The Day Tripper starts off slow, but about a third of the way through picks up. It took a bit for me to get invested but once I did, I flew through it. It was a little hard to follow along, given how it bounced between timelines. Maybe that was the point? Keep us as bewildered as the main character. It certainly made it believable why Alex (MMC) took an eternity each day to figure out what was going on. Alex is pretty dense and it seems to take him quite a while to catch on to why things are happening (while me as the reader figured it out about half way through, and was able to make some fairly accurate predictions). The story does a good job of making you question what you know. Is this happening because he’s a drinker? Or is he a drinker because this is happening. A real chicken-or-the-egg situation. There was a lot of stuff he had to work through in this story, but when we finally get to the part where he starting to acknowledge his childhood trauma (dad, childhood bully, etc.) he moves on a little too quickly. It’s all tied up in a neat package. Which, okay who doesn’t love a happy ending, but it was a little too perfect. And a little too predictable. That being said, while it’s not the most original storyline, it was entertaining and interesting. 3/5 stars

Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced copy of The Day Tripper in exchange for an unbiased review.

I liked this one but it felt a little bit too long for me. I did really enjoy the premise of the book, but I also wanted to smack the main character a whole bunch of times! I'd give it 3.5 but rounding up to 4.

This is a book that will stick with me for a long time. A London man lives his life in random succession, all while struggling with alcoholism. He is guided by the northern star that is Holly, his true love, through every day he lives. We see the effects of his own choices on his life. Maybe the moral of this story is about taking ownership of your choices and embracing love and truly living? It’s a fresh take on how to approach life.

Some people said it was a lot like Oona Out of Order, but I haven’t read it, so I cant compare. From a therapist perspective, I think there were nuanced thoughts and beliefs that were so subtlety changed that they felt so real. I think that was my favorite part.

The moments of vulnerability and all types of love (with his mother, with Holly, with friends, with mentees) brought me to tears. I sobbed at the ending. Is it weird to want to hug a book?

The premise was so exciting, but I couldn't get into the story. The writing style just wasn't to my liking. Hopefully, it finds its proper audience.

As many other reviewers have already noted, there's not a lot to like about Alex Dean, the main character in The Day Tripper. As a matter of fact, there's a lot to dislike about him. So, it made it very hard to care too much about what he was going through. And, as many others have already mentioned, I considered not finishing this book quite a few times. I can't quite say what kept me reading other than that I was curious how the time traveling would work itself out.

I can't say that the ending was worth the slog. I was glad for a happy outcome. But that's about it.

Thank you to James Goodhand, the publisher, and NetGalley for an advance review copy.

This book followed the MC on a journey of experiencing parts of his life out of chronological order. The temporal element of this book is wild and the way that the story is portrayed is tied very closely to the way the character, Alex, feels. Alex feels disoriented, out of control and confused, the reader feels just as disoriented and confused. He starts to feel grounded but sad and dejected and the reader feels that for him too. It was a wild read.

#arc
#netgalley
#thedaytripper

This book was a great read! The story follows the main character following a life altering by event. As the story unfolds into different times within the main character’s life, the reader is rooting for his success. The reader is discovering right alongside of the main character. As changes within the main character occur, the book becomes a page turner as the reader tries to learn more about how the main character’s life may turn out.

Immediately, my interest was piqued by the concept for this book. Throughout the duration of my reading, I tried very hard to connect with the characters, immerse myself in the setting, or simply just read the book. While I can see how others would love this book, it just wasn't for me. I loved the idea and it had a lot of potential, but the writing and tone were unable to hold my interest. I hope others are able to enjoy this book and I wish the author success!

Sometimes I really love this genre, and sometimes it just doesn't work for me. This one didn't work for me, unfortunately but I can definitely see why others love it.

Alex Dean has everything going for him. He’s got the girl, a place at Cambridge in the fall, and a nice future to look forward to. Until….

After a traumatic event, he wakes up not knowing where he is….or even what year it is. And the same thing happens the next day. And the next, each in a different year, and his living situation is always a surprise.
What is happening to him? And why? Where can he find an explanation that will solve this mystery and help him reclaim his life?

This is a story that will mess with your mind AND your sense of time! James Goodhand has done a wonderful job of keeping the reader on the edge of their seat. You will not want to put this one down!

I’d like to thank NetGalley, James Goodhand, and Harlequin Trade Publishing for the advanced reader's copy in exchange for my unbiased review.

