The Memory Collectors is the story of a group of people who all return to the same day - day that changed all of their lives for the worse, each in a different way but all connected in some fashion. Let me start by saying that this book blew me away. It hit everything - a clever storyline about technology in the future mixed in with all of the emotions possible, all so raw and so real. Grief, guilt, forgiveness, love, and resilience. Seeing these characters confront the past, learn from it, heal from it and connect with each other broke me in so many ways and also filled me with so much love and hope. To see what people will do for the ones they love. How to learn from your mistakes and become a better person from it. And learn to love yourself again. So powerful and just so well done.

If you could go back and relive one hour of your past, would you? What part would you choose?

Elizabeth, Andy, Logan, and Brooke all want to do this and travel back to a part of their past. They all have different reasons, and events, they want to relive, and they apply to be part of this new travel invention that allows participants to time travel to the past. But what happens when the hour is up and they are still stuck in the past? What will they find out? What will happen to them?

I thought the topic of this novel was very interesting, and it got me thinking about whether I would ever want to time travel if I was able to. I also enjoyed how the characters’ stories were intertwined throughout the novel.

Heartfelt, Thoughtful, and Full of Mystery

I thought this story was fantastic. For me, it was a true 5-star read. It was incredibly gripping and, at the same time, deeply moving. I just couldn’t stop reading because I needed to know what was really going on behind it all.

Four people travel back to a defining moment in their past, each with their own unique story. A lost child, a great love, guilt, pain. I found all of their journeys compelling and relatable. Some scenes really touched me and stayed with me.

What I especially loved was how the book explored love in its many forms, whether it’s love for yourself, a child, a partner, or your family. It was handled in such a sensitive, honest way, and simply beautiful to read.

All the main characters were lovable in their own way, even though they weren’t always easy people. I appreciated that they had flaws and edges, and I loved seeing them grow throughout the story, gaining such moving insights about themselves and life in general.

And then it gets truly exciting: over time, the pieces come together like in a great mystery novel, leading to a resolution I found really satisfying.

The time travel aspect was also very well done, interesting, thoughtful, and easy to follow. I was completely immersed in the story from beginning to end.

For me, The Memory Collectors was a real highlight. I’m genuinely thrilled and will definitely be reading more by this author.

In this book time travel is possible! Four people all go back to the same night when all their lives changed - but when their hour is up, they get stuck and don’t return to the present.

I loved the premise of this book! It was fast paced and I wanted to finish it quickly to see how it all shook out.

I loved the characters and the author did a great job of intertwining their stories so that they all crossed paths.

The ending left me wanting more. I felt like there were still so many unanswered questions. An epilogue might’ve been helpful. Other than that - it was a great read. If you like books with time travel elements, this is a great one to pick up!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for my e-ARC of The Memory Collectors!

𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐎𝐔
✍🏻 have ever wanted to rewrite your past
😣 feel guilty for something you did in the past
⚖️ want to see justice served
💰 are rich and would use that money to travel back in time

• 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐓’𝐒 𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐔𝐓

What would you do if you could spend an hour in your past? Four strangers in the beach town of Ventura, California are about to find out.

Elizabeth aches for one more precious hour with her son who died in a senseless accident. 

Andy is desperate to find his first love who vanished after a whirlwind romance. 

Logan craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing, yearning to reclaim the freedom he lost after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. 
Brooke is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.

Enter Aeon Expeditions, the groundbreaking time travel invention of Mark Saunders—which allows some lucky clients the chance to spend an hour in their past. Even though Aeon’s technology ensures time travel can’t alter the future, all four clients, including Mark’s ex-wife Elizabeth, yearn to revisit the hour that changed their lives forever. 

But when their “hour” extends beyond sixty minutes, they find themselves stranded in the past. As their paths intertwine unexpectedly, they unearth shocking secrets hidden in the shadows of their shared history: All their lives were shattered the same night on a secluded highway by the beach. As they delve into the hidden truths of that pivotal hour, a startling revelation emerges. They were not alone. Someone else was present, harboring deadly intentions.

