I may have only been 5 during in 1996 but god the nostalgia this book gave me was just beautiful! I cannot explain how gorgeous it was being able to 'live' in the 90s (which is obvs the best time period in my humble opinion). It was an engaging story about being grateful for what you have and for anyone who has ever wondered what if? this is the perfect story for you!

I LOVED this. This one was so, so good. I love a book that follows this age group and friends. 4.5 stars!

Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!

In this quick read we are introduced to Kate. Kate lives a hectic life, raising two kids, with her husband, still super close to her college best friend. But she can't help but imagine how her life could be different. She tends to day dream about her 20's and recalls them being the best times of her life, before she had children keeping her up and busy. Then one morning when Kate wakes up she is back in her twenties. She relives the time in her life that she envisioned as her "glory years" however; things may not have been as amazing as she remembered.

This book was everything I wanted it to be. It had me turned pages without even realizing. It was so good!

i loved this book! how fun would it be to go back to our younger years and relive them or how scary would it be!!
fab fun read

A quick, easy and fun read that I adored. I got into it really quickly and I couldn't put it down. I loved the charcaters and it made me laugh.

Wow! What can I say about this book? It completely exceeded all my expectations.

At the start of the book you are brought to the present day, meeting the majority of characters within the first couple of chapters. All the characters are well written and the majority are likeable. The book really picks up pace once we are transported back to 1996. There are a lot of twists and turns throughout the book which keeps you captivated and not wanting to put the book down.

I found that the book also got me thinking about what it would be like to go back in time and wonder what we would change if we could. Also, it makes you think if you did go back would it really be how you remember it or do we look back with rose tinted glasses on.

This is the first time I have read anything by this author and I wouldn’t hesitate to read anything else she has written in the future. I was sad when the book came to an end.

I really wanted to love this book, the blurb made it sound like such a fun read, but it ended up lacking for me.

The main character was fun and learned a lot while she was visiting her younger self, she also came to realise that we often have a tainted, romantic view, of our past, and she grew from this knowledge.

There was a LOT of product placement in this book, was it sponsored? Alcohol, food, shops, and places were named again and again and again. The book also references Back To The Future, and has plot lines that obviously mimic that movie. This made the book pretty predictable, and also rather disappointing.

A quick, easy read, but I wanted more in terms of plot and predictability.

Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

My feelings about this book flop around the 2.5-to-3-star range. At its worst, it was an inconsistent, mildly frustrating read. At its best, it was an entertaining, refreshing novel.

Mink Elliott breathes life into the tired time travel trope with originality and flair. It’s not often that women in their fifties are represented in the media, much less within the conventions of this trope. What Elliott has done is introduce a much-needed, novel perspective into the narrative. In doing this, she’s found ways to lure you into the comfort of the trope and catch you off-guard with little twists.

Not in a mind-altering, earth-shattering way, but in the same way you sometimes focus on your surroundings and notice something you hadn’t before. It shifts the way you perceive your environment (if only by a fraction) and makes you think “Huh. That’s nice.”

Although I found the main character, Kate, to be charming, I really couldn’t keep up with her. Her thoughts would fly from one place to another so often they gave Taylor Swift’s carbon emissions a run for their money. I honestly felt a bit exasperated because this back and forth kept me from fully understanding her character.
Additionally, Elliott’s story has some loose ends that left the story feeling incomplete and somewhat unfulfilling.

I guess I leave it up to you to weigh the pros and cons of reading this book.

Side Note
Thank you, Net Galley and Hera Books, for providing me with a copy of “The Glory Years” in exchange for an honest review. As someone who was only recently welcomed into Bookstagram and has never before received an ARC, I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity.

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Read if you like:
- sexual humour
- snarky, sarcastic narrator
- the 90s

I think pretty much everyone can relate to this book, like the feeling of wishing you could go back in time and do things differently.
This book was a super quick read for me, and I really enjoyed it. The humour was exactly my humour, and I laughed out loud several times!
The main character was very likeable to me, I liked her snark.
The message in the end was absolutely perfect for today; everything always ends up exactly how it’s supposed to.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Hera books for my ARC in exchange for an honest review 💕

This ARC was provided to me via Kindle, from Hera Books and #NetGalley. Thank you for the opportunity to preview and review. Opinions expressed are completely my own.

