Loved the time period, loved the locale, the writing is descriptive and vivid, but the plot left me flat. Honestly, by the end, I was skimming pages trying to finish.

Nora, a beautiful, young woman, returning home to New York after living briefly in Paris, is killed in a horrible train derailment in Grand Central Station. By some freakish happenstance, she's caught between life and death and time after time, returns to the place of the accident on the same day of the year, sometimes materializing, sometimes not. On more than one occasion, she meets Joe, a Grand Central employee who begins to realize her dilemma and who is determined to find the cause of her recurring appearance and how to prevent her from fading away each time.

At this point is where I grew weary of her "groundhog day" like demise. I didn't see this as a great love story, but rather a story where the characters are trapped, doomed to repeat their fate without a hope for a happy ending.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this title.

#TimeAfterTime #NetGalley

This review also posted on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/2067728-jan?shelf=read

I received this book free from Netgalley in return for an unbiased review.

There was a lot for me to like in this book.

In the first place, it is a historical novel, set during the last years of the Great War. Almost all of the action takes place inside Grand Central Terminal and the author does a wonderful job of painting the details of that location for us - the busyness of the place, the characters, the sounds and the general atmosphere.

It is the terminal on a clear cold morning in 1937 that Joe Reynolds, a lever-man responsible for ensuring the trains arrive at the massive station on the correct tracks, meets Nora Lansing. She looks slightly out of place, and Nora immediately captures Joe's attention. Significantly it is the morning of 'Manhattenhenge' when the sun rises in perfect alignment with the skyscrapers and buildings of New York city.

Within a short time of the meeting, Nora disappears leaving Joe wondering about her. Fast forward two years, and Joe again meets Nora at the same place and time on the morning of Manhattenhenge.

This leads me to the second thing I really enjoyed in this book - the concept of time and how it affects the characters in this book. Joe and Nora meet and part several times over several years, and together they work to understand Nora's connection to the Terminal, to Manhattenhenge and why she appears trapped in between time at the terminal. They live together for a time at the terminal, using the place as a city with its restaurants, lounges and facilities. They discover the limitations and boundaries placed on Nora, and how she came to be there.

The path of true love doesn't always run straight in this novel, and the arrival of the second world war changes Joe and Nora's relationship dramatically. We get to understand what you must do if you really love someone.

I also loved the way science was used to try and explain what was going on.

I found the book very enjoyable - I didn't want to put it down and felt invested in the characters. A great read.

3.5 ⭐️

This book is being marketed as a time travel love story and though that isn’t exactly wrong, it’s not exactly right either. Joe and Nora are thrust together through time, to be sure, but the cause behind Nora’s appearance at Grand Central is almost like a haunting, rather than a jump to a new decade.

Their love story was cute and I liked their easy 20s-era banter, but it’s not exactly a romance, either. The influence of the war in the terminal and both of their lives felt very authentic and helped to make things a little more complicated for the characters. The forced confinement to (almost) a single building reminded me of a Gentleman in Moscow, but where that book blooms in the events of every day, this book just skins the surface. There were explanations of daily routines that I skimmed through, rather than delved into.

The inspiration for this book (discussed by the author at the end) was really interesting and I like that she drew from her own love story as well.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for a review.

What a beautiful, emotional, heart-wrenching read. I loved every sentence of this book and anything I write will not fully express how much I loved this one. It will undoubtedly be compared to The Time Traveler’s Wife, but they’re only similar in very basic ways. I enjoyed this one much more. Nora and Joe meet in Grand Central Station by accident and fall in love. Joe realizes almost immediately that there is something very different about Nora. I don’t want to spoil any of the plot so I won’t say more. But the way the author weaves in so many fascinating historical details, the obvious tremendous amount of research that went into this one, and the almost jaunty at time writing tone impressed me immensely. This will make my top five list for the year I’m sure, and may even make my top ten list of all time. Go ahead and preorder this one, I expect everyone will be discussing it. Would be a PERFECT book club read!

Thank you so much Netgalley for giving me a free digital copy. I will also be buying a physical copy for myself.

One of the best novels I have ever read! Part Time Traveler's Wife, part Same Time Next Year against the backdrop of the Great Depression and WWII in the glamour of the Grand Central Station of the past. I could not have loved this novel more and never wanted it to end.

Joe and Nora are beautifully written star crossed lovers who can't be without each other in a world where they really can't be with each other. I will never look at the magic of Manhattan Henge in the same way. Such a magical and haunting book. I finished it this afternoon and just can't stop thinking about the characters and the choices they needed to make.