The Day Tripper is author James Goodhand’s first published adult novel, but he has previously penned two young adult books, Last Lesson and Man Down. For about the past twenty years, he has earned a living as an auto mechanic, which he enjoys and finds satisfying. He is also a musician who did not formally study writing, an impressive fact considering how skillfully written and memorable The Day Tripper is. He says he often gets story ideas during walks in the woods near the home in England he shares with his wife and son.

“What if you woke up each morning on a different random day of your life?” That’s the premise of the story that opens in 1995. Alex Dean is twenty years old, has been admitted to Cambridge University, and has been dating twenty-one-year-old Holly, who is studying to become a doctor, for just five weeks. But he already knows she is the woman for him because “becoming the person I should be for her is more important than seeing her,” he notes in the first-person narrative Goodhand effectively employs to relate Alex’s story. Alex grew up a loner who hid in his room playing his guitar and earning excellent grades. Their perfect date is blissful until he encounters Blake Benfield for the first time in four years. Alex admits that “just hearing that name in [his] head” can paralyze him. Clearly, they have a troubled history (revealed later in the story). Suddenly, Benfield strikes him, but Alex is incapable of defending himself or fighting back, leaving him puzzled and frustrated. “Why do I pity him?” he asks himself. Benfield beats him so badly that he blacks out and plunges into the Thames River.

Next, he wakes up hungover in a dank room that is barely twice the size of the single bed on which he has been sleeping. Dirty clothes are scattered about, and the windowsill is littered with empty bottles and cigarette butts. Emerging into a dark hallway, he encounters Kenzie, a young woman he does not recognize, in the kitchen. But she obviously knows him and seems accustomed to Alex being confused on mornings that follow a night of blackout drinking. She responds to his inquiries with sad amusement, but Alex finds no humor in Kenzie’s revelation that it is November 2010. Fifteen years since Alex’s violent encounter with Benfield. He cannot figure out why he has no recollection of fifteen years of his life. Is it a joke? Or has he been in some sort of fugue state? The landlord is banging on his door, demanding payment of past rent, but his focus is immediately on Holly. Where is she?

Making his way back to the bar by the river, he runs into Jazz, a young man who, like Kenzie, is acquainted with him and fills in some of the details about the life Alex has been living. He also goes to Holly’s home and has a deeply disturbing verbal altercation with her father. Readers learn that something terrible happened a couple of years ago, for which her father blames Alex. In fact, he reminds Alex that he is violating an injunction prohibiting him from having any contact with Holly’s family.

When he next wakes up, he finds himself in 2019, and with each successive visit to another time period, Alex begins to piece together not only what has happened to him, but also the fates of the people who mean the most to him. His visits to his parents’ home are particularly poignant and revelatory, as Goodhand demonstrates how much Alex loves and admires his mother, the dynamics of his parents’ marriage, and Alex’s troubled relationship with his father. He is often baffled by the things he learns from other characters but recognizes that he cannot express his confusion or the circumstances in which he finds himself with them because they would surely think he is delusional. Perhaps he is. But he confirms that his life has continued uninterrupted, even though he does not remember anything that happened to him after Benfield knocked him into the river. He pieces together that he has barely eked out a living as a street performer, playing his guitar and singing, and he never attended Cambridge. Holly is no longer in his life. And he is an alcoholic.

Alex recalls a conversation with Holly on that fateful day before everything went wrong. They discussed cause and effect. “This life I’m experiencing is all effect. But what of the cause? What has led me to this?” Alex asks himself. He meets Dr. Paul Defrates, a mysterious scientist who calls himself an expert on Alex’s situation, studying the phenomenon in a quest to fully understand it. (Goodhand injects a plot twist involving Paul that is shocking and brilliant.) As they meet from time to time during different time periods, Paul tends to ask many thought-provoking questions, but provide few answers. He suggests approaches Alex might pursue in his effort to escape his predicament. Because Alex is intent on finding a way out and restoring his life to a linear progression. With Paul’s help, he begins to find that if he does something different on an earlier date, circumstances are in fact different when he wakes up at a later time in his life.

Goodhand says his uncle, an alcoholic lost to addiction at the young age of thirty-nine, was “a lot of the inspiration behind Alex’s story.” His research revealed that his uncle suffered trauma in his early life and that made him wonder, “What does that do to somebody?” He concluded those experiences may have been catalysts for his uncle’s troubles and employed that concept in what he describes as “an investigation into why things have gone wrong for Alex, what those small decisions are, and what small decisions he can make at the right times that divert him from” alcoholism, instead of “just reaching for” a drink. In The Day Tripper, he wanted to explore very serious subject matter but “lighten it by looking at it through the lens of a high concept idea.” That is “why readers see Alex both at his worst and his best” as they develop an understanding of the trajectory of Alex’s life and, hopefully, refrain from judging him or others struggling with addiction.

