I am so impressed how Kate Mascarenhas wove this story together!!! She incorporated time travel and in her story of time travel they can see versions of themselves past or present. She also had characters interact with progeny of the first four women scientists that created time travel. Quick chapters, whodunnit, aalmost all female characters, a lgbtq relationship, some new time travel vernacular... lots of balls to juggle but she did it wonderfully.

Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Reading this debut novel was a happy surprise. It was tightly plotted and well written. Time travel has been invented and successfully tested in the opening chapter, but one woman ‘pioneer’ develops a mental health issue. At first this causes many questions about the safety of the technology. The person who ends up heading the newly formed institution for time travel is paranoid about bad publicity and consults with a psychologist about testing of applicants. From there on we get multiple viewpoints from past, current and future people who are emotionally impacted one way or another by time travel.

This is a novel take on time travel, written with interesting insights into how one might experience watching the death of your family and friends one minute, and then returning to an age where they are still alive.

My only critique would be related to the number of characters. They are all important to the plot but having a list of characters would have been very helpful. 4.5 /5 stars!

In 1965, time travel ignites Barbara’s manic depression, and the other pioneers—ambitious Margaret, compassionate Lillian, and social butterfly Grace—leave her behind to form The Conclave, an autonomous organization commercializing time travel. Multiple storylines converge to determine the identity of the woman found dead of four bullet wounds in a locked room. The investigation for this unique whodunit plays out in various timelines with characters’ ages often not corresponding chronologically. There’s manipulation, subterfuge, and espionage afoot throughout the nation and throughout time. The time travel details are concrete, with the fuel posing a danger if not handled appropriately. There’s even a time travel glossary included at the end, which makes one try that much harder to buy into the concept. Macarenhas gives the reader glimpses into the thoughts of characters, providing more depth to a story that might easily go astray with so much time-hopping chapters. Readers who like speculative fiction with compelling characters and complex relationships will appreciate this story that readily lends oneself to suspend belief, a realistic time travel story, if you will. It’s definitely worth the time! Ha! I was fortunate to receive a copy from the publisher through Net Galley.

My review is scheduled to post on my blog October 15, when I will also share on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter, with review to be posted on B&N on launch date.

I received a free copy of this book via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Didn't finish this book, I'm afraid. I got to about 40% of this book and realised that I didn't particularly have a clear idea of who the main characters were or how they related to each other - considering this was a story where there's a variety of timelines going on, this was a major problem for my engagement with the storyline overall.

I also had a lot of difficulty with the idea that the same people from different timelines could interact with one another without any issues as a result. That's certainly not been how time travel has (theoretically, of course!) worked in the many and varied books, movies and TV shows where I've encountered it. That also didn't help with my desire to continue reading.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane for the chance to read this ARC.
If we finally managed to create a time-travel machine, how would it be? What the world and its society would become? What would be the rules of it, and its purpose? Surely everything would be possible now, since everything would be known by the time-traveler: to prevent sickness, conflicts, pain, or even crimes? That's what matters in that book; a mysterious woman is found dead, her body unrecognisable. But with all this technology, how is it even possible not to know?
We follow several POVs, most of all the ones of the four time machine's pioneers: Margaret, Barbara, Grace and Lucille, but also others such as Ruby, Odette, Piper...; Barbara being separated from the whole project after a breakdown, we still continue to follow her interesting POV and the evolution of her creation through her eyes and others, and see what's coming next.
I loved that book; I was first drawn to it with its cover, which I find really pretty and reveals its signification when we finally finish reading it. The story does alternate with chapters from different periods of time and characters, but it did not disturb me at all, on the contrary. Plus, all POVs are females and of different sexualities, which I really liked!

The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas. New York, Crooked Lane Books, 2019.
I was intrigued and even riveted by this exceptional debut novel. To tell this story, the characters, the main story and a number of side stories jump back and forth through 1967-69, 1973, 1982, 1994, 1999 and 2017-2019. The writing style was appealing and easy to read and the plot unlike others I’ve encountered.
Four young female scientists discover how to manage time travel. A researcher goes rogue, derailing a promising research career. The research centre appears to become more important for its commercial, economic and political potential than for generating empirical knowledge. There is a romance with lovers from different time periods, a murder that could be time travel related in danger of becoming a cold case and am incredibly flawed child's toy.