• 𝐌𝐘 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒

This was such a thought provoking read! Marketed as sci-fi, it felt more like a twisty mystery to me that involved a handful of POVs revolving around people who were involved in a terrible accident on August 25th years prior. All four strangers decide to travel back in time for 60 minutes to relive the night everything changed for them. I enjoyed getting to know each of them through their separate POVs and learn more about who they were both before and after this fateful event. Each of the characters felt relatable to me in their own way, and I loved uncovering their secrets. Definitely a fun read!

This was onr of the most original books that I have read. This book puts a whole new perspective on loss and grief with a pacing that kept me reading it faster than most of my books. It was thought provoking and I could see this one adapted into a streaming series.

While I’ll quibble on the designation of SciFi, I’ll be accepting zero other criticism regarding this book.

The characters were flawed and meaty and nuanced.
The premise was fascinating and heartbreaking and weirdly REAL.
The convergence of all the storylines was satisfying and touching and good for the soul.

I loved the multiple POVs.
I loved the friendships forged in both necessity and adversity.
I loved the multiple redemption arcs.
I LOVED THIS BOOK.

Rate : 4.3

Spend an hour in your past? It seems imaginary. But here they are, four strangers in a beach town, California willing to do it. The question is, why?

Sci-Fi mixed with crime thriller. There are four POV, but it doesn’t overwhelm the story, and each chapter becomes a piece of a puzzle which we need to hold it thigh each piece carefully. I need to really pay attention and read this story with a full high concentration. Otherwise, I will be missing what is going on in the story and that piece of clue. The time travel concept is very easy to understand, although this story's sci-fi level is the high one.

As for the main character, I think all of them, not just one. I know normally the main character in each story is usually one male and/or one female, but this story will off if it uses the normal main character structure, because each character's role is very crucial to what is happening in the story.

The story had a fast thriller pace with aa deep nerve-taking tension in it. For the plot twist, yes, it is a shocking level, but also a sad one. There are many morale lessons that we can learn in this story and I really appreciated it.

Overall, I feel this story is stronger in mystery than sci-fi. To be honest, because crime mysteries become the main context in the story's plot, and sci-fi feels like only as the base and there needs more suspense for a story like this.

Thank you to the author, Crooked Lane Books and NetGalley, for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My apologies for the delay in posting, I have had continuing familial health challenges to contend with in the past months.

I don't normally read SciFi/Fantasy, but I was intrigued by the premise, particularly because the characters are connected in ways they aren't aware of. The author doesn't go into any detail of the science of time travel, for which I was grateful - plus this really wasn't the focus of the novel. We find ourselves in a not-clearly-defined future, where a firm offers the possibility of returning to the past for one hour - albeit with no chance to choose which time exactly you will land in, and with the assurance that you cannot change the events of the future. Four very different characters are introduced, and from the beginning there are hints as to the connections between them. This is not overt, and as the story proceeds we discover more and more of the puzzle pieces. The story does revolve around a mystery of sorts, but the interaction between the characters, and how being in the past impacts them, is more central to the narrative. Overall, a very satisfying read!

This book takes place slightly in the future and gives four characters the opportunity to jump back to live an hour in a moment in the past. If you’re a fan of Before The Coffee Gets Cold, this one is a more sci-fi like book but tugs at your heart strings.

Thank you Crooked Lane Books & Net Galley for a copy of this book!

Don't think about the science part so you can really enjoy this novel 😉

This was a fascinating mystery. A company can send you back to the past, for an hour, but you don't know where you'll go. You do know that the future will not be changed in any way too.

Four strangers get sent to the same very tough day. Elizabeth lost her son, Andy lost a new love, Logan who was paralyzed, and Brooke who caused an accident. They work together to understand why they were sent to this point again and they come to find peace and a way to move forward. This is a book that just keeps you turning pages and feeling all the feelings with these people.

“If you could spend an hour in your past, what would you do?” - THE MEMORY COLLECTORS

That quote is the premise of this book. It’s set a few years in the future and there is a company, Aeon Expeditions, that can send you into the past for an hour.

The book has four main characters that are part of this “jump”. Their hour turns into longer and the book tells about why each have gone back and how their lives are connected.

I listened to this one and there are 4 different narrators for each of the main characters which made it very entertaining.