I received an advance copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. I was captivated by this quick read. I enjoyed Nora and Joe's stories, and was rooting for them and their unusual relationship. I also enjoyed the details of Grand Central Terminal. Even though I have visited there before, as I was reading, I wanted to go back and experience it again.

The description of the book says it is a "time travel" book, but it was not what I was expecting. With a mix of mystery and ghosts, we see the characters live through several decades, but they don't jump from time to different time. It was an intriguing premise and fun to figure out along with the characters.

In the end, this is a love story wrapped in great historical details. The characters are not real people, but the inspiration came from real life. I recommend this book to others who enjoy historical fiction, and I will look for other books by Lisa Grunwald.

The concept of Time After Time is extremely romantic; a girl trapped in time who falls in love with a man willing to wait for her. Unfortunately, the execution fell flat. Too many times did I find myself truly disliking, even hating, Joe (who is the main character and whose POV we most often see). He was selfish, stubborn and really seemed to only care about himself. The rest of the time reading, I just felt bad for Nora. She's stuck. She is literally stuck, with only her memories to rely on for new places. What kind of life is that?

This was one of those books where I really didn't want the main characters to stay together. I even highlighted one of their fights, which ends with no resolution but instead sex, and wrote, "Yikes."

I think I hated the relationship between Joe and Nora too much to enjoy the book.

'What Nora had never shaken was the memory of fighting to come out of the ether.'

Nora Lansing knows where she wants to go, just not how to get there. She is young, ‘out of place’ and railroad worker (leverman) Joe Reynolds is captivated watching the confusion flit across her face in Grand Central Terminal. “She made him think of the cats in the tunnels far beneath the concourse: coiled up and waiting, all energy, no telling what they were going to do.” A funny word that, ‘energy’. For what else can drive her? This ‘old fashioned woman’, so charming in dark times is all brightness, but something doesn’t fit. He doesn’t yet know that she is not just as graceful but as mysterious as a feline too. Her clothes really are out of date, though they do tell of wealth, maybe it’s a costume? What does he know of fashion anyway? It is 1937, it is their first encounter but will not be the last.

Joe’s desire to see Stonehenge makes the beauty of Manhattanhenge (or the Manhattan Solstice) nearly as awe inspiring. For Nora, it could well be the source of the strange turn her life has taken. What could the alignment of sunrise and sunset over Manhattan’s street grid have to do with her being trapped in time and place? Is she a ghost? No, she can’t have this much life in her and be dead. Ghosts can’t share a meal with a man in a coffee shop, exactly a year after meeting him. It’s not her beloved Paris where she had her first taste of freedom, but the grilled cheese and the company is delightful! Joe may well be the first man to really see Nora, to wonder at her very existence. With her laughter dancing through his ears, he is falling in love. Just when he plays protector, she disappears on him. Then, a phone call he makes to Nora turns his life upside down.

People have seen her, he’s one of many, the first week of December always, the same place where he first set eyes upon her. She never stays. The reason is unfathomable, impossible!

1924 Nora is happy to be on her own in Paris, where being lost is a pleasure. An artist whose lucky day leads her to work as an assistant to the owner of a small art gallery, finding undiscovered talent, Paris is full of promise. There is no better place to be than Paris to hone her skills, where the light is best, where everywhere the eye settles it is like a painting, beauty abounds. It doesn’t hurt that she is a socialite, and has the means for such adventures but it isn’t to last, for home is calling to her and she must return to her beloved father. As soon as she arrives upon the ocean liner, she rushes to her father in hospital. Seeing him solidifies her need to be home.

Forced to take the subway after, when cabs are nowhere in sight, there is an accident, the train isn’t the only thing that derails. The delay takes years. When Nora opens her eyes, she immediately wants to contact her mother, but is met with the dreadful reality that there is no place for her in the world anymore, and time has moved on without her. This is a love story, certainly, but for me it related a horror, what is worse than being locked out of time, than having to prove who you are? Waiting for salvation that may never come? What would be more heartbreaking to a mother? Seriously, I had a lump in my throat when Nora is trying to contact her mom. If Nora gives Joe’s life meaning, he is the sole spot of joy she can look forward to upon every return, after so much hope seemed lost.

