in at the end of December) – The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas.

This is an amazing novel. The premise is simple, and one we’ve seen before. Time travel is possible and is run by a shadowy agency outside the rules of the government. However, what makes this book different is that Mascarenhas focuses on the psychological and cognitive effects of time travel. What does it mean to live outside of time? How does that affect your relationships with non-time travelers? Other time travelers? Yourself? Another aspect that marks this as different to other time travel novels is that you can only travel between the 1960s and the 2300s – which limits the possibilities and affects how it is used. This is not hard sci-fi – there is no rationale given as to how time travel works, so if you’re put off by that then just be aware.

A lot of new and complex ideas along these lines are examined through this novel, and I almost wish that more time had been spent on it, as opposed to the murder mystery plot. I understand that sometimes first-time novelists feel that there needs to be some sort of Plot to carry a book through, but Mascarenhas’ strongest suit was in her characterisation and her specialist area of cognitive behaviour, so I hope in the future she focuses more on that. Mascarenhas has a background as a clinical psychologist and it shows. In comparison, the murder mystery felt…odd.

This could be a confusing book. The overlapping timelines, the characters appearing with themselves in the same scene, trying to work out not only who the murder victim is, but which time they are originally from? Mascarenhas handles that well, and while it could be confusing I don’t think it is. I think a reread of this book would only increase enjoyment.

As I’ve mentioned, the characters in this book are lovely. They are well rounded, complex, and not always what they appear to be. Everyone has secrets, everyone has a conflict they are coping with, and loyalties shift throughout the timelines. I enjoyed reading about all of them, including the ‘bad guy’ (no spoilers here!). There is a little bit of inclusiveness, I am always a fan of lesbians on the page who get a happy ending, and all the characters are women, if that’s something you’re specifically looking for.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you want a wide variety of characters, a non-traditional murder mystery, and/or a new approach to time travel and its potential effects. I am definitely going to keep an eye out on what this author publishes in the future.

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas – ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

To begin with, this book is set to release in February and has had quite a few rave reviews in the blogging community. My experience with it was slightly different but bear with me as I explain why. As I do that, I will try to give an accurate picture of what to expect from it so that you can actually try it before you decide on your own. This is a highly layered book. There are a lot of connections and loops that make sense as we move forwards,backwards and sideways in time. The base of the story is the discovery and normalization of time travel among a select 'mentally stable' group of individuals. The formation of the organization is the actual past. Then we have the present where a granddaughter is trying to gain control and make sense of her life. There are a lot of peripheral but important characters who make crucial appearances which actually was the thing I liked about the book, the sighting of these people and guessing at their purpose and role in the currently ongoing events. There is also an unidentified body which starts another sequence of events (or in one form of thought, the result of a sequence of events). Women form a very large part of the story and the men are but a background feature. 

This brings me to why it was not completely my cup of tea. I went in with a lot of excitement, but felt a little let down by the people's thought process. Everything that occurs ultimately felt futile (to me). Every time I picked up a chain of events to follow it to the end, I was not really happy with where I found myself. This as clearly indicated is a personal feeling. Do check out the book to see if the uniqueness of the plot makes your day.

Time travel has been a popular topic in books and movies, but few have handled the topic as well as the author of this book. Perspectives of characters and differences in time are used to move the reader from now to then and back again. Character development is an especially strong point pulling the reader into the story.

An interesting take on time travel and how it might affect the time travelers themselves and the society in which this is possible. Imbued with a wonderfully diverse set of characters, the novel jumps through time but thankfully helps the reader keep the storylines straight with chapter titles. Recommend for fans of Time Travelers Wife to keep the inter time relationships but without quite so much heartache.

I received an ARC from the publisher through Net Galley in exchange for an honest review.

First book of the year. I did an amazing start to my reading this year. This book was amazing. Time travel mixed with murder mystery. Kate Mascarenhas did an amazing job. It was interesting, confusing and beautiful. I loved Grace bubbly character. Ending was satisfying enough but I wished we learned more of some characters. Like what happened to angel of death game? What happened to Teddy? What happened to some minor characters?This book should have been longer. Overall this was an unique story to read. I will definitely read Kate Mascarenhas next stories.

This was a fun book to read! There were a few too many characters for me to easily remember who was who and in which timeline, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it. And that's part of the fun! It's diverse, and is definitely female-driven, which I love! It's "normal" enough for those who aren't generally into sci-fi and time travelling, but sci-fi and time travely enough for those that are!

I appreciated the glossary and test at the end as well, that's a great touch.

I look forward to more books by Kate!

I really enjoyed this unique time travel mystery. With a distinctly female focus, it was a compelling read. The only downside, I got a bit lost at the end and I'm not entirely certain who committed the crime.

Mascarenhas looks at time travel from a different perspective. She is not so concerned with how the time line might or might not change, but what effect it has on the individual. The story is told through different narrators, and at different times, in a way that enhances the narrative. As an added bonus, that most of the characters is female is presented as the norm. A great debut novel.

The Psychology of Time Travel is a great book. As a psych major, I found it very interesting to see how psychology and time travel are connected. I loved the angle where the writer explored what time travel would do to a person's brain and especially regarding coping and death. What I loved, even more, is that it makes sense.
But don't worry if psychology is not your thing. It is mostly a murder mystery with a satisfying ending.
The book is told from different perspectives at different times which all end up connected and a cohesive story which I love so much.
So if I were you, I would dive into this mystery especially if enjoy murder mysteries and/or time travel.

