Genre: fantasy

Kembral Thorne, guild Hound, expert blink-stepper in interdimensional travel, and new mom, is taking her first night out since the birth of her daughter for a New Year’s Eve party. Nevermind that she has to grit between her teeth that she’s on leave and not accepting new jobs right now, and that seems to be all anyone wants to socialize with her about. In the flash of an eye, the party turns deadly, and despite Kem’s insistence that she’s on leave, she has the best understanding of the Echoes, or the levels removed from the Prime Reality, and she’s the only one who can reverse the murders.

Everything about The Last Hour Between Worlds appeals to my fantasy reader sensibility. It's a well-constructed time loop where the main character slips down through levels of echoes and with each layer down the world becomes increasingly complicated and weird. More importantly, our heroine Kembral Thorne occupies a unique and utterly common liminal space: that of new motherhood. She's a worn out sleep-deprived mother of a two-month old. The book is written in first person perspective from Kembral's POV and it couldn't be more perfect for the spiral of desperation to love and protect and maybe nap.

The worldbuilding in Last Hour is clever, and Caruso reveals information the more we descend into the deeper echoes. We start with limited knowledge - there’s some light political intrigue between guilds and city elders, revealed at the party. Seeing everything from Kem’s perspective means that we have the most experienced blink stepper telling the story, and Caruso does a good job of not overexplaining from a perspective that knows everything. She uses Kem’s frantic problem solving as the lens through which we learn more about the way the echoes function.

The romantic arc is particularly interesting. The father of Kem’s daughter is out of the picture - he bounced as soon as he heard her news. Instead, the romantic tension is with her rival, Rika Nonesuch, a Cat [burglar] who previously led Kembral on and betrayed her at her most vulnerable. Rika, like Kem, is the most talented at her profession. There is emotional uncertainty, and the tenuous truce that Rika and Kem strike in order to solve the mystery, traverse planes, and save the world is as believable as the pining.

The action starts strong from the beginning, and Moira Quirk's narration takes us at the relentless pace to save the world, and also to sort out complicated feelings and connections.

A fast-paced, exciting, and tension-filled adventure where the stakes continue to rise with each toll of the grandfather clock. This is such an interesting take on the locked room mystery, where the room is a house that continues to fall through different layers of reality in the middle of a deadly game. Even though we are experiencing the same period of time over and over again, it is still exciting and different each iteration. Our main characters are interesting and capiable, making them interesting to follow. The tension comes both from the external forces threatening their lives and their own history and internal problems they aren't willing to speak about with each other. I'm excited for book 2!

Such an interesting and exciting concept, I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of the plot. I had a hard time relating to the main character but that's probably because I'm much younger and am not a mother.

The story introduces us to Kembral Thorne, a new mom who is also an investigative Hound. She faces the ups and downs of motherhood while embarking on an exciting multiverse adventure! Things get tense as she teams up with her rival, Rika Nonesuch, and they explore some dark dimensions together. The story mainly unfolds in a single house and city, giving it a charming vibe that resembles the early 19th century. With plenty of thrilling action sequences and an engaging plot, this book promises to keep readers hooked from start to finish. It's a read to look forward to!

I expected to hate this book, but I didn’t . The repetitiveness didn’t bother me as that is the point of the story. I found the idea of Echos fascinating. I didn’t much care for any of the characters. I do like a good game with murder as a consequence. I was surprised to find out it wasn’t a standalone.

I expected to hate this book, but I didn’t . The repetitiveness didn’t bother me as that is the point of the story. I found the idea of Echos fascinating. I didn’t much care for any of the characters. I do like a good game with murder as a consequence. I was surprised to find out it wasn’t a standalone.

4 stars!

The Last Hour Between Worlds is one of the most creative books I've read! I don't normally like Groundhog Day books as I find them repetitive, but I found Kembral and Rika so interesting and likeable that I didn't even care.

I find that I don't read many books with older main characters, so it was refreshing to an experience a main character who was really good at her job while also trying to figure out how her life was changing as she experienced being a mother for the first time. I also really enjoyed the romance and the sapphic representation!

I think where this book will really shine for people is the premise and execution. Where it wasn't a perfect five stars for me was that you're really thrown into the world and I don't think many things are explained. Also, I think this would've worked perfectly as a standalone, but I will still be reading book 2!

