I enjoy time travel / looper books but they have to make sense. There are rules that go along with Time travel. This book didn't have any rules, Cassandra just closed her eyes and boom time travelled. I didn't appreciate that.

I didn't really like reading about the main character, and to think that her only 3 problems in life that she needed to fix was a job she wasn't suited for, a boyfriend who wasn't' meant for her and a roommate situation. She spent so much time trying to fix her relationship with Will, trying to change herself into what he wanted. I just didn't understand what the take away from this book was suppose to be.

Also the mass amounts of mythology references were annoying. They were long and drawn out, I think this was a way to show another symptom on the autism spectrum, but I didn't enjoy the way it was done, it was very jarring and took me out of the story.

Maybe this just wasn't made for me, the writing was good, but hard for me to love a book when I don't love any of the characters.

I loved this book! It's well-written, enjoyable, and a great read. The author did a great job of writing in a way that captures the readers attention, and makes you not want to put it down until you're finished! Holly Smale came up with such a fun concept for this book! I would highly recommend it!

I love time loop books. However, they have to be done in a way that makes sense. There has to be a reason that is clear. The main character has to use this ability in new or interesting ways. And yet none of that happened here. Cassandra is wholly unlikeable. She is clearly autistic, although somehow this is a mystery to her. But that's not what makes her unlikeable. She is so focused on hiding herself and changing herself for other people instead of finding out who she is or what she wants.

She has a rough day - her boyfriend breaks up with her and she is fired. She has a breakdown and then discovers she can go back in time. She first goes back a day, which was strange and took her a bit to figure out. Then she goes back four months, to the day she first met her (ex?) boyfriend. Then she used time travel for what seemed like 500 pages to try to make a relationship work that clearly wasn't going to.

Add in the constant comparisons to Greek mythology, which didn't add anything to the story and it just dragged on. There was some incident that she referenced from her past that took way too long to be revealed. In fact, that was kind of annoying about this as well. There was an incident with her roommates that also took too long to be revealed. I'm not sure what the purpose of this book was. Or the reason that she could time travel. Or how she just figured it out. But it was way too long.

I love a great time travel story! I look forward to reading more by this author. Thank you for the opportunity to read this e-galley.

The story was not a unique one, it’s a groundhog tale, but what made it unique was the ending, and that brought it up to three stars. This book was entirely too long, the editor was asleep at the wheel. Many details could’ve been left out bringing the story to a quicker end and making it a more pleasurable experience. The audio kept me going. I was ready to give up at the half way mark. There was one trigger warning missing in the details, there is mental health in the storyline.

Thank you NetGAlley and MIRA for the advance copy.

I honestly had no idea what to expect when I jumped into this one and I ended up loving it! I found myself listening everywhere I could and I walked around the grocery store with a huge smile on my face as I was towards the end.
Cassandra isn’t understood by anyone around her, but she doesn’t understand them either, so she lives life in mutual confusion. When she loses the job she hates and the boyfriend she loves less than 24 hours apart, she has a slight meltdown in which she discovers she can travel back in time. She decides to go back in time until she can set things right in all aspects of her life.
While I ultimately loved this book, it took some time to get into it. I found myself wondering if this was meant to be a romcom because the narrator didn’t have any comedic tone in her narration. As things continued, though, I realized she was reading this is Cassandra’s voice perfectly.
I normally don’t like books that are realistic with fantasy thrown in, but the time travel worked perfectly in this scenario. My daughter is neurodivergent, and I believe I am as well, so having a neurodivergent protagonist was a breath of fresh air. Watching Cassandra navigate her life with all of the ups and downs and going back to change a situation based on what she now knew was brilliant. This is the first book of Holly Smale’s that I’ve read, but it certainly won’t be the last!

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale was one that I enjoyed but also thought it could've been had better potential. The idea is great but it took a long time to get there and I found myself skimming (yikes). The second half of the book was better than the first and I did find some good quotes from the narrative.

In all honestly - I started reading this book months ago, and put it down because it just didn't grab me right away. Something made me come back to it, and I am beyond glad that I did - Cassandra in Reverse was amazing. This is a story about finding yourself, and mending your broken familial relationships, masquerading as a romance, and honestly, the romance piece was the part that I found to be the weakest. Cassandra's interpersonal relationships with just about everyone else she runs across are so much more interesting, so much more compelling (and I get that that is sort of the point), and she herself is so smart at understanding herself, I think I just found it hard to believe that she would attach so strongly to someone who was sort of a dud, and definitely a mismatch for her. Anyway, once i got past that. this story grabbed me and really hit me in all the right ways. Highly recommend.

Thank you for the opportunity to read this novel. Unfortunately, I was not able to finish the novel so I won't be leaving a full review.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley. Unfortunately I decided to abandon this book at around 15%. I just couldn’t connect with the main character or her relationship.

