I was invested by chapter 2! It reminds me of the episode on Charmed where they go back to their past lives in the 1920s.

It was fun and quick paced, yet dealt with deep emotions of grieve and establishing one's identity again after loss in an effortless way. All of the characters are lovable! And the main female character finds her voice and way back to life by living a different life.

Time travel at its finest!

This was a gripping and atmospheric mystery that kept me guessing right until the end. I loved the way the story slowly unraveled, revealing secrets and twists that really pulled me in.

The characters were complex and believable, and the setting added a haunting vibe that suited the story perfectly. A few parts were a bit slow, but overall, a really compelling read.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds is delightful! Jennifer Moorman weaves together time travel, romance, and interesting historical details in a way that I thought was super clever and so fun to read. The relationship between Josephine and her sister was beautifully crafted, and their bond added both humor and depth to the story.

The race against time to prevent a catastrophe was thrilling and kept me engaged. I especially loved the magical realism and the seamless dual timeline structure. I ended up listening to the audiobook because the narration truly brought the characters and setting to life. Oh, and the ending is the sweetest.

Highly recommend for anyone who loves magical realism, immersive historical fiction, or a story that warms your heart while keeping you on the edge of your seat!

Time Travel books are what makes my mind go mad at some point in a good way (maybe). Parallel timelines and reading about them made me think about the German show DARK which is mindboggling. This was an interesting read and it touches a part of your heart which leaves a flutter behind.
A story of grief love and loss which makes you understand how much courage it takes to start over.
The magical element was beautiful and it was very good read.

This was such an interesting story and I loved the setting. I would have loved a little more depth/ambiance in the 20s timeline because what we did get was so interesting. I really liked how the story resolved too.

Josephine Reynolds’s husband passed away months ago, leaving her a widow at age 35. She is grieving his death, struggling to find a way to move forward with her life without him. When she makes a wish that she could “just disappear”, she finds to her horror that that very wish may be granted. Encouraged by her very worried sister to buy their old ancestral home which has just popped onto the market, she does so, in an act of impulsively charged desperation to make some changes in her life. But soon, she finds everything is about to change when she reinstalls the original front door which inexplicably transports her back to the Jazz Age and Prohibition. She finds herself face to face with her great-grandmother, who was running a speakeasy out of a hidden part of her home in the basement. Everything about 1927 and the opportunity to spend time with her amazing great grandmother is delightful to Josephine, breathing new life into her as she has struggled in the dark for so long. That is, until she realizes that her presence in the past is erasing her from the present, and could possibly destroy not only her own existence, but her family's as well. Her presence and interference with the past may very well change history by triggering events which will end in her great-grandmother’s untimely death, preventing her from marrying and having children, which would then of course erase her bloodline from ever continuing. Can Josephine stop those changes from occurring or has her wish to disappear forever doomed them all?

This book started out at a solid 4 or 5 stars for me and continued to captivate me for a while. I absolutely loved the story and the concept. But it started dropping with time. Josephine's love and devotion to her late husband was difficult for me to understand. At first I thought she would eventually see with more clarity that she deserved a deeper love, a better man, a kinder and softer man. While not abusive at all, he seemed ultimately disconnected and not fully invested in her. I don’t see how that could have been love for him, so her inability to see that herself aggravated me and ultimately weakened her character for me. What dropped it to a 2.5 or 3 (I did “round up” to 3 stars but it was hard), was that the last third of the book just dragged terribly for me. I found myself skipping sections or “speed reading”/scanning over sections just to get through what seemed to be unnecessary page fillers. The ending was satisfactory and bumped it back up to a 3, but I really would have enjoyed it much more if there wasn’t that drag in the last third right before the conclusion.

The Vanishing of Josephine Reynolds by Jennifer Moorman is a charming time-travel romance with heart, history, and a touch of magic. Josephine’s journey from grief to growth was emotional and rewarding, especially when she meets her great-grandmother in 1927. The Jazz Age setting—with speakeasies and secrets—added a fun, nostalgic vibe. While the romance didn’t fully land for me, the story’s warmth and sense of legacy kept me hooked.

I have a weakness for time travel romances, and this did not disappoint!!

Josephine is a young widow struggling to move on with her life after the death of her husband. She needs to restart her life, and decides to buy her grandmother’s historic home.

After moving in, she discovers a magical portal, and she is transported back to the 1920s - where she meets her grandma, Alma. While Alma doesn’t know who Josephine is, she takes her under her wing, sharing secrets, friends, and advice.

As time progresses, Josephine realizes she’s altering the future, and her own existence, and is desperate to save everyone and everything she loves.