Characters can move back and forth through these different stories intentionally seeking to engage with each other and with themselves at different stages of their lives, this book was much more complex than other time travel fiction that I have read. I was struck by the level of reference detail supporting the book. The author created a working set of time travel rules for the book that included, for example, that travel could be back and forth but limited to eras post time travel discovery only. And that the actions of time travellers could not affect outcomes other than aiding understanding. One appendix has a time travel terminology, and another has psychometric test questions.

For credibility, I needed more details on the academic qualifications, experience, requirements and backgrounds of the four young scientists, and more about their research program. I think it is unlikely that four young female scientists would have such independence in 1967. Though their sloppy time research protocol, questionable ethics and absence of occupational health and safety oversight may have been typical of that time, I found these deficits jarring. So, although I read it twice, I did not love it. I will certainly remember it and was almost tempted to do some academic level analysis on it. I will probably will read it again.

Disclosure: I received a review copy of The Psychology of Time Travel free via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Stunning debut. Mystery, action, science fiction, fantasy. A penetrating portrait of what could happen if time travel were possible. Thanks to Crooked Lane Books and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

<REVIEW>THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL
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💬: I received a free digital ARC of the book via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review)
This is an unusual type of book for me. Usually I don’t go for books that don’t have a romance plot as the main one, but when I read the synopsis I was intrigued by the different way the author would be exploring time travelling. The story divided itself in three timelines: 1967, 2017 and 2018 and each one of these were interesting in a different way. All of them had the thriller, suspense and mystery aspect mixed with the mind analysis of people that start to time travel, how they perceive the world after knowing the future.
In 1967 we see four women perfecting the time travel machine and transforming themselves as the pioneers of something that would change the lives of many people and the world. One of them has a breakdown after time traveling, making the other three realize that people who travels time should be followed by doctor and psychologists, so it doesn't happen again. Rebecca, the one that had the breakdown, is asked to leave the organization and her friends totally forget about her. We see the this organization become reality, The Conclave, where they administer all things related to Time Travel, having one of the pioneers as the leader (Margaret). When I discover that Margaret was the leader I laughed because I already didn’t like her, and now they give her power? Of course things would go south.
In 2017 we follow Ruby and her grandmother that was the pioneer who had the breakdown and was “let go” of the organization. Ruby wants to seek answers about the time travelling and about what happened with her grandmother back then and she starts to get to know the other fellow pioneers. One of them scares her, and the other she starts to love.
While in 2018 we see Odette, a girl that finds a dead body and needs to deal with the trauma of it. She meets Ruby and then realizes that what happened with the dead body is related to The Conclave. So she starts to obsess about it and starts her own investigation, finding out more about the pioneers and how the things are dealt with inside the conclave. She becomes a Time Travel so she can be inside the organization and find the identity of the person that died and who is the murderer.
The interesting about this book is how time travel changes the mindset of people, how it totally made them like a robot after some time using the machine, a cold hearted person. The Time Travelers starts to get numb about feelings, they don’t understand death, for example, because they can go back in time and see the person again and alive. Time travelling makes death obsolete and time travellers dangerous.

The summary of this book, about four women scientists who invent time travel, sounded fascinating. However, the execution of the book was too disjointing to finish. If Kate Mascarenhas intended that the reader feel like the story was jumping around, she succeeded. While I can manage a degree of time hopping, the frequency and the lack of a discernible coherency was difficult to follow. I found myself forgetting whose story I was following and when. Was it Bee? In what year? Was it Odette? Is it 2017 or 2018? Wait, I just read something that is going to happen... How are they even connected? Who is this character again?

