DNF at 20%. Was getting bored. Story wasn’t hooking me in and writing was nothing interesting. Worldbuilding introduced left me scratching my head in confusion.

Stars: 4.5/5.0
I swear starting books that aren't yet completed series will be my downfall BECAUSE WHAT DO YOU MEAN I HAVE TO WAIT TILL AUGUST FOR THE NEXT BOOK??? I'M ALREADY MISSING KEMBRAL AND RIKA.

I've said this in a couple of my reviews recently, this year has been a weird funk for me and reading. I've been in a slump for most of the year. With the past few books, I've hoped those would get me back into it, but I know that this book is officially the one to pull me out of the slump. Funny enough, I got the ebook for The Obsidian Tower a couple years(?) ago now, but I hoard my ebooks like I'm a dragon and those are my treasure so I can read those when I can't get to my physical library, but I will certainly be starting this book ASAP now after reading this book.

On to the book now, I'm going keep the actual review kind of sparse as it's definitely a "go in blind and enjoy the ride (descent?)", but if you want a blend of urban fantasy, murder mystery, and queer romance, where you are definitely just thrown into the world and slowly build it from there, but it also isn't overly complicated and easily going to leave you falling behind, this is a great pick up! You aren't going to be fed clues ahead of our MC for the most part like a crime story. It certainly paces like a fantasy book. The romance is not the main point of the story too. It's a subplot that slowly builds throughout the story.

There are a few elements I hope to see more of going into book 2 since we didn't get to see them much in book 1. Kembral is a mother to a 2 month old and the exhaustion is getting to her. I hope since Kembral is back with Emmi that we see more exploration of motherhood, being a single mother, etc. I hope that with this too, we see more depth from Kembral overall. She definitely fits the archetype "the badass" but I want to see more than the stereotype from her.

I will say, I live for the theatrics. So, I will whither away while waiting for where Kembral and Rika go next, but this isn't a story that leaves you on an insane cliffhanger. You aren't left with insanely large questions, what ifs, and what abouts. Just a need for Kembral and Rika to get sleep. Overall, I am patiently (read impatiently) waiting for it to be August 2025.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for an advanced reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to orbit books and the author for an advanced copy of this book

This was an insane ground hog day combined with an insane inception type time travel, with a type of crazy matrix element where you just watch all your coworkers die over and over again in different ways and you’re the only one that can stop it. Also your postpartum.

This was a really interesting concept. And I did find it engaging at times but also felt like I needed to spend time checking myself back into the story. It is very character driven and the pacing was a little all over the place.

Read if you enjoy chaos

The Last Hour Between Worlds is a new take on portal fantasy and I really loved the world. I do think that the groundhog's day trope did not do it justice though. About halfway through, I started to become bored of the same story with a different set of clothes for everyone. I wish that Caruso picked a different story to tell within the world. Regardless, it was a fast read.

I mentioned this book in my list of the top ten books I read in 2024. Here's what I said on Bluesky and will say on other social media: The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso is modern day fantasy with gorgeous and elegant worldbuilding and a great queer protagonist.

I loved that the two FMCs were no only rivals but experienced members within their guilds. I thought that the premise for the book was intriguing as you don't know who all the players are and the grandfather clock was a neat artifact within the 'game'. With the grandfather clock's reset there is a bit of 'Groundhog Day' that occurs so I'd skip if that concept isn't your jam.
I would have loved more world building around the Echos because I found the levels, artifacts, and such really interesting. While we don't get as much world-building as I'd like, we do get a lot of the relationship dynamic fleshed out within the FMCs as well as some of the other characters mainly within Prime.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advanced ebook of this book. I apologize that it took me so long to sit down and read it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!!!

A surrealist closed door mystery that's as odd as it is enticing. A revolving, resetting murder game where the topside mortals are unaware they're playing pieces, more focused on ejoying their New Years' party than recognizing how awry the evening has gone. A game of cat and mouse between two feuding rivals with a complicated history of flirting and betrayal.

☆☆☆☆☆

Kembral "Kem" Thorne is a Hound, a member of the investigation guild and damned-good at her job. Presently on maternity leave, she jumps at the chance to attend a fancy party—even of the overly stuffy variety—to finally get out of her house. Longing for life's simple pleasures like a full night's sleep or in this case adult conversations.

