It was an interesting take on time travel, but I did not connect with this story. It felt like there were too many characters/timelines for how short it was, and I was left not caring about the characters or the mystery.

This is real work of genius.
The story is about four women who invent time travel. One of them suffers a very public mental breakdown and is thus ostracized from the group and the business forever.
Then, there is a murder. The victim is unknown and it’s basically a locked room mystery.
The woman was killed while she was alone in a room that was locked from the inside.
The rest of the book is about trying to find out who died, who killed her, and why.

There’s just so much going on, though. There are loads and loads of characters to try to get to grips with, and the fact that they’re jaunting through time, so appear older or younger all the time, makes it really difficult to follow in some places. I didn’t really build up a rapport with any of the characters because I was too busy trying to remember who everyone was and what they were doing in their unique story arc.
Each character has a complete time line that zigzags through several others. It’s incredibly faceted and complicated, but some areas are hugely satisfying when they finally come together.

I do think the time travel itself was handled really well. It was nice to see a lot of these old paradoxes addressed directly in the book. I also enjoyed the fact that the time machine can only travel forwards because that’s the only place where a machine had been built to receive them.
The fact that you can merrily meet your future/past selves is also a fun avenue that was explored nicely, including being in love with yourself.

All in all, I think the book would have benefited from following less characters and working on their personalities more. While I can see what a labour of love this novel must have been for the author, it’s far too complicated and the main storyline, which is actually not bad, gets lost in the rapid scene and time changes.

This book felt so original and timely, I am convinced the author has actually time traveled. If you want a book that will completely make you forget about the real world, this is the one. You will be swept up in every perfect detail.

This looked right up my alley, but while it was an interesting take on time-travel and a bit of a mystery, it was much more speculative fiction than sci-fi. Following the four groundbreaking women who invented the time machine and some of their descendants, it's literally about the psychology of it: what happens to people during and after, and what people make good time travelers. The mechanics of it, as well as rules they had to make to operate in the multiple times, were also interesting.

*Swoon*. How much do I love Veronica and Stoker? Like the most.

And trap them on an isolated island with a very "And then there were none" feel? I'm so into it.

Stoker's brother invited Veronica to an old friend's island castle for some butterfly stuff. Of course she can't refuse. Stoker ends up tagging along and the whole triangle gets messy. Malcom is the castle owner, and lives with his sister on this isolated island. The island has it's own mythology and the island inhabitants are full of "witches" and "mer-folk". The reason they were invited to come to the island (other than butterfiles) is revelaed in dramatic fashion. A day after marrying Malcom, young Rosamind goes missing. He believes she never left the island, but was instead murdered, and wants his houseguests to determine what happened.

There are plenty of viable suspects....the former lover, the heir to the house, the sister who loves her gardens, and then there is her husband as well.

The culprit is someone I didn't see coming....and this is the second book I've read recently that relies heavily on the "priest holes" of old homes/castles. I still love Veronica, and her relationship with Stoker takes a leap in this book that is wholy satisfying. The last chapter provides a hint on what they will do next....and reader? I'm here for it!

I don’t think I can accurately describe just how much I love this book, but I will try.

It had me hooked from the start, grabbing me instantly with the strong, smart, vulnerable women, and kept me hooked through the entire story. The relative lack of men was an added, welcome, and refreshing change of pace from most books I’ve read. I’ve also noticed that most books and movies/television shows involving time travel make the reader/viewer do some mental gymnastics in order to wrap their head around the whole concept, however Mascarenhas does all that for you, leaving your brain free to try to dissect the murder mystery.

I also loved how the story is woven together and how organized it is, despite it being about a very disorganized subject. This made it easy to read and impossible to put down.

I have already started telling all my friends about this book and will continue to bother them until each and everyone of them reads it. I was utterly blown away and loved every minute of it.

I loved how novel the author's approach to this book was. It kept me spellbound and I had to keep reading to see what would happen. I could see this happening in the future easily and I don't know if that's good or bad.

Read the book for free through NetGalley

This book is a powerful combination of mystery and time travel, leading the reader heavily into the world of time travel, popping back and forth through the decades and revealing bit of information by bit of information. It pulled me in and I found it hard to put it down until I knew what had happened and how.

Mascarenhas weaves together a complicated plot and provides and interesting new view of time travel, one that is centered around female scientists who change the course of the world and their complicated relationships. The openness of the time travel is what intrigued me most and how the characters had to navigate within that world. They could travel back and forth on their own timeline, meet and interact with themselves, and they knew when they would die and when their loved ones would die. The world functioned within the limitations created by these facts.

One thing that got to me was that I sometimes found the characters blended together and it would take me a minute to remember who was who (this might just be a function of my over-worked brain haha) but it didn’t too negatively affect my reading experience.

Overall, it was a fantastic book, and the different strings were pulled together expertly at the end.

I’d recommend this one to people who are looking for some women heavy speculative fiction and love time travel and mysteries. Or really, 2/3 of these things will probably do.

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.

I fully admit that until this book, I've not read a book that ventures into the world of time travel. But wow, this book was so good!

The four pioneers, Barbara, Margaret, Lucille and Grace, have created a time machine, thus altering the course of life as they know it. Barbara soon after has a breakdown in public and is exiled from the team.

Fifty years later, there's a mysterious dead woman. And there's a ton of speculation as to who it could be, and how she died. 

The story follows a variety of characters and a variety of time periods. I had no problems keeping track of who I was reading about or what time period I was in. And I loved that we went back and forth between various times and characters. 

I also loved that I could not figure out who the dead woman was for a large part of the story. Every time I thought I knew who it was, the story gave another tidbit away and I realized I could be wrong. 

And once we know who she is, then the list of people responsible kept me guessing as well.I thought it was such a brilliantly written book, it kept me on my toes trying to solve the mystery.

And along with the looming mysterious death, I spent time wrapping my brain around the possibility of time travel. The way Kate Mascarenhas created time travel as its own government and entity doesn't feel far off at all from how it would be in reality. I really cannot imagine a world with multiple of me running around in different time periods haha. 

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this read!