Adorable, heartwarming and inspiring. This is a perfect book club pick.

A mom-com, about Kate who feels her life now as a mom of 2, married for donkey years, is all bleargh and saggy everthing. Sexlife with her husband is basically zilch, he doesn't find her sexy anymore. She keeps reminiscing her glory days back in the 90s and somehow she time travelled back to that era and relived those days.

So the premise seemed awesome. But it got abit draggy, in my opinion. There was an overload of 90s cultural reference. It was ok at first but again, it got too much. There was mention of anything 90s in every possible moment, from a band and their song to some product. Even the Tamagotchi was not spared. And how can we forget England's untimely exit from Euro 96. The storyline was ok i guess, to emphasise that there was always a reason why Kate chose what she chose. I think the part I loved most were Kate's mom and her words of wisdom at the nearing end of the book.

I guess i liked some parts and not others. So this will be a middle range for me in terms of likability. Oh! That little shoutout to the Lionesses at the end. I mean, if you need a job done, get the women to do it right? 😝

This book has a cute plot and an absolutely adorable, and eye-catching, cover. But it really needs a lot of editing. I was taken out of the story a lot due to the character perspective jumps, spelling errors, etc. I think once it gets some good editing it’ll be much better.

I very much enjoyed the glory years and read it in a week! Which for a someone with dyslexia shows how enthralling it is! The time travel aspect was surprising and really added to the story. Its such a jovial, humorous and light hearted book that read so smoothly. The character development was great you felt like you grew with all of them! Overall a fantastic read

This is a nice story - at its best when exploring the gap between rose-tinted memories and the lived reality of them

Description from the publisher:
Kate O’Reilly loves a stroll down memory lane.

Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.

A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.

So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.

But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher…
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My Review:
I really wanted to LOVE this book. Time travel/time warp fiction is my jam! The Glory Years had definite things in the plus column: Kate learned a lot, when revisiting her younger self she was fun but not out of control, she used some of her future knowledge for personal gain, and her 2022 age of 55 years really resonated with me. ;-). I appreciate that the idea that we often romanticize our past was a focus in the story. Kate really thought about this and grew from it.

However, a couple of things really distracted me while reading this book. The first was the constant product placement. If this were a movie, we'd laugh. Booze, stores, snack foods and places were named over and over and over. And being American the UK products really did nothig for me except make me have to stop and Google. ("Is that a cookie? a frozen pizza??") Secondly, the book makes. a few references to Back to the Future and some of the plot lines and outcomes parallell BTTF in an obvious way. This made things predictable, which I wasn't expecting when I picked up the book. I enjoyed that Kate was able to feel more in control of things as the story went on, but you saw that coming with the BTTF mentions. Also, the secondary characters, aside form Seamus, didn't seem to add much to Kate's journey but SHE seemed to realize all of their flaws and needs.

Overall, it was a quick, fun read but I was hoping for more development of the other characters and less predictability. Technically I'd give it 3.5 stars.

Thank you to Netgalley and Hera Books for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.

I typically don't love a time travel book and I did struggle a bit with this one. It's just not something that I enjoy, but given that I still liked this story. It was very reminiscent of the "glory years". I think people who like the time travel aspect will REALLY enjoy this even though it may have not been for me!

While the premise of the book was interesting, and these time slip books can be a lot of fun, this one was far from my favorite. The visit to the 90s was a nice blast from the past, but the sheer amount of profanity was a huge detraction. It completely changes the tone of the characters, and not in a positive light.

I absolutely adored the Glory Years. I have so many thoughts to share on this book, but I just had to put it out their how excited I am to acquire this title. Kate was such a fun relatable character. I love these time warp books and it was so fun to jump back into time with Kate ! It was so heartbreaking at the being to hear the thoughts her husband had about splitting up. I was so curious to flip the pages and see if Kate still missed her old life towards the end. Very nostalgic and cute! I remember so much of the blasts from the past which was fun!
10/10: