I chose this book because I was intrigued by the title. This is a genre-breaking book combining time travel, science fiction, a “locked room” mystery, with touches of romance. I am sure there are techies out there who will denigrate the time-travel aspect, but I was able to suspend disbelief long enough to get through—and enjoy—the novel.

There are a lot of characters who, as they time travel, meet their future selves (called “silver selves” because of their gray hair) and their past selves (“green selves” because of their youth. With four main characters and multiples of their green and silver selves zipping in and out of time, often it’s like looking into the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles. Many of these characters had very little development. Perhaps stream-lining the character list might allow for expansion of character development and increase the emotionality.

There is a bit of a mystery with a woman killed in a locked room. It’s not the highlight of the book, but rather a bit of a subplot that adds interest especially since it can only be solved by time traveling back to just before the woman is murdered.

The main appeal of The Psychology of Time Travel is that it describes four female (yes, women! and culturally diverse and sexually diverse to boot) scientists who create the first time machine back in 1967. The book focuses on these four pioneers and their multiple selves to look at how time travel affects them psychologically and physiologically. This books looks at multiple currently relevant issues through the lens of the lives of its characters: sexuality, death, bipolar disorder, bullying, hazing, racism, and infidelity.

Mascarenhas’s writing style is quite matter of fact but is enriched by neologisms she lists in an appendix to the book. The multi-layered, creative plot requires some concentration to follow, but overall the book is worth the effort, especially as it is loaded with female characters who are competent, capable, and sexual.

A wonderfully queer time travel novel that explores the cognitive impact of time travel on humans and the capacity of the brain to accept and process the unbelievable. I highly recommend for those who loved The Power by Naomi Alderman and want more books with queer characters in the science fiction genre.

This was an enjoyable read that combined science fiction and gentle feminism. Strong characters and a mystery plot make for a feel good read.

I loved the premise of this book. It starts with a group of female scientists as they discover time travel, and I think it has the potential to say a lot of important things about society's views on mental illness. Sadly, I just don't think I'm the right fit for The Psychology of Time Travel - it ended up being less focused on the sci-fi aspects than I thought it would be, and the frequent PoV switches kept taking me out of the story.
I think this will appeal to those who like original historical fiction with just the right amount of surprises.

OMG! I feel so empowered after reading this! What a wonderful book this is. There are many books out there that deal with time travel. Some of them are good, some bad and some are just plain ugly. This book has left me with wanting more.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for this advanced readers copy.

Excellent story, put me in the mind of the ladies who worked on the atomic bomb. Skillfully interwoven, I think some people don't realize how confusing a time travel novel can get, but this handles it beautifully. It features strong women, which is always a good thing.

I have always been fascinated by time travel stories in which time travel cannot create reality-altering paradoxes (e.g. To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis). As this book’s title suggests, it explores what kind of psychological effect this sort of time travel might have on people. The author does so with a degree of thoughtfulness and complexity that I don’t think I have seen before in time travel sci-fi. Topics explored include crime & punishment, romance, mental illness, bullying, fate/fatalism, and especially the fear of death.

What makes the plot great isn’t the solution of the mystery (the “whodunnit to whom?” is obvious well before the end). Rather, the fun is in watching the characters figure it out and seeing how the three different story arcs (starting in 1967, 2017, and 2018) fit together. The actual narration of the story was a bit flat (e.g. sometimes something momentous would happen and it would be stated so blandly that I would have to go back and reread to make sure I read correctly), but the plotting and worldbuilding more than made up for it.

To me, the characters seemed a bit contrived to check as many “strong, diverse female character” boxes as possible (e.g. black, immigrant, lesbian, mentally ill, aristocratic…). All the primary and secondary characters are women with a handful of men putting in very brief whiny, overprotective, or leering appearances. Though it felt a bit overplayed, if you are looking for sci-fi with strong female characters, this is it.

Overall, the plotting, worldbuilding, and psychology more than made up for any bits that felt flat or contrived.

I was able to receive this on Netgalley for an honest review, so thank you to Crooked Lane Books!