The idea of motherhood sounded enticing to our protagonist, but the reality... let's just say it left a bad taste in her mouth. Loving her child Emmelaine, yet hating the lack of her old, adventurous life finding lost souls and flitting between dimensions made her new reality more than a little difficult. Her ex dumping her after finding out about their soon-to-be kid also didn't help things.

Kem isn't working this evening. Honestly, she isn't. Please stop asking...

She's only here to enjoy herself for a few hours, before returning to her kid and isolation. The surprise addition of her rival from the Cat guild—spies and burglars all—to the guest list and a series of murders throws a bit of wrench in that plan. Murders that start and restart like <i>clockwork</i> with each new reality just a bit askew from what came before.

Rika Nonesuch is also incredibly skilled at her job and a continuous <i>thorn</i> in Kem's side. Once the pair would test each others skills and wit while flirting, yet all the changed during their last run-in before the baby came. A palpable connection bounced between the pair of rivals, a set who while attempting to thwart one another's plans still had time to offer little kindnesses or a flirty aside. But that was <i>before</i> and things are oh so different now.

Part political thriller part murder mystery, this novel is a delightful read for those searching for a twisty tale of intrigue and lies. Fans of rival romances will also enjoy themselves, envision the iconic DC batcat but make it sapphic! Falling through time as it loops again and again and again, will Kem solve this mystery before neither she nor the party goers can escape?

All Kembral Thorne wants is a night off from responsibility, but she's not going to get it. Usually a member of an investigators guild known as the Hounds, she's been on leave for a few months caring for her newborn child. Tonight, she's attending one of the biggest parties of the year and trying to enjoy an evening of not being a mother. What she gets instead is a party under attack; even worse, the party appears to be caught in a time loop. Somehow unaffected by the memory loss that comes with the time loop, it's up to Kem to unravel the dark ritual that's ensnared the party. And to do that, she'll have to enlist the aid of Rika, her archnemesis from a rival guild of thieves.

The Last Hour Between Worlds is a fun puzzle box of an adventure. I really enjoyed the elements of Kem trying to work out the rules of the time loop. What resets every loop? Who loses their memory? Who's behind the ritual? And how do we break the loop? This is all wrapped up in the additional complication that every loop, the party enters a weirder, more surreal version of their world, adding new dangers to the situation. To top it off, there's only so many loops that will happen until the manor - and everyone in it - is wiped out for good.

(A quick aside, I loved how every chapter heading featured a clock with a moving hour hand so you could keep track of which number loop you were in. It also creates tension as you see the hand getting closer to what will be the final loop where things become Extremely Dire.)

It's not just investigative work moving the story forward, there's some great action sequences. The party keeps coming under attack from different sources, creating some great set pieces as Kem and her allies have to fend off incredibly dangerous foes. These beings are so powerful that it becomes less about outright killing the enemy, and more about how to stall them long enough for time to run out and the loop to reset. I do love clever heroes, so watching the team come up with creative solutions was great.

What didn't quite land for me was the romance subplot between Kem and Rika (and it is a subplot, this is not a romantasy). This story essentially takes place over one night; even with Kem and Rika having a pre-existing history, it's hard to nail that kind of relationship building in that short a window of time. I think my biggest frustration may have come from the fact that there was clearly a misunderstanding in their past that's led to their current animosity, and it takes an incredibly long time before the two finally unpack what really happened. It was one of those times where I was internally shouting "Just tell her already!!" in the hopes that we could unstick whatever was keeping these two apart.

The last little nitpick I have is complicated for me to unpack. On the one hand, I think it is FANTASTIC to have a mother as a female lead. As a new single mom, Kem is wrestling with some big decisions, including whether or not she should keep doing a dangerous job that could get her killed and leave her daughter an orphan. She loves her job, but is it worth the risk to her daughter's future? This is all great content that we don't see a lot of in fantasy, and I loved its inclusion.

But it was also mentioned so often that it began to be a bit much, especially in the first half of the book. Every few pages it felt like there was a new reference to Kem's motherhood, from the changes pregnancy wreaked on her body to the decisions she's grappling with. Maybe this is an accurate reflection of how all-consuming new motherhood is (I'm not a parent myself), but I did feel that the number of references could have been scaled back a bit while still getting the point across.

At the end of the day though, The Last Hour Between Worlds is a great self-contained fantasy adventure. While this is the first of a trilogy, you can read this first book as a standalone and come away completely satisfied with the experience. If you like a blend of action and mystery, strange macabre worlds, and mayhem at a grand party, I definitely recommend checking this one out.