Mascarenhas has a different take on time travel that most writers take in that she doesn't view it as a paradox when characters meet themselves. In fact, time travelers get to know their earlier and later selves quite well. That was another concept that I felt was disconcerting. Perhaps because it was a step away from the the standard approach of time travel in fiction. But I feel that it's a less believable concept than the concept of paradox. In fact, this book seems to throw all logic to the wind. I would not recommend this book.

The psychology of Time travel by Kate Mascarenhas is a truly exciting and amazing story. Not my first book about time travel but definitely the most unique one. I suppose the reason for that is that this book focuses on the effect time travel causes.

The other thing I really liked was the story itself. How do you investigate a crime when you can go back and you actually could prevent it but you're not allowed to change the past? Because who knows how dire the consequences could be.

It would've been fun to find out more about the future world. Especially Grace's wings...

Would you travel through time to meet future worlds and future selfs? If the answer is yes this book is for you.

This is MY kind of time travel novel! I love every bit of this book and hope this is the start of a fantastic series which could easily be built. For a first novel, Kate Mascarenhas has truly outdone herself and shines. Bravo.

In the first chapter of this book, we are in 1967 and time travel has just been invented. The four scientists are excited, hopeful, full of dreams. But when one of them, Barbara, goes into a manic depressive episode that is broadcast on a BBC interview, she never again is able to time travel or go back to her work. Fast forward to 2017 and Barbara's granddaughter Ruby is just now finding out more details about her past and why her mom hates time travel. Then, it's 2018 and a body has been discovered in a room locked from the inside, shot to death. 

Yes, all those things are connected.
So welcome to the review of one of my favorite sci-fi novels ever: where time travel , the economy and culture it generates are the center of this novel, which weaves different plots together, exploring human nature, relationships, mental health, power. This book has great elements of what constitutes a good sci-fi to me: its science is interesting and well-researched, the technology is inserted seamlessly into people's lives (there are toys that use time travel, there are dolls with the scientists, there are several "trash" horror time travel stories, there is slang...), but what makes this novel really awesome is the human element of it. All the characters (which are mostly women) are so complex, interesting, different, smart. Their lives change and connect with one another all the time.

And the plot twists! There are so many (but not too many) and I doubt you'll see many of them coming. The novel is fast paced and so much happens, but I wish it was never over. I could just read it forever and never get tired of it. I'm already planning to buy it in paperback (which comes out today, when this post is live!) and re-read it, because it's that amazing (if you don't know - I hardly ever re-read books).

Everything is fantastic and I have no complaints at all. I also particularly love that there are so many women in this novel. When have I last read a book with women scientists as main characters? And with time travel!

I highly recommend this book, even if you're not that much of a sci-fi fan, trust me: this is so worth it for the character-driven plot, which is also fast-paced and so, so full of awesome twists. You will not be disappointed!

-- I received a free eARC via NetGalley. Many thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher! --

I'm not sure what to make of this book. I've been pushing out writing the review for a few days, but have not found more clarity. I think the main issue I have with it, is that it's concept of time travel is so incredibly far removed from my own ideas about how time travel would work and affect society. It is an interesting concept, but more dystopian than anything else, in my opinion.

What I really enjoyed were the various female characters - there weren't really any noteworthy male characters with a stake in the story - and their relationships ranging from family, to friends and coworkers, to lovers. Interesting dynamics were developed in this way, pushing the story forward.

I really enjoyed this refreshing, original novel. All the best of time travel in a compelling mystery. For fans of Elan Masterai and "The Calculating Stars". I loved the relationships between all of the women across time. My only regret? I would have liked a little more science, and more of the early days of the invention of time travel. Perhaps a prequel where we learn how this disparate group of women ended up together? Thank you

This book was amazing. It had twist and turns I didn't expect and it went RIGHT into my favorites list when I finished. I am not sure what I expected, but I didn't expect this to happen. I loved seeing the different women and how they were all portrayed and how time travel affected them all. It was all in all a good book, and the author has done an AMAZING job on this. I would consider this to be a feminist novel, and I regard it as such - and I am so thankful for the opportunity to be able to read it. It was so much more than I expected and it was wonderful.