This novel is told in multiple perspectives about four female scientists that create a time machine in 1960's. When they were about to announce their brilliant creation and ideas, one of them has a mental breakdown, embarrassing the other three. That one member is ostracized from the group, erasing her contributions from history.
Now, fifty years later, time travel is a hit. Ruby Rebello's grandmother, Bee, was one of the pioneers, and Ruby is very much interested. No one will tell her anything more than that. Bee receives news from the future that there is a death of an unidentified woman. Could it be Bee? Can it possibly be stopped?

This novel was tricky to get through. I wanted to put it down and not finish it, but I was also curious as to how it was going to end. There are many aspects to this story, and I couldn't get invested. I tried very, VERY hard to fall in love with even one of the characters. I'm thinking that time travel stories are not for me. I didn't find that it helped the story at all.
There was a lot of shaming in this novel, which I found to be a bit overwhelming. Any little thing that happened was critiqued by one of the other characters. Definitely a lot of negativity.
The writing, however, was actually good. I would read another novel by Mascarenhas in a heartbeat. You can tell that there was a lot of time clocked into this novel. I almost think that I am to blame here for not enjoying this as much as I feel like I should have.

-If you are interested in picking this up there is LGBTQ+ representation-
If you do like time travel, then this novel is probably for you. I'm sure there are tons of people that would love this so much more than me. This was very middle of the road, but I would recommend it if you're interested!

An intriguing book! Was my first read of the year, it sets the bar really high. Beforehand I was apprehensive about the way time traveling would work, but somehow the way the author describes it actually makes it seem possible. The fact that there are only female characters is also a great idea. It turns out that when you leave out the men I don't really miss them...

What happens to your mental health when you time travel? How would you manage with seeing the lifetimes of your loved ones pass non-linearly for you? These are just some of the questions that Kate Mascarenhas touches on in The Psychology of Time Travel.

This has a strong predominantly female cast with LGBTQ relationships without making a big deal out of these. It has women from every walk of life who appear as well rounded characters (if not always that likeable as a result). It takes place across multiple times from 1972 -2019 and jumps between these which means that it requires concentration to follow which characters are where and when, but it all comes together to a very satisfying ending.

I'd definitely pick up this author's next book when it comes.

Thanks to netgalley and the publishers for an ARC.

Everybody's had a time travel phase before—films like Back to the Future and books like The Time Traveler's Wife—but we forget how difficult it actually is to really write about time travel. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL demonstrates this difficulty.

Admittedly, the premise of this book intrigued me at first, especially due to Mascarenhas' professional background in psychology. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL follows the paths of four female scientists who successfully create a time machine, and the aftermath: one of the scientists, Barbara, suffers a breakdown, and is summarily exiled. Years later, her granddaughter Ruby receives a message from the future warning her of a murder—and thus spirals into the rabbit hole.

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TIME TRAVEL is a women's book, through and through. It screams of girl power, in the most conventional sense: women scientists, alternating women's perspectives, girls, girls, girls. It is cool that way, I suppose. An all-female cast of scientists and civilians alike works well for audiences who appreciate contemporary feminism... but it isn't for me.

I felt disconnected from everything, in spite of the intriguing new ideas introduced and the sometimes mysterious, sometimes unsettling nature of events that time travel inevitably drags along with it. Perhaps the occasion was not right. Then again, when a thriller doesn't thrill you, it probably is not your cup of tea.

I found the ideas behind this book fascinating, and the premise thrilling. Ultimately, the execution was slightly inconsistent, but I would probably recommend it to others for the sake of just reading.

ARC received from Crooked Lane Books on NetGalley.

I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

What an absolutely lovely surprise of a book! It straddles the genres of pulpy time-travel thriller and literary magical realism really well, which is an incredibly hard thing to pull off - and my understanding is that this is a debut novel which makes that feat even more impressive. The tone is odd, and probably not for everyone, but it worked for me: a deadpan, almost flat affect that made the extraordinary events recounted sound quite plausible. The characters are intriguing if always somewhat opaque (because of the style), with the possible exception of Odette and Ruby, and the plot hums along very nicely all the way through. It's not a perfect book - I wasn't so keen on the satirical elements which didn't strike me as very incisive or clever, and the "villain" was incredibly one-note, but overall I absolutely recommend this book both as a really fun ride, and as a fairly high-quality attempt at taking a pulpy premise and turn it into a literary fiction.