Thank you to Netgalley and Orbit Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

The Last Hour Between Worlds follows Kembral Thorne, who goes to a party and ends up stuck traveling through layers of reality. People start turning up dead and her (sort of, but not really) nemesis appears. What can she do to get out of this loop alive?

Unfortunately, this story wasn't for me. It might be best to read as much at once as possible, because due to the ground hog's day, world within worlds timeline of it all, it can be very confusing to jump in and out of. I also struggled to keep track of characters and wished that the main character had a wider range of traits. We know she is a new mom, an investigator, and has confused feelings about Rika, but who is she beyond that? There are more books planned in this series, so maybe that question will eventually be answered.

Thanks to Orbit and NetGalley for an eARC of this book for an honest review.

The Last Hour Between Worlds is the first book in the Echo Archives where we’re introduced to Kembral, Kem, who’s simply trying to find her way with a two month old at home. I loved that Caruso added this take to the story since those initial months can be really difficult to navigate your identity. I also loved the banter and tension between Kem and Rika. I also really enjoyed the different distinctions between the Hounds and Cats. In terms of plot, I was hooked pretty early on with wanting to understand the time loop especially after what happened in the first iteration. I will say, it got a little repetitive after a while. We certainly learn new things in the loops, some of which were absolutely shocking, but I didn’t feel like there was enough at times to keep my attention. By the end, though, I was fully drawn back into the story especially as all the threads started tying together. I combo read the ebook and audiobook. I will say, the audio is definitely the way to go. Moira Quirk is an incredible narrator, and her narration helped me get through the slower parts of the book. Quirk brings so much energy and emotion to the role that you want to keep listening. Overall, I ended up enjoying the story, and I’m curious to see where the next one goes.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫

This book was nothing like I was expecting and everything I could’ve wanted!

It’s a sci-fi fantasy LGBTQ ground hog day with a new mom as our FMC!
I LOVED seeing a tired mom as the one who saves the world instead of the usual 18-20 year olds. It was so relatable for us tired moms while also showing the readers that we too have the ability to save the world, to fall in love and fight tooth and nail for a better future. All while desperately needing to nurse lol
The alternate realities and different beings was such an interesting and fun thing to read.
For someone who reads a lot, I was so happy to read a book that was surprising and unpredictable. The twists I truly didn’t see coming. The story was unique and I liked how this first book wraps up the main storyline of the ground hog day situation while leaving other aspects open ended.
I’m excited to see where the rest of the series will take us.

You’ll enjoy this book if you like themes of
Sci-fi fantasy
LGBTQ
Alternate realities
Second chance romance
Mom FMC
Magical beings

Thank you NetGalley for this eARC in exchange for an honest review

The Last Hour Between Worlds was a cool concept, kind of like Groundhog Day with a fantasy/magical twist. Each time loop drops the characters deeper into a dangerous alternate reality, adding a strange and unique twist to the ongoing mystery. The world-building is solid and unfolds without spoon-feeding, which keeps things intriguing, but some elements, like the magic system, could’ve been more fleshed out.

Kembral, the main character and a new mom, is likable but falls a bit flat with repetitive mentions of her exhaustion and work-life balance, you don't really get to learn much about her other than who she's dated in the past and that she is a mother. The cast of supporting characters is interesting, but the dialogue can get campy, and the plot felt very repetitive. While it’s a fun setup this one just fell flat for me.

Interesting concept but I got extremely bored reading this book. I feel like if they cut the "resets" in half it would be less boring. I got maybe 20% into the book where I just kept yelling at the book to get to the point. It felt like the author was painfully dragging the story out. I thought the characters were pretty mediocre with no one standing out.

This book was was better than I expected. I love that it's Sapphic. The tension between them, add in them having to team up to save the world. I think it's an interesting concept to have this in the point of view of a new mom. I won't deny when I first started this I was confused and was not understanding it much but I decided to give it a chance and it was pretty good. One thing I wasn't too fond of was her constantly complaining about being a new mom.

My first NetGalley DNF. So sad.

I really wanted to like this book & by the blurb, it was definitely my kind of story - strong female characters, being stranded in strange layers of reality, and some romance thrown in for fun.