Thank you, author, publisher, and NetGalley for providing me with an eARC of this book!!

I really just couldn't get into this one. I think I got 30% through before I had to stop. This book is all action and no vibes. I usually enjoy books that are more vibes more vibes than action.

When Kembral witnesses dying party guests on her one night off from work and her newborn, she feels compelled to solve the crime. Her nemesis, Rika, is also in attendance, looking to get to the bottom of things. Teaming up, the unlikely pair discover a mysterious grandfather clock that shuttles them into a new deadly splinter of reality with every chime. One thing remains the same—a mysterious figure performs a bloody sacrifice. If Kem and Rika want to survive and save their home, they will have to overcome their rivalry and quickly uncover the clock’s secrets before time stops for everyone in this sapphic adventure fantasy novel.

This book was so good! The magic and the world was so unique, I loved the way it worked together. Seeing Kem and Rika's relationship develop was so sweet, I loved the enemies to lovers romance, it worked so well. Also, loved the layers to how everything built together to create such a unique murder mystery experience. The different players in the game were all so interesting, and I hope we learn more about them in book 2. I'd rate this higher if I could, I loved it so much.

Based off the cover, I would have guessed The Last Hour Between Worlds would have leaned a bit more sci-fi than fantasy, but that would have been a horribly incorrect guess. This is fantasy through and through with a nice investigative element as the cherry on top. I shouldn’t have been surprised at Melissa Caruso’s ability to spin an engaging tale of guild politics, layered realities, and a new mom just trying to have a nice evening out.

This follows Kembral Thorne, a renowned member of the Guild of Hounds, is attending a party to celebrate the new year and is looking forward to a few moments without a newborn attached to her. Everyone seems to have questions about when she’s returning to work and if she could possibly pick up their case, but she’s still trying to figure out what she wants next in this new era of her life. There are even a few rivals from other guilds and at least one enemy present to keep Kembral on her toes. Much to her dismay, the party takes a turn for the worse when someone dies. And then more people die. And soon after it becomes apparent that work won’t leave Kembral alone even if she is on maternity leave and Kembral is investigating how and why an entire building full of people are dropping through the layers of reality (called Echoes) to relive the party over and over again. 

This book really dumps you right in the thick of the world, the plot, and the characters with minimal explanation. This is a tricky tactic for an author because sometimes it really grabs a reader and pulls them in (like it did to me) and other times you lose the reader because they don’t know what’s going on and can’t parse all the new lingo and the rules of the world. The Last Hour Between Worlds was definitely a little confusing at first, but there were enough familiarities with the party, rivalries, and the murder to keep me hooked regardless. Eventually the peculiarities of this world became more familiar and things started to make sense. This is where I REALLY got hooked! The Echoes, or layers of reality, get stranger and more dangerous the further down one goes and a group of powerful near deities called Empyreans are playing their own wicked game in order to be able to claim the right to ‘Name’ the new year. This will give them influence and power, but this requires blood and the people at this party are the ones who will suffer.

Kembral herself is a likable character and one in a stage of life not typically shown in books. She’s in the trenches of motherhood and as a single mother no less. Her exhaustion is palpable and she feels different in her changed body and out of practice with both her swordsmanship and her ability to blink step, which basically allows her to step outside of time and space and move to another location. A small teleport basically. Lest I neglect our other main character, there’s also Rika Nonesuch who is a member of the Guild of Cats. She and Kembral used to be friends, but had a recent falling out and now the two are quite prickly with one another even when they are forced to work together to try to fix this mess. Rika is a thief and spy, depending on what sort of job she’s on and she is a skilled illusionist with a personality to rival Kembral.

The Last Hour Between Worlds surprised me with how thoroughly addictive it was. Like I said, I really should expect no less from Melissa Caruso but this is a whole new world with no Witch Lords or Falcons, so I just didn’t know what to expect. I loved the setting, the mystery, the danger, and best of all, Rika and Kembral figuring out how to be friends again. This is the first book in a new series, but this can work as a standalone because the plot has a satisfying conclusion. I personally can’t wait to see where this story goes next!

The Last Hour Between Worlds is a fun blend of fantasy and sci-fi with a world bending twist. I enjoyed the perspective of the main character being a new mother just trying to have a nice night out - unfortunately the echoes of other versions of their reality and the mysterious Empyreans have a different plan. Kembral Thorne is a Hound who always gets the job done and when she is the only one who notices the game being played with everyone at the New Year's party occurring it is up to her to solve this mystery. She ends up including Rika Nonesuch, a member of a different guild and a part of her complicated past. The echoes they fall into continue to get more and more dangerous as they try to save everyone at the party and figure out a way home.