Nora’s unbelievable story opens before Joe’s eyes. With the World Fair being hosted in New York, focused on the future “the world of tomorrow” it’s strange to be stuck in the yesterday and wrapped up in Nora. Once happy to wait for life to unfold, Nora has changed everything. The waiting is torture, time crawls when he waits for her to come back. No one has answers, not even an old Jewish woman who plays at being a gypsy. Of course they find each other again, and they steal as much time as they can. The fear is always there, what if she disappears again? They figure out a way to keep Nora anchored, living in the Biltmore hotel but life can’t be confined within a set distance for any of us. Naturally the best laid plans go awry when you take into account the rest of the world, Joe’s family, the fate of the city, war. Nothing remains stationary! Would that we could protect our love, whether we’re haunted or not. Can Joe and Nora truly live like this and what happens if she never ages? What are the choices we have to make, the things we must give up in order to embrace our fate?

A haunting of the heart.

Publication Date: June 11, 2019

Random House

Not every author can write a time-travel book that leaves you wondering "how did she do that?" Lisa Grunwald just did. In the aftermath of a train wreck at Grand Central Station, Nora Lansing finds herself stuck in time - unable to die from her injuries, unable to live more than a few minutes after she resurfaces, fully alive, seen by railroad worker Joe Reynolds one day before she vanishes from the platform. The mystery of this beautiful flapper-clad woman in Depression-era New York haunts him, and he resolves to find her.

How he does, how they develop a life together that is dependent on place and circumstance, and the true phenomenon of Manhattanhenge, combine in this shimmering romance. Historical and cultural details about Grand Central Station add to the wonder and beauty. Highly recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to review this book as an ARC.

Wonderful book. It tugged at my heartstrings. The author described perfectly what it would be like to be stuck at a certain time in your life. How unfortunate for these two lovers. They make the best of an impossible situation. I liked the ending.

I'm absolutely in love to with this story. The characters grabbed me at the beginning and wouldn't let me go. The book has a natural and but still I wish there was more to read. Definitely a book I love so much.

First, thank you to the publisher and author for providing me with a digital ARC of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I was not familiar with this author before finding her book on netgalley. I thought the cover was cute and was intrigued by it and by the title. I thought it was going to be a time traveling story, which I enjoy when done well. I am so glad I was given the opportunity to read this title. It is not about time travel, instead about a young woman, Nora Lansing, who dies in a crash at the Grand Central Terminal and is able to return to that spot on the day of her death in certain years. During one glitch back, Nora meets Joe who works at the station. As a relationship grows from that initial attraction, they struggle to learn what is causing her to flicker between death and life and how they might be able to remain together. I was quickly drawn in to the story and couldn't wait to learn what happened to her, what was causing the glitches, and if they would find a way to stay together in the end. It was a light, enjoyable, read.

If they gave out 1/2 stars this would be 4 1/2 stars! "Time After Time" is a thoroughly enjoyable and enchanting novel that is part historical fiction and part whimsy. It is a sweet story with a touch of heartbreak. The novel tells the story of Joe Reynolds, who works in Grand Central Station and Nora, a woman who tragically died in a train accident in Grand Central Station in the 1930s. Through a gift of nature, Nora appears on the anniversary of the accident only to disappear if she ventures beyond the field of energy that generates her appearance. On one such anniversary, Joe has a chance encounter with Nora. It doesn’t take him long to know he is in love. Yet loving a ghost is tricky and much of the novel tells of the attempts they make to protect their fragile time together. Their love is truly a test of time and of meaning. It's a fast read that I found myself devouring in a day! And yet there is enough food for thought that I also found myself pondering the book even after I had finished it. I thoroughly recommend it! I was honored to receive a free advanced copy of this book from NetGalley and the Publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Random House in exchange for an honest review.

A throughly enjoyable, time traveling romance that will leave you in tears but with the hope that love lasts longer than death.

Review of Time After Time by Lisa Grunwald Adler

Do you believe in ghosts? If so and you prefer friendly ones, this is possibly just the book you are looking for. If not, please do not count out this interesting love story. For me, the jury is still out on ghosts. I hope there are ghosts, but I am for the most part relieved to have never encountered one. If my encounter could be like the one between Nora and Joe, bring it on! As I progressed through this historical novel, my questions/problems with the science and timing were answered enough to my liking so that the book was not ruined. Even more than the love story between Nora and Joe, though, I found that I enjoyed the historical background and information about Grand Central Station. I wish I had known the things I learned in this novel when a friend lived in NYC and I visited there several times a year. I would have thoroughly enjoyed investigating many of the lesser known “secrets” of Grand Central. This is an easy read for those of us who enjoy sci-fi and/or fantasy novels mixed with a sweet love angle. Even if you are not a sci-fi or fantasy fan but enjoy your love stories with a twist, you will like this one. Suspend reality for a few days and jump into Time After Time. I know that my next trip to NYC will include a day to get lost in the history of Grand Central Station.