I loved this one. Add it to your TBR immediately if you like:

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲:
• Time Travel
• Magical Realism
• The 1920s
• Twists of fate
• Family dynamics
• Character driven stories

In this unique and fascinating dual-timeline historical fiction novel, readers follow newly widowed Josephien Reynolds as she returns to her family’s ancestral home, in need of some work and life to it. Discovering the original door in a local salvage yard, Josephine has no idea that reinstalling the door will literally open a portal back to 1927 when her great-grandmother Alma ran an illegal speakeasy in the basement during the height of Prohibition. When she returns to the present and discovers that history has changed and her own existence is at risk, Josephine must keep a foot in each world to save Alma and her own future in this fantastic new novel. Brilliantly written, engaging, and immersive, the Back to the Future logic of time travel really applies here, and readers will love this unique engagement with historical fiction, some kind of magic and time travel in this entertaining and emotional new release. The characters are the star of the show, and the different historical backgrounds of the same house really bring the history of a house like this one to life in some fascinating ways. Engrossing, immersive, and impossible to put down, this unique new historical fiction novel is perfect for readers who love dual timeline novels but want something new.

Oh I really enjoyed this one! Time travel, romance, the 1920s and a bit of prohibition drama - what's not to love!

Josephine is grief-stricken and mourning her husband when she wonders out loud that she wishes she'd never been born. Almost immediately, she is given the opportunity to buy her great-grandmother's old mansion, the Carter Mansion and is thrown into a time-travelling conundrum where she finds her life disappearing day by day. In order to save herself, she needs to save her great-grandmother.

This is an easy read and the characters are wonderfully drawn. I loved them all and while I knew there would be a happy ending, I was on the edge of my seat getting here. My only nitpick is that things happened very quickly but I also understand why they needed to!

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

After losing her husband, Josephine buys her great grandmother’s home and with a little help of magic is able to travel back in time to the 1920’s. Will she be able to save her great grandmother from dying early and preventing her family from being born? This was a great book.

Time travel, and magical realism, is you usually just up my alley but I was a bit disengaged with the characters. I think is was more a a cozy mystery and I was hoping for more magic. It was a fun read and I would recommend.
Thank you to net galley and the publisher for the opportunity to read.
3.5 stars

I was drawn to this book by the gorgeous cover and description. Time travel books are usually hit or miss for me and happy to share that this story is a hit for me! I thought the time travel aspect of the story was well executed. The characters were relatable and I enjoyed the historical time period the story took place in. This was my first novel by author Jennifer Moorman. She is known to write magical realism stories. I am definitely interested in reading some of her backlist.

This book had an interesting premise, but it ended up being a skim read for me. I feel like I've been reading too many mystical, historical works lately and this one just failed to really grab my attention. It was well-written though and I feel like it's definitely a YMMV book that other readers, especially those who love historical fiction, would enjoy more than I did.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

I enjoyed this book about a woman going back in time to a 1920s Speak Easy to visit her great-grandmother through a magic door. As usual I wished she built more friendships instead of an automatic romance. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

Rounding up from 4.5 stars

This historical time travel novel gripped me early on. A large portion of the book takes place in the 1920's with the rest being in present day time.

Once Josephine discovers that she can time travel and must right a wrong, she quickly develops relationships with people in the past.

Being the reader, my stress level rose as the plot neared the time of a deadly event that Josephine had to prevent. You already know it's going to happen, just not how it will play out. The author did a wonderful job of building the suspense in the hours leading up to the event. As I read on, I was mentally pleading that it may not come to fruition. I had come to love these characters so much and I didn't want to lose a single one of them.

In the end I was left feeling happy/sad. Everything happened as it had to happen, but I still felt a little sad when I finished the book. Overall, I felt a lot of feelings while reading this book and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harper Collins. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I was so so excited for this - I love the cover. But I struggled to follow along and wasn't totally engaged when I was reading unfortunately.

I won't be reading this. I've tried multiple times and haven't gotten into it. Thank you though for the opportunity. If I read it in the future I will come back and change this review.

**I posted this review on Dec 6,2024 on my socials and forgot to post it here!

Thank you @harpermusebooks and @netgalley for the complimentary ARC of #TheVanishingOfJosephineReynolds by @jenniferrmoorman (Publication date: Jan 14, 2025).

This book is decorated with time travel, friendship, fashion, dancing, a speakeasy, smooth talking gentleman, and mystery. It is so descriptive you can almost see yourself right there in the roaring 20’s!

This enchanting story transports you from current times straight into the prohibition era of the 1920’s. We follow the story of Josephine Reynolds. A young widow who is trying to find her way after the loss of her husband. She purchases her great-grandmother Alma’s mansion and discovers a portal to the past. When she goes through the magical door, she finds herself right there with Alma, the young version, in the 1920’s. Without Alma knowing who Josephine really is, she takes her under her wing and teaches her beautiful lessons of life and love and grief and healing and finding your purpose.

I was left wanting more and I would love to see a book 2 about the possible relationship that gets sparked at the end of this story!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This was a charming novel! Josephine is a character many can relate to, having become widowed in her thirties and realizing she'd lost more than just a spouse but her own desires and dreams along the way. Moving into her great-grandmother's house sets the stage for time travel. I found the magical realism to be just that- completely, believably realistic but full of the best kind of magic. I would absolutely have loved to travel back in time and meet my great-grandmother as a contemporary. Overall, this is not a fast paced, history focused novel, but it is a sweet, finding yourself- with a nod to the Great Gatsby- book that I thoroughly enjoyed and would recommend to all.