The book has great characters. I loved the way that both the people and the plot develop. It isn’t totally clear why one of the “jumpers” is part of the plot which made me anticipate the connection.

This ended up being one of my favorite reads so far this year. I think it would be a perfect book club read.

The premise of this book wasn’t particularly unique but I like time traveling books where characters connect in ways they aren’t aware. Meserve also did a great job of not getting too bogged down in the science of time travel. The how’s and the why’s of it wasn’t really the point and I appreciated that. I really like how each story was connected at the beginning, but very slightly, almost like you would miss it if you really weren’t paying attention. I like very much how the author doesn’t point this out and leaves it up to the reader to catch it especially early on. This was a fun and entertaining book. The writing style was very simplistic and easy to read. The connection between each of the characters wasn’t too complicated. The story does revolve around a mystery of sorts but I feel like it takes a little bit of a backseat to how the characters interact with each other and with the events of the past. Although it’s a bit predicable it was still a satisfying conclusion. Overall it wasn’t the best book, but it was a good time. I will probably read more from this author.

***Thank you NetGalley, Dete Meserve, and Crooked Lane Books for an advance copy in exchange for an honest review. ***

I absolutely loved this story. I’m a huge fan of speculative fiction, especially time travel, and I couldn’t get enough.

In The Memory Collectors, a new form of time travel has been invented. Travelers can back in time into their own past and inhabit their own bodies aware that they’re back in time. They can only experience 60 minutes and they are unable to choose which 60 minutes they travel to. Nothing they do can change the future, so they mostly go back to try to see if they can see someone or something they lost in their past.

For four strangers, when they travel back to their past, they become stuck unable to get back to their current time. The four then become intertwined with each other and discover that one event coincided with all of them changing each of their lives forever.

I adored each of these four characters and the people they visit. This one stayed with me for a long time. I’ll happily read anything Dete Meserve writes!

*Thanks so much to partners Crooked Lane Books and Suzy Approved Book Tours for the gifted eARC and for including me on the booktour!*

I received a digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. All of the opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I absolutely loved this story. I need friends of mine to read it, just so we can discuss it. It is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2025. I hope the characters are at least mentioned in other books just so I know how they are doing.

The Memory Collectors explores time travel and its emotional impact. The novel introduces a groundbreaking company that allows people to relive a single hour from their past. With no control over which moment they revisit, applicants pay a steep price for the rare chance to experience time in a way never before possible.

Four of the lucky ones are chosen to embark on this extraordinary journey, believing they are revisiting moments personally significant to them. However, their lives intertwine in ways they never expected, bound by a shared event that altered their futures. As their stories unfold, the novel reveals how memories shape identity, relationships, and the choices we make.

This book hit me right in the heart. It made me wish I could rewind time, even just for an hour, to reconnect with people I've lost and relive the moments that shaped me. The story dives deep into the idea that our choices ripple through our lives in ways we don’t always realize. This is one of those books that makes you pause, reflect, about the “what ifs.” I highly recommend it!

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book.*

"The Memory Collectors" is about individuals being able to go back to the past for one hour. But when their one hour turns to hours, these people realise that they're all connected.

I found the beginning a bit slow-going and was annoyed because the focalisers changed so often but was then intrigued by the (murder) mystery built into the story. The ending was a bit rushed but I overall enjoyed this book.

3.5 stars

Content warning: de@th of a child, domestic v!olence and st@lking, car accident causing d@eath and disablement.

What if you had the chance to spend one hour in the past? What if you could go back in time - not to change events - but to gain a clearer perspective?

Aeon Expeditions have developed the technology to do just that, and as the (ex)wife of the founder, Elizabeth take a journey back to 20 August 2025 - five days before her son Sam was killed in an accident. This time round she is determined to do everything she can to prevent him from being on the dark highway at that moment, and gain some sense of closure by learning WHY he was there.

Logan, paralysed by the same accident that killed Sam, is sent back to the same date, to experience one last hurrah before he loses the use of his legs. Author Andy finds himself back on 20 August 2025, right before he meets - and loses - the love of his life.

And chef Brooke is sent back to Before - before she is involved in an accident on the highway that claims the life of one man and disables another.