I truly think 'The Psychology of Time Travel' is a masterpiece. All the scientific elements were carefully crafted and it made so much sense you could actually believe time travel could exist. The narration was great, I was a bit scared I would be lost with the multiple points of view and timelines but I didn't. I like to believe the book itself is a person living in this universe, we have one chronology (like the Emus) and we, the reader, interact with the characters like they were time travelers who don't have the same cronology as us.
It was so refreshing that all the main characters were women. In fact, only a handful of side characters were men and they weren't that important to the plot so it was nice to have a women driven story (yay for female scientists!).
The diversity, both ethnic and LGBTQ+ was delightful (+ it's an own voice book!).
And kudos to that little test at the end of the book, it was fun to see if you are fit, or not, to travel through time !

I was actually intending to let this one pass me by - the title did not grab me and I have so many other books waiting. However a combination of the reviews and the fact that it was available on Netgalley made me decide to read it and I am so glad I did.

It is a story about four women who invented a time machine and what happened to them and their invention once it became public property. More importantly the book focuses on the people involved and how they were impacted by this remarkable achievement. Some of the generally accepted rules of time travel are used and some are just tossed out of the window. Not interacting with ones former and future selves is an example. In this book people seek themselves out, revisit and attend past events such as weddings and births and some even live most of the time in the wrong decade. It is fascinating but I found it best not to dwell on the science of the thing - just take it as it comes and it is great:)

There is even a Sherlock Holmes style murder mystery involving a corpse and a locked room - locked from the inside of course! This was fun but I failed to follow the rationale. Doesn't matter! It was still a great story.

At the start of this review I gave the book 4 stars but I have talked myself into 5. It really was very entertaining.

I love the idea of time travelling and I love the idea of time travelling books. That is the main reason why I chose to read this ARC copy. The synopsis sounded intriguing, and the cover was gorgeous. I don’t have much experience reading time travelling books. I still believe the synopsis is intriguing and the cover is gorgeous, but I am not satisfied with the feelings this book left me, after I read the last chapter.

The story begins when four ladies in the early 1960s work together and build the first time travel machine. And they are surrounded by curious people and media, and one of them has a breakdown and is expelled from the project, as she is a risk to herself and others. But they don’t just exclude her from their project, but from their whole lives, and time travelling altogether.

”Sometimes we want proximity and a crowd gives us the excuse.”

And many years after, when time travelling is something everyone knows about, secrets start to be revealed, little by little, and a murder happens without explanation. A few young women, completely unrelated and with different missions will try to get their way into the whole time-travel business, and try to figure the answers to their questions.

In The Psychology of Time Travel, one is certain – you will flow through time and places like never before. One chapter it’s 1967, and the next one, it’s 2015. You will meet a lady and her young self, her old self, and her current self, all at one place, talking to each other, or simultaneously performing a dancing act. You will get to see a world very well created, a complex structure of how time travel might work, and details that you wouldn’t thought of checking twice.

I couldn’t connect to any character. Maybe there were too many. The chapters were very short, and they travelled through years so quickly, that I couldn’t catch up. Catching up with the plot of a book, and figuring out what is going on while being presented things so fast is very frustrating. It’s like watching a movie in a foreign language, the subtitles being your only way of gathering information, and they disappear instantly, without you having a chance to understand.

The romance in this book was another thing that bothered me. While we get a lot of romantic relationships going around, one particularly threw me off my feet. A love story where one girl is in love with another. This is the completely realistic part. But the unrealistic one was that one girl lives in the present, and the other is a time-traveller in the past – so even though they are currently (technically) the same age, in reality one is in the mid 20s, and the other in the mid 80s. I couldn’t process this, or agree with it.

”You couldn’t get involved with someone who spent most of their life in a different time period from you.”

I am sure I would have loved the characters, have I had more chances to get to know them. They showed signs of bravery, and goals and hopes for a better tomorrow, with a spark unlike any others. But it all lasted so short, before we switched to another character, and so on.

Even though this one didn’t work for me – I still encourage you to give it a go, if you are a fan of time travel. The idea of time travelling is very well done, and deserves to be discussed.

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books, for providing me an ARC copy of The Psychology of Time Travel in exchange for an honest review.

This is a very unusual and entertaining time-travel tale. All of the major characters are women, and their interactions provide character depth which is often not found in science fiction. I enjoyed The Psychology of Time Travel quite a lot, and would've given it five stars were it not for a less-than-thrilling ending. I'd really like to see a sequel featuring the same characters, and the story could also be turned into an interesting film or miniseries.

Kate Mascarenhas has found an interesting approach to writing a time travel novel. As the title indicates, she's exploring what happens to a time traveler's brain and to their personality when they move through time. In her world, the answer is: nothing good. Among other mental infirmities that can develop, frequent time travel can cause people to become desensitized to and crass about death. This can be a major problem, and how to tackle that problem and make time travel psychologically safe is an interesting entre into the genre.

Unfortunately, Mascarenhas has bitten off a bit more than she can chew, in what is clearly a debut novel. She's wrapped this question in a mystery and layered it with an enormous bureaucracy that governs everything related to time travel, travelers (sometimes the same person) coming from both directions, and a full cast of non-time travelers. The mystery gets sort of forgotton for a while in the middle while we deal with the characters, and by the time we get back to it, I don't really care about the who's or why's of it. And I couldn't even keep track of the characters, and all their various timely incarnations, let alone care much about any of them.

Still, there are hints of Mascarenhas's strengths as a writer. Some of the are quite well-written, and parts of the action really hum along. If she chooses to write another book, perhaps she'll be able to mellow out a little and let her talents shine through.