As the story proceeds, Goodhand explores Alex’s relationships both with Benfield and his father, who he knows he has bitterly disappointed. They have both bullied and belittled Alex through the years. Alex comes to appreciate that “by focusing hate back on them, he is being dragged into their game, expending negative energy, when what he needs to do is remove himself from their control.” His progression toward maturity and wisdom is gradual and not without hiccups as Alex realizes that he has been subjected to toxic masculinity and succumbed to its influence on his life choices.

The Day Tripper is an expertly crafted and refreshingly inventive tale. As Alex’s journey careens into the future and back to the past, Goodhand illustrates how his actions have impacted not only his life, but the lives of those with whom he interacts. It is an emotional journey both for Alex and readers as he realizes how profoundly he has hurt people he loves and grapples with his guilt, remorse, and regrets. And grows increasingly desperate to alter the future that has been revealed to him. Alex is likable, endearing, and empathetic because readers can relate to his distress about his mistakes and desire to un-do them. At one point, his “beautiful, perfect Holly” is gone from his life – they agreed “right person, wrong time” – and Alex declares that he is “broken by booze.”

But Goodhand gives Alex enviable opportunities to change both his past and the future, and the story becomes hopeful and affirming as Alex begins to implement changes that bring about better results. The dialogue flows naturally and believably, and Goodhand’s prose is deceptively profound and emotionally resonant. He viscerally conveys Alex’s inner turmoil, and Alex’s ruminations about Goodhand’s themes are richly thought-provoking and beautifully crafted.

“Ultimately,” Goodhand says, “it’s a love story,”. Alex’s overriding and unwavering motivation to understand and extricate himself from his predicament is his intense desire to win Holly back. Alex does “infuriating things” and even when his goal is almost in his grasp, he manages to “miss it.” Watching him fumble his chances and learn from his failures is absorbing, entertaining, and frequently heartbreaking. And suspenseful. Will he figure out how to get his life on track and find happiness?

The Day Tripper, despite dark moments, is an optimistic meditation on one deceptively simple truth: “Change doesn’t happen by accident,” but is possible. Goodhand illustrates that the power of love can and does inspire and facilitate positive change through an intriguing story populated with memorable and fully developed characters. The Day Tripper establishes Goodhand as a creative and talented writer storyteller, leaving readers anxious to read more from him.

The concept of this book was super appealing, as I love magical realism books, and time travel is great fun. When I first read the synopsis, I was reminded of another book I read last year - Oona Out of Order. I feel like Oona was written better, and drew me in quicker. Alex Dean suffers a trauma which then causes him to Day Trip, or live his life out of order. What a rough life it is! He makes bad choices, drinks quite a bit, and struggles to be better. Perhaps by living his life out of order, he might be able to fix some things, right? The book ends well, it just takes about 35-40% to feel that something is actually happening. I get the background and the mucking about, and it’s fine. It just didn’t make me WANT to come back every change I had. That being said, I give this book a 3-3.25. Maybe a 3.5. Thanks to NetGalley for the chance to review this book!

At the start of this novel, it’s 1995 and main character Alex is 20 years old. After a great day comes to a horrible end and he almost dies, he wakes up the next day, only to find it’s 2010. Then wakes up the next day and it’s 2019, and the next day it’s 1999, and so on. Each day Alex has no memory of anything but his life before and these other random days he has lived, so he is forced to figure out what is going on his life, what is going on in general causing this to happen, and where he went wrong in life.

This is a tricky one to review! Early on, I was not really feeling it - it was very depressing and Alex had made/was making such bad decisions. Happily, a bit of hope is introduced partway through the book and then things totally turned around for me. In fact, I then really got into it and couldn’t put it down. Stayed up way too late to finish (something I haven’t done in a while), and finished it really crying! So ultimately after a bit of a rough start, I ended up loving it so I’m so glad I stuck with it!

I’d say vibe-wise, think of this as kind of a cross between Oona Out of Order and The Midnight Library, so if you like those books, I bet you’ll like this too. (Indeed, the cover is similar to Midnight Library and I’m sure that’s not an accident!)

This sounds amazing, but unfortunately the formatting of this arc was unpleasant to read. No chapter breaks (or chapters in the drop down menu), and the pages themselves had no indentations for paragraphs and it was messy. HTP please fix your ebook formatting!