And for their allotted hour, the four "Jumpers" as they are called revel in the life they knew before their worlds were shattered. But when they remain in the past beyond their extraction time, can they change the course of their own futures?

Told from alternating first person POVs, this book dives into the themes of grief and loss (tears in the first chapter!), and guilt and forgiveness and all those sliding door moments where we think we know what is going on but a different perspective shows another story. All four characters stories are tightly interwoven, and the pacing is just right, making this an unputdownable read.

There is a sub theme of DV, so readers who have experienced this may wish to be forewarned.

Really enjoyed this, and it was an unusual take on the timetravel idea.

~This is a NetGalley ARC. All opinions are my own~

We have had these moments in our lives where we want to relive that one moment that changed the trajectory of our lives or the happiest one where everything was just <i>right</i>, and the moments where you wished you didn't say the things you said or even wished for things you wished in burning anger. Nothing, can overcome the guilt, the regret, that lives with us long after the moment has passed. What would it mean for people with these emotions simmering for years to be given an option to relive those moments and do something different - a closure of sorts as it wont impact the present.

Science fiction elements make up the tool for the characters to come to terms with loss, life and people who are lost, and the time that's passed. Its not a fix for future, for the present but a measure to spend an extra hour with loved ones and life that's not there anymore, and hope for a peaceful resolution. The characters who make this journey have regrets - deep, troubling ones that eat away your hopes and dreams and your heart; unable to let go. The task gives them one hour in that moment, a memory replayed, a moment restructured and with wishful thinking they only hope it would help them to find peace.

<i>Thank you to Netgalley and Crooked Lane Books for providing me with a free copy of this e-book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

If I had to sum up my experience with The Memory Collectors in two words it would be, enduring love!

In 2028 Aeon scientists have developed the technology to allow a person to time jump within their own past.

The rules are as follows:

1. You can only stay an hour in your past before being retrieved.

2. You have no control over which part of your past you jump into. It could be a treasured memory or a mundane and forgettable one.

3. And the most crucial rule of all, a trip to the past cannot alter the future.

Four people, about to embark on their time jump journey’s courtesy of Aeon Expeditions, fates are connected and intertwined by a tragic day, 25th August 2025.

Elizabeth lost her son.

Andy lost love.

Logan lost the use of his legs.

And Brooke… she lost her freedom.

And none of them understand why or how it happened. Three years later and that fateful day is still shouldered in mystery. Elizabeth, Andy, Logan, and Brooke crave answers and closure, unable to escape their crippling grief and loss and move on in the present. When all four's jumps land them back in time five days before the event that shattered each of their lives it's a golden opportunity for them to uncover the truth. And even though they’ve been told it is impossible, change what happened…

What an original concept The Memory Collectors was. So much tension and emotion. If you are a literary fiction lover don't let the sci-fi or time travel aspects prevent you from reading this one. I will be recommending The Memory Collectors to my mum, even though I know she loathes sci-fi and time travel, and I am 100% confident she will love this brilliant and beautiful novel. Also, if you are worried about this being too technical or scientific, don't, as the relevant time travel stuff is drip-fed rather than info-dumped, is easy-to-follow, makes complete sense, and is relayed to reflect the character narrating’s own experiences. The Memory Collectors followed four relatable, sympathetic, flawed people’s stories, whose lives have been torn asunder in an instant, and time travel was a unique and clever way for these characters to reconnect with their lost loved ones and lost livelihoods. As I mentioned in my tagline the focus was on enduring love – burgeoning love, romantic love, parental love, friends love, and the love to help, protect, and save people, even those who are almost strangers. The intricate way the puzzles pieces of the plot slotted together by the end was pure magic.

Due to other commitments, it has taken me weeks to read this, but it stayed with me during my hiatus, I didn’t forget a single thing I’d read, and as soon as I had the opportunity to re-immerse myself, I had no trouble getting back into it. I encourage everyone to pick up The Memory Collectors. I’ve already read the synopsis for one of Dete Meserve’s previous novels, Good Sam, and it sounds amazing too. I’m excited not only to get to her backlist, but that she has a backlist.

I’d like to thank Netgalley, Crooked Lane Books, and Dete Meserve for the e-ARC.

Out now!