The premise for this book sounds interesting, but I just could not get into this book. It had a really slow beginning and I wasn’t invested at all until about halfway through.
The mystery kept me going, but it felt like a chore to have to go back and continue reading. There were just too many interweaving characters and timelines that it was hard to feel any attachment to the characters or have a clear sense of why and when events were taking place.

Thank you Net Galley for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review. I love time travel books and this one is no exception. The plot was very interesting; however, I did find it a bit confusing at times as the author moved back and forth in time. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed this book. I especially enjoyed the fact that the scientists were all women.

This was a fun book, that had more depth then I originally thought it would.

Time Travel is a thing, but is it a good thing? And what does it do to those involved? The Psychology of Time Travel delves into this concept and explores the power and ego others get, how they end up viewing life and death, and what control do you really have.

The start was a bit rocky, and it really took a bit for me to really get into the story. Halfway through, I was all in and curious to see what would happen. Or, what had happened? ;-)

I wouldn't take this book too seriously, and I disagree with the main blurb comparing it to Naomi Alderman's The Power and Margot Lee Shetterly’s Hidden Figures. This just happens to have strong women characters, who have faults and kick-ass, and other women characters that just fade into the background and aren't as well written as they could have been.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy in exchange for an unbiased review.

If you are like me, then you are interested in the topic of time travel. I spend (or waste, depending on your point of view) a lot of time thinking about where I would go and what I would do if I had the chance to travel to a different time. So when this book, The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas, became available on NetGalley, it was a happy day that I would never change on any timeline or in any dimension.
Would we still be ourselves or would there be several versions of us if we traveled through time? In The Psychology of Time Travel, the time travelers travel to different periods but they don’t change events.
There would be several versions of the same person visiting with the current version on special days like their wedding. If they are investigating a crime, then the time travel officers collect evidence from the time just before the crime happened.
The four women who made time travel a reality in 1967 were once close friends. However, after Bee has a nervous breakdown the other three no longer have any contact with her. In 2017, one of Bee’s former co-workers sends her information about an unsolved homicide. No one knows if it’s Bee or another time traveler. Bee’s granddaughter, Ruby, becomes interested in finding out the identity of the mystery lady.
I thought that the story was interesting. It was awesome to read a story about women involved in science and time travel. You guys might already know that I love a story with a little mystery.
I received this ebook from NetGalley in exchange for doing a review. All opinions are my own. Obviously.

Although confusing at times, I tried to read this book three times. Once I was into the characters (and perhaps actually concentrated) I was able to sit back and enjoy. A thought-provoking read with lots of character development.

Many thanks to Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley for a very good story.

Thanks to NetGalley and Crooked Lane Books for the free e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.
The Psychology of Time Travel by Kate Mascarenhas has everything: time travel, murder, family drama, mental health rep, lesbian relationships, and best of all female friendships. I really enjoyed following each woman's perspective and seeing the story unfold. With the time travel element, it felt like anything was possible and anyone could be a suspect, so the reveal was quite something.
I'm so glad I picked this up. It was a great start to my reading year, and I've put Kate Mascarenhas on my authors-to-watch list.

This was a well written mix of mystery, time travel, and literature. I enjoyed the characters and the plot which kept me guessing. The dialog didn't feel forced or contrived, which seems to be a common problem. I look forward to more from this author.

Loved it, like a cross between Hidden Figures and Back to the Future. Unlike any time travel novel I’ve read. It’s unique not only in that’s it’s female centric, but that it’s also a murder mystery. Although we don’t get a lot of time with the many characters individually, Kate Mascarenhas does an amazing job at creating unique and diverse voices for each. She’s an author that is able to convey much information without many words. I hope to spend more time in this fantastic world with these characters in “the future”.