I think I will need to revisit and reread this book to truly understand and appreciate what Goodhand is trying to address/discuss. I am fond of the multiple timelines (think The Time Traveler's Wife) and time travel, yet I don't think I was in the right mindset when I read this book. The Day Tripper definitely keeps you thinking after you've finished it, particularly about what are the impacts of even shifting your mindset (and not just the impacts of making a different decision/changing an event). It leaves you wondering how much of our lives can we control versus what is "destined" to happen. I recommend reading this book if you appreciate multiple timelines, time travel, and books that truly make you think about the situations the characters faced (and how you might have reacted).

The synopsis for The Day Tripper had me wanting to read it immediately. I was so happy when I got approved by NetGalley to read an ARC. Sadly my excitement waned pretty quickly.

I love time travel books but apparently they can be done really well or not so great. This one fell in the latter.

There is still so much about this book that I don't quite get. It was very discombobulated to say the least. What I don't get the most is that it took Alex so long to understand that all his failings were what was causing the outcome of his life no matter which day he landed in. We heard about his drinking, his failures and self loathing ad nauseum. This was almost a DNF for me but I powered through & still wonder what I read.

The thing that frustrated me the most is that the outline of this story had so much potential but it just didn't pan out the way I expected.

**Received ARC through NetGalley. Voluntarily reviewed**

Magical realism is quickly becoming my “go-to” choice for fiction, a genre that The Day Tripper mastered. The author takes the reader on a life journey of self-discovery through the main character, and I was here for it. Asking and answering deep questions, I thought the book ran through every possible iteration of life out of order. My only complaint is that the story felt a tad long, but I never felt compelled to stop reading – I was in it until the end.

Quick recap without spoilers:
Alex Dean is twenty years old and has his whole life ahead of him. In 1995, he meets Holly, the love of his life, and has a promising education after nabbing a spot at Cambridge University. But after an incredible night with Holly ending in a fight at a bar, Alex wakes up in 2010 to find his life a mess. The following day is in 2019, and his future is even bleaker. But one more day, and Alex is in 1999. Once Alex realizes that he has no control over what date he will live, he begins to piece together how one hapless decision can snowball into a life lived poorly. Can his time-jumping shift the outcome of his life?

The first 40-50% of this book was a big bummer. Alex Dean is not very likable, and you're left wondering how he will get out of this situation if all he does is wake up with a hangover in a different date/time. You grow to like him more as he starts to change his attitude after he finally gets some help. The side characters help flesh out this novel, as it would feel flat with just Dean. The explanation for the time travel that the author goes with is un-inventive and would have been better left un-explained.

3.75/5

It's hard to describe The Day Tripper by James Goodhand. It's partly a coming of age story, a little bit of a love story, and a lot of a "how did I get here" story.

Book Description:
"It’s 1995, and Alex Dean has it all: a spot at Cambridge University next year, the love of an amazing woman named Holly and all the time in the world ahead of him. That is until a brutal encounter with a ghost from his past sees him beaten, battered and almost drowning in the Thames.

He wakes the next day to find he’s in a messy, derelict room he’s never seen before, in grimy clothes he doesn’t recognize, with no idea of how he got there. A glimpse in the mirror tells him he’s older—much older—and has been living a hard life, his features ravaged by time and poor decisions. He snatches a newspaper and finds it’s 2010—fifteen years since the fight.

After finally drifting off to sleep, Alex wakes the following morning to find it’s now 2019, another nine years later. But the next day, it’s 1999. Never knowing which day is coming, he begins to piece together what happens in his life after that fateful night by the river."

My thoughts:
On the surface, The Day Tripper is a time travel story. However, as each day passes on this journey with Alex Dean, we realize this isn't as simple as change one event, change your whole life. Goodhand examines what it means when you not only change your actions, but you change your actual perception of things. "Hindsight is 20/20" as the adage goes, but what if it's not that simple? What if what we think makes the difference isn't the difference at all?

Read this if you like:
• Multiple timelines
• Time travel fiction
• Books that will leave you pondering long after you're done

This book was marketed as “for fans of The Midnight Library,” so of course I had to pick it up! I can definitely see the similarities but this book completely stands on its own too. Like Haig’s books, The Day Tripper explores what it means to live a life worth living and has a pretty happy ending. However, it differs in the way it goes about this. The main character experiences his life out of order: one day he is 21, the next he is 44, the next he is 35, and so on. He quickly realizes that something has gone terribly wrong and his life at 44 is nowhere near what the life he had imagined for himself when 21. He battles addiction, homelessness, and more as he tries to figure out what went wrong. Can he make things right? Can he get back to his life at 21? Can he change his trajectory? Read the book to find out!

Highly recommend this one! Thank you NetGalley for the eARC. :)