The book is very fast-paced, a unique world with the various echoes of reality and a lot of great development with the relationships.

This was different and not what I was expecting!
The story takes place within a surprisingly small area, which you might think would limit the scope of a debut—especially one that feels like the start of a series. But instead of feeling confined, the setting heightened the sense of urgency and immediacy, pulling me deeper into the action.

In a fantastically imagined world, the author skillfully straddles the line between fantasy and romance. I loved the emotional, tender exploration of love. Although the romance felt a little repetitive; as the story progressed, some of it began to feel a little drawn-out and redundant.

That said, I think this book could work well as a standalone, but I’d happily return for more stories featuring Kembral and Rika if they’re told with the same eloquence and gripping style. Caruso’s world is compelling, and I’m curious to see where it could lead next.

The Last Hour Between Worlds:⁣
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Thank you @orbitbooks_us @librofm @hachetteaudio for my gifted copies!⁣
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I felt at first this was going to be a fantasy book that I wouldn’t get or would make me feel like I wasn’t smart enough to understand. I pushed on and once I got the writing style, I really enjoyed reading this one. ⁣
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I think the coolest thing is that this is basically a locked room, but it happens at different time jumps. The fantasy part that comes in is cool because I was hoping it would be found and solved with the Groundhog Day type vibe. But honestly, Kembral being a new mom all postpartum and still trying to save the world was the best. Like c’mon now, what can’t a mother do? Ya know. ⁣
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THE Moira Quirk, our GUTS Queen herself, does an amazing narration on audio. I will always pick up a Moira Quirk audio. I liked the pacing on audio, much better feel that my physical print.⁣
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Anywho, I really enjoyed this one! Out now.⁣
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QOTD: 10 Day til Christmas! What’s a gift you need to buy for someone? (Yes I’m asking for ideas because I’m stumped)

A single night becomes a fight to prevent cosmic disaster spanning multiple layers of reality that get more bizarre and dangerous each layer down. Ok, so most of this book was like a fever dream, thanks to this fantastical world and intense imagery that was both horrific and beautiful. I’ll be honest I didn’t try too hard to understand every detail. I just went along for the ride, and in the end I totally had fun.

What might be one of the most underrepresented character types in any genre, but certainly none more than fantasy, is the new mother navigating the end of maternity leave. And this book really nailed that, making it easy for me to connect and care for the main character.

Overall 4 out of 5 stars. If you’re interested, definitely give this one a try. Thank you to Orbit for the opportunity to read this ARC. I liked it enough to get a copy for my shelf.

Thank you Orbit for the arc copy!
That was extremely interesting. Following a time loop premise with almost sci-fi fae-like creatures and world in the form of echos and etherians, this story ended up being unbelievably unique and entertaining. I ended up switching from physical to audiobook and that was such a good idea. The narrator is fantastic (same person who did Gideon the Ninth) and they made the story feel so immersive.
The sapphic rep was exactly what I wanted! The romance picks up pretty quick and I actually liked that it is a bit more fast paced than I expected. It felt really refreshing to have romantic characters working together and being adults/mature instead of circling each other or having silly fights.
Kendral is funny, smart, and an overall just a fantastic MC. Rika is an amazing counterpart to her as she balances out Kendral’s caution and honor with fierce determination and her ability will to succeed. They are such a perfect match and I can’t wait to see more

The plot/sci-fi elements are a bit complex but easy to follow especially on the audiobook. It felt like a dark fae story if it turned into a science fiction story. The echos was dark, twisted, and manipulative in the same way a fae world is. I love the twist at the end and didn’t figure it out ahead of time which I appreciated! Overall solid book and will be continuing the story!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the free ARC! All opinions in this review are my own.

RATING AND OVERALL THOUGHTS:

1.5 stars DNF’d at 30%. Regrettably this was a case of interesting premise but a boring and repetitive execution so early on that I show no value in continuing until the end. I was left endlessly confused and frustrated with the novel while reading.

SOME SPOILERS AHEAD

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WHAT I LOVED:

- The only thing I can say that I loved about this novel was the audio narration. Since I read this after publication date I was able to tandem read (got the audio with my own money) and the narrator is fantastic! She made the novel and characters come to life which was a brilliant feat considering it would’ve been a struggle otherwise.