This is a great novel about an imaginary future. It’s a modern-day mystery novel. It was quite interesting. I didn’t want to put it down. It’s an intriguing mixture of science fiction, romance, mystery, and thriller. I loved this book. It is about four strong, independent ladies who designed and created an incredible time machine. After many tests performed on the machine one of the women, Barbara, seems to have gone unhinged and is put in a mental hospital. She openly disgraces the other women and is never allowed to return. The novel jumps to the future where Barbara, is now a grandmother. Her granddaughter Ruby is interested in her grandmother’s past. One day a warning note is received from the future. From there the book goes back and forth between characters and timelines. You really have to pay attention to keep up.
I would like to thank Netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me with a review copy in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion of it.

This book was good! A lovely character study of smart, capable, yet vunerable women, and it's almost as if the time travel is the Cherry on top. I greatly enjoyed the lingo, the mystery, the feminism. Solid 3.5 stars from me.

The title of this book intrigued me. The author, Kate Mascarenhas, is a first-time novelist. I entered the book with meager expectations. Most authors error in attempting to do time travel fiction; even those with numerous works behind them. This work appeared to take a completely different approach to the oft-attempted plot device of time travel; Ms. Mascarenhas did and didn't disappoint.

When reading time travel fiction, I'm expecting the author to fall into the trap of paradoxes and plot holes. Mascarenhas avoided creating any glaring ones that I caught and "black boxed" the inevitably created ones when doing science fiction. I enjoyed her nonlinear time in writing and the beautiful symbolism to the plot. I found myself in a time fog jumping from time to time attempting to follow the characters. This is not bad writing IMHO, but the excellent and unexpected use of the craft of writing. The effect that time travel could have on the psyche is an epistemological unknown. Attempting to have a reader experience the result was creative and genius.

Well done Ms. Mascarenhas. I look forward to your follow on novels.

God, I loved this. Easily my favourite book I've read this year.

The blurb mentioned it being for fans of Emily St. John Mandel, and I can easily see why. Multiple narratives from different characters at different points in time, slowly converging and tying into each other. I know of lots of people who loved Station Eleven and I urge them to read this.

The world that Kate Mascarenhas has created feels so real - it blends in so naturally to our real one. She has thought of so many issues that could occur from the reality of time travel that I couldn't have even begun to think of addressing, and covered them well.

One recommendation I have is that you don't leave many days in between reading sessions - I did and due to the growing number of characters mentioned (who are often, due to the nature of time travel, in a different point in their - or other characters' - timeline to where you last heard from them) it took me a while to remember all of the connecting threads at times. This isn't a criticism of the book, this is a criticism of my multi-day periods of not reading it!

Thank you to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the copy to review!

This was a strange little book. The best part of it was the murder mystery which lies at its heart, and the careful plotting that pulls all the threads and all the relationships and time-strands together. What was also intriguing was the titular psychology of time travel, or more specifically time travellers, and the effect such a power might have on someone's mental state. It was completely believable the way the author portrayed the way being a time traveller would affect someone's ability to have meaningful relationships (and this is in a _completely_ different way than in The Time Traveller's Wife, with which this book is being inevitably compared).

Issues I had with it were, first of all, the SF-nal aspect of the time travel itself. It is not well explained (as per, say Connie Willis, with all the settings and risk of mishap). The laws, as they are explained, are counter to most well-establish science fiction tropes, and lend a certain fatalism to the universe that I would suspect goes against actual quantum physics, for all the author's use of some scientific jargon.

Second, the number of characters and different timelines was extremely confusing. I felt the need to make a chart of who was who and related to whom. Also, the different points of view were not sufficiently differentiated to help with that. The only character I connected with and always knew who she was was Odette. I liked the diversity of the different women, and although sometimes I had the feeling that the author was ticking boxes - lesbian? check. person of colour? check - at least it's in a good cause.

This is a first novel, and as such is certainly promising. I think the author has a lot of potential (that's the English prof talking, sorry).