What a wonderfully enchanting book. I couldn't put it down. And that's saying alot. It's a very excellent book- a traditional love story with a bit of supernatural thrown in. Sweet and tenderly poignant, the love story between the two begins during the Depression in the beginning. The writing is tender and wonderful. The characters are well fleshed out and described. My heart aches for Joe.

This is a soft, sweet book - nothing scary or frightening. It's the perfect book for lovers of romance and historical fiction.

I would like to thank the author/publisher/Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Time After Time is a delightful historical romance, a charming look at a love that cannot be bound by age or status or time. I especially enjoyed how this book made me think-- what would it be like to visit the same place only briefly in different time periods? How would a young woman of the 20's perceive the shifts and changes of the coming decades? How did the war affect the day to day life of an average person? This would definitely make a great book club selection.

In addition, as a longtime New Yorker, I am a sucker for stories that open my eyes to something new about the city. Learning so much about Grand Central and the vast history the building possesses was one of my favorite and least expected parts of this book.

Thank you to NetGalley, Random House, and Lisa Grunwald, for the opportunity to read this book.

This was a really good book. I enjoyed it. It's the most believable ghost story I've ever read. A woman killed in a subway accident keeps returning to Grand Central Station. Great details about the history and architecture of the station.

3.5

First off, Time After Time is very nicely written. It’s pleasant to read, not hard to keep track of matters, and doesn’t feel like a slog. The story is rich in history and you can tell that Grunwald did her homework on 1920-40’s New York City. Her descriptions are vivid and it makes all those old, iconic buildings come to life and feel magical. It really was a treat to be transported back to that time and feel like you are experiencing vintage New York.

The plot, however, left me wanting. The story begins with a hint of sci-fi. A woman, Nora, shows in Grand Central Terminal seemingly out of nowhere. And just like she arrived, she is gone. This happens time after time and the mystery of who this woman is, what happened to her, and why this phenomenon is occurring grows. All the meanwhile, Nora falls in love with simple man Joe whose one directive in life is to love this ethereal woman.

My issues mainly stem from the book falling short of my preconceived notions. When I saw Time After TIme being compared to Time Traveller’s Wife I was under the impression that the fantastical element would have a bigger role to play; it does not. This is not a science-fiction or fantasy novel; there is not much time spent on figuring things out and explaining phenomena. It is simply there as a plot device, not as a focal point.

The other genre this is billed under is romance, but I didn’t feel like this was much of a love story, either. The pull between Joe and Nora didn’t feel strong enough to produce the torrid love affair it tried to be. Instead, you get a sort of character study of people growing up, both together and apart. We get to seem them change and stay the same and ultimately where they want their lives to go. It is bad, just not exactly what I was expecting.

So here’s the thing. If you are looking for a sci-fi love story that transcends time and space, you can pass. If you are interested in a deeply historical, enjoyable read about two people discovering who they are and what they want out of life, this is a sure bet.

Goodreads Review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2728134022

Blog Review:
https://bestbluebooks.home.blog/2019/05/03/a-not-so-timeless-time/

Lisa Grunwald's TIME AFTER TIME is an intriguing and well-written historical, other-worldly romance, full of questions and mysteries, impossible, but in the context of this story, believable and real. Could Nora’s return from the dead, limited as it is, be called truly living? Is Joe sacrificing too much of life to be with her? Don’t all couples give up other possibilities, other lives, to be together? I found myself wanting to visit Grand Central Station, to view the East/West alignment of the sun nicknamed Manhattanhenge, and I did not want to put this book down.
Insights into the work and technology for keeping the trains running were fascinating, as was the description of the many shops and businesses within the Grand Central buildings, like a city within itself. The efforts to care for the soldiers coming through were heart-warming, as was the rationale of Victory Gardens, to feed civilians so farm-grown food could more sufficiently feed the soldiers. My heart went out to Joe’s mother, telling her boys that war is not a game, a truth they had to learn for themselves through their own losses, a truth we perhaps still need to learn.
The Q&A at the end of the book adds further insights into the background and process, enhancing an already wonderful book. Brava!