WHAT I DISLIKED:

- The characters but mainly the MC Rem whose head we are in the whole time and it was extremely annoying. Every thought revolved around her being a new mother in some way, how she missed her baby, and gosh darn wouldn’t you know how tired she was all the time because, again, shes a new mum. There is quite literally nothing else I could tell you about her character because the narrative was just beating you over the head with the same thing. I also struggled to place whether the MC (as well as the secondary main character and love interest Rika) were 13 or 30 because of the way the two acted were more like two dramatic and hormonal teenagers with their first real crush/heartbreak and not grown women. The rest of the characters were onenote and forgettable. Couldn’t tell you anything about them or who they are and I didn’t have a reason at all to care. Bodies dropped and people died and all I could think was “oh well. moving on.”
- The repetitiveness. I get this was supposed to be a Groundhog Day type of novel which is fine in and of itself but you have to at least make each echo interesting enough to stand on its own (not just brief glimpses and then its gone) as well as give the MC time to do literally anything at all productive before pulling the party down into another echo. I don’t believe it was ever concretely given how long she had but the only mention I can find going back between her first scene at the party and when the clock tolled at the first time was 10 minutes. I don’t want to see the first 10 minutes over and over again and watch, yet again, the MC fail to really do anything to save people in that very short amount of time.
- The romance, there was nothing there between the two (definitely not at all enemies to lovers, more like indifferent) and the explanation for their previous relationship leading to their “breakup” was that Rika was nice to Kem in passing on jobs? (again not very clear on the guilds they work for nor the society they live in nor their previous relationship at all) and one time Kem said something profound to Rika before drugging Rem into sleep so Rika could steal something from wherever they were at. Thats it. It hardly at all seemed like a relationship beforehand whatsoever, more like Kem had a big crush but nothing else. Obviously I get the anger towards being drugged so Rika could do her job but the tone between the two didn’t at all feel romantic in any aspect. They just felt like coworkers/friends that had a falling out and were forced to work together again by way of proximity. Then there was the offhanded mention of Kem’s baby daddy who I guess showed Kem affection once or whatever and so Kem (or so the narrative implies) went and batted for the other team so to speak and thats somehow shocking. I wasn’t happy with the implication of this representation.
- The worldbuilding, the lore, the magic system. Anything at all about the echoes, the moons, the society they lived in, etc would’ve been helpful, nay, NEEDED to be established in order understand anything at all. I almost felt like I was missing a primer from a previous book or novella that set the premise for all of this up but there is nothing there so therefore nothing to go on and it just left me endlessly confused and frustrated reading. Lots of terms were thrown around but no context for what it means in the setting the novel takes place.
- I understood nothing about the “people” Echoes and their motivations for this “game” they were playing with the realties or the “rules” at all. Partly because we aren’t given any information about the layers of echoes and partly because Kem was just too tired and her brain was mush because she just had a baby and so therefore she has forgotten every bit of information about the job shes been doing for years and has been training for since she was a child. It boiled Kem from being the best Hound with the best skills to a very stereotypical and tropey version of “once you have a kid, you’ll forget everything that made you a person beforehand, and are only a mother from now on! oh, and you’ll always be TIRED.”

Is this…my new fave book?? I can’t stop thinking about this one, and how floored I am by the skill with which Melissa crafted this world and all its echoes. Kembral is a character so easy to root for, and the way her deep capacity for love and quiet expertise at her profession is balanced with the brain-is-soup state of fresh motherhood is amusing and deeply, deeply real. Her character voice gave me a perfect in to this story without sacrificing her capability to handle what was happening.

The plot was as rock solid as a plot that is repeating the same hour twelve times with different results can be. Following Kembral and Rika through their journey to save themselves and their friends had me on the edge of my seat, and Melissa choosing to use the repetition of events as eerie, dread-inducing markers of how much time was left in each echo was hugely effective. The payoff was satisfying, and I was STRESSED TF OUT enough that I started scouring reviews for spoilers, which. That’s some good tension. I cared what happened to these two deeply.

I could go on. I loved this book, and I’m thrilled that my bookstore chose it as a book club pick! Can’t wait to discuss it with others.

My major problem with the book is that the world is not exactly established. The story demands that the reader understand the world. But it is never explained - not even indirectly; the world building was nonexistent. I really didn't connect with the characters as well - they were just there.

And due to the structure of the time loop, the story felt really repetitive.

Thank you Netgalley, author, and publisher for the ARC.