Honestly, though? I was dead bored. First, the world-building just wasn't there. The characters use all sorts of jargon that's clearly how people talk in this world, but we never really get the translation & there were times when the context did not give me a clue what they were talking about. There is this world and reality that is different than our own, but we never learn anything about it.

Second, I got bored by the groundhog dayness of it all! There's basically one series of events we see over and over and over and over again, but with slight changes due to the different layers of reality. Honestly, I can't read that scenario even one more time.

It pains me to write a bad review on NetGalley. I always want to send these ARCs off with a positive push, but this one just wasn't for me. Thanks to NetGalley and Orbit Books for the opportunity to try it though.

Now for the book, I like it is a huge mix of adventure with romance. More heavy on the adventure side. The plot was interesting and fresh . Doesn’t feel like everything that is out there right now. Definitely will recommend

DNF @ 30%

I really loved the premise of this book (and the cover, wow!!) buuuuut that’s about it 😭

I feel the concept of this book would work better as a Middle Grade novel rather than adult. It’s unique and quirky, but there’s only so many talking birds and man-eating sacks I can take until I’m like lol enough.

There is very little hand-holding when it comes to the world building. (I would like a LITTLE bit lol). They are split up into divisions like Cats, Hounds, Ravens, and there is quite a bit of Moon talk (waxing Compass Moon, half Sickle Moon, etc) that really did not have anything to do with the plot. (At least up to where I stopped.)

Because this is a time loop book, the same thing happens over and over (but in a grueling way not a fun way.) Time loops are a hard thing to execute and when done well, can keep the reader engaged throughout, but there was far too much repetition and I was done with it by Loop #4 (which sadly was very early into the book.)

If you like campy books, time loops, and cheesy dialogue, I’d say give this book a shot. Otherwise…don’t 😅

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit for the opportunity to read an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

Rating: 2.5/5

I’m going to say something I’ve never said about a book before: this should’ve been a novella. There was a lot of potential in this book, but as the story continued to drag on and on, it just grew so tedious to get through. The plot—racing against time, slipping into a new layer of reality every hour, trying to prevent calamity—would’ve lent itself so much better to a novella format. It’s actually insane to me that this is going to be a series.

Overall, this book was simply fine. Not very interesting, repetitive (but the plot makes this inevitable, so that’s expected), but a pleasant enough read if you look past the tedium. Somehow, this doesn’t focus too heavily on the romance and is very light on world building, yet also isn’t strongly character driven. This book kind of just—is.

I think what disappoints me is how many missed opportunities there were. The story gives the author an excuse to use as much flowery, lyrical prose as they’d like—and then the writing is straightforward and simple in a way that would be kind of refreshing in another story. The world is supposed to be eerie, with the echoes growing more nightmarish and terrible with each level—and then there is nothing particularly nightmarish and terrible to be found. This had the bones of a good story (and it’s sapphic!), it just failed to follow through on any of them.

DNF at 30%. I wanted to love this one. I really did but I struggled from the beginning, I couldn’t connect to the characters at all and that kept me from continuing.

The Last Hour Between Worlds follows investigator Kembral Thorne as she unknowingly enters a dangerous game full of murder and monsters. I thoroughly enjoyed the premise, the setting, and the characters and found this book to be unique. I am SO excited that this is the start of a series, because I think there is so much room for expansion in this world (the end wraps up without a cliffhanger).

Moira Quirk's narration is perfection as always.

I received an ARC and ALC from Orbit Books | Orbit and Hachette Audio | Orbit via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I found this book to be enjoyable and fast paced, with shorter chapters that make for a quick and engaging read! The world building is easy to grasp and unique, building a universe that is fun and makes you question a lot. The characters seem to take main stage in the writing, so I did find myself wishing for a bit more from the fmc as she either focused more on her new child or her unrequited feelings. This isn't necessarily bad but I think with the focus I would've enjoyed a bit more depth. While I do enjoy a character-driven plot, I did sort of find myself hoping for a bit more world-building - however this is purely personal preference! There are of course still many descriptions of each Echo that seem to set up for future books really well, so I look forward to seeing how this could develop. Overall this was a fun and quick read and I think it could be really exciting to see how the books progress.

Thank you to NetGalley and Orbit Books for this eARC in exchange for an honest review!