If you had the chance to go back and fix your mistakes, would you? Cassandra Dankworth is big on routine. She has a particular order to everything, and it suits her just fine. That is, until she's dumped, fired, and her local cafe runs out of the only thing that can make her feel better. Cassie learns that she suddenly has the power to go back in time and change what happened in the past. She decides that she can use this new ability to fix the parts of her life that went wrong. Cassie has the time, but does she have the skills to change herself for the better?

An interesting take on the time travel/live your life again trope, with Cassandra discovering the ability to rewind parts of her life to do again. Cassandra is a great character, and I immediately sympathized with her and rooted for her. But, I had a couple of issues with this book:

1) The title is misleading. Cassandra is not actually living her life in reverse. Rather, she has the ability to turn back time and relive certain parts of her life. Cassandra Rewinds might have been a better choice.
2) Are we seriously expected to believe that no-one in Cassandra's life understood that she's on the autism spectrum? It's books like this that make me wish I were an editor. If I'd seen the manuscript, I would have suggested some seriously reworking of this point. To be clear, I'm not objecting to Cassandra being on the autism spectrum, but rather that a major piece of the plot seems to hinge on neither she nor anyone in her life recognizing it. I would have advised making it part of the plot from the beginning, rather than a mystery that has to be solved for Cassandra's life to make sense.

This was a decent book, but it didn’t completely capture my attention. I wasn’t excited about picking it up and continuing the story. I’m not into Greek mythology, so that part of it wasn’t interesting to me. I can see how many people will enjoy this book more than I did, though.

I thought this was such an interesting book revolving around time travel and second chances. This book reminded me a lot of Oona Out of Order which I also enjoyed.

This book is a delight! Think Oona Out of Order meets Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine--Cassandra in Reverse is all about self-discovery and growth, as well as learning what you are truly capable of, all with time travel involved. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced e-reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this one!

One thing that I've learned above myself is that while I don't really prefer fantasy books, I do love when a book has a time-travel element. But that also means I've read my fair share of time travel books and it's hard not to compare them to each other, even when the stories vary greatly otherwise.

Cassandra in Reverse was a light and fun time travel story. The writing was entertaining and funny and had me laughing out loud at times.

I also love books with neurodivergent characters and Cassandra was no exception. I loved how much the reader got to hear her internal thoughts and got a feel for what her experience was like in terms of noise, touch, etc. I was especially intrigued that rather than being able to read someone's emotions using physical clues, she instead saw emotions as colors. That was fascinating to me.

Cassandra has a strong interest in Greek mythology, so there is a lot of that interspersed throughout the book, but it was there in bits and pieces, never long chapters focused on mythology.

While I really liked Cassandra as a character and appreciated her character arc, I was a little disappointed that so much of her focus (and the book's focus, as a result) was on trying to go back in time and fix things with her ex. That said, I did like when she realized what going back in time was really meant to fix (being vague here on purpose so as not to spoil anything).

Overall I enjoyed the book. While it wasn't one of my favorite time-travel reads, I still think it was an all-around good book and would recommend it to others.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advance copy in exchange for my honest review.

3.75 stars

What to expect in this book:

-Time travel
-Greek mythology
-Neurodivergent characters
-Workplace drama
-Love stories

This book really surprised me! I am a huge fan of all things magical realism and enjoy when stories have a somewhat non-linear timeline. Reese's Book Club picks are super hit or miss for me and I was very hesitant about this one at first given that I have read so many time-travel books before (Oona Out of Order, This Time Tomorrow, Wrong Place, Wrong Time; In Five Years, etc.), I am glad to have been pleasantly surprised by this one. Cassandra lives a particular life and when she meets Will, she is certain about his place in her life. Until one day, Will decides to break up with Cassie. Then, she discovers that she can go back and change the past. Will she be able to keep her relationship and fix others in the process or will she continue to make the same mistakes over and over?

I listened to this one on audio and read it on kindle as well and thoroughly enjoyed the British and Irish accents. There were elements within the story that took on another level of complexity that I would have never seen coming. In somewhat Jodi Picoult-like fashion, there were several small twists in this one that would surprise most readers. I ended up really loving Cassandra's character and found myself satisfied with the overall ending. This was such an endearing read and I am honestly not sure why I have not seen more reviews for it!

If you are a fan of magical realism, time travel, human growth, and a book with little to no trigger warnings at all--be sure to grab this one! I could also see this being great for a book club! Thank you to #NetGalley and Harlequin Trade for an advanced reader's copy.

CASSANDRA IN REVERSE was such a great story!

WHAT TO EXPECT
-time travel
-a neurodivergent rep
-Greek Mythology

*many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for the gifted copy for review

I am not always a fan of the time-traveling element because I feel like it has to be done well. This one was on the fence for me. It was interesting and I liked that she was a neurodivergent character and how she handled things was built into the story. But there was a lot about Greek mythology which I found distracting and sometimes I was a bit lost on how the time traveling was working as far as the portal and location...Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I tried to get into the book but the entire tone of the writing was too monotonous. I would say this was poorly written and failed to capture my attention every time I picked it up to read.