This book was such a thrill!!! It did take me a second to get into, but once I did I was hooked! Dorothy can’t remember anything about her past, but she knows she isn’t crazy. Or at least she doesn’t think she is. Something doesn’t feel right about the story the doctors, police, and even her husband are telling her. She is on a mission from the future…right? Honestly I went back and forth on whether she was crazy or telling the truth, and that’s part of the fun of reading this book! If you want to find out and love sci-fi/thrillers, pick this book up!

Special thanks to NetGalley for allowing me to read this ARC! It was such a palette cleanser and I’m excited to read a sequel 👀

Review: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5

Excellently written. I don’t think I’ve ever read another book like this one

This book was provided to me by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I think my true rating of this book is 4.5 but I’m gonna round it up to 5 for platforms that don't allow half stars.
This book had me hooked from the jump. One of the most unreliable narrators I’ve ever read because she can’t even discern the lies from the truth. It is one of the few mystery/thrillers I have read where I genuinely did not know where we were going. Sometimes I think that confusion took away from my enjoyment, I think the pacing in the middle of the book got a bit odd in the pursuit of keeping the reader in the dark about what the actual reality is. I generally get a bit wary of time travel in books since it can get real confusing real fast but I think the time travel stayed simple enough to not distract me from the rest of the plot. The utilization of a mental hospital patient as a narrator was such a great choice and it was executed so well. Getting to ride along with Dorothy’s inner demons/ turmoil really adds to the experience of this book.

If I was asked for a quick pitch on this book I’d describe it as a refreshing take on a psychological thriller that actually keeps you guessing. Along with a side of mental health and sexism commentary.

*mild spoiler ahead*
The ending of this book pissed me off actually. All of that suspense and buildup to not even get a real resolution. A somewhat sour end to an otherwise great read. If this book ends up being a stand alone and no follow up is to be had I’m going to have to come back and edit this review to be meaner.

The Once and Future Me starts with a gripping and mysterious premise—a woman wakes up on a bus headed to a psychiatric hospital in the 1950s with no memory of who she is or how she got there. An unsettling inner voice urges her to act, but she has to decide whether it’s a guide or something more dangerous. Things take a surreal turn when she suddenly finds herself in a future world ravaged by a deadly virus, and it becomes clear that she may be the key to saving humanity—if only she could trust what timeline is real.

The dual-world concept and the theme of fragmented identity were fascinating, and I appreciated the psychological undertones that threaded through the story. The tension between obeying the inner voice or rejecting it was especially compelling and could’ve been a powerful emotional core.

That said, the pacing really dragged in places. Some sections felt overly drawn out, which made it hard to stay engaged, and I almost gave up on the book more than once. I also wish there had been more development of the main character’s inner voice—something that started off strong but didn’t feel fully explored by the end.

Overall, The Once and Future Me had a strong concept with thought-provoking ideas, but it didn’t always deliver on its potential. Worth a read if you enjoy psychological sci-fi with a slow burn, but be prepared for some pacing issues.

Initially, this novel has the reader believing they've landed somewhere between "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "The Stepford Wives." It soon becomes apparent, however, that something much more critical is in the balance.

In the year 2035 a dangerous virus is killing everyone who reaches their 25th birthday. The only hope, an antiviral serum that has been discovered in 1954 but tossed aside by the scientific community as irrelevant and is only remarked upon by a gossip tabloid which indicates there is a single sample remaining.

So begins an odyssey by an imperfect "warrior" from 2035 who must travel back in time to retrieve the sample and hopefully a cure for what will surely otherwise be the end of mankind. Our hero Dorothy/Bix and her comrads are not alone in wanting this precious sample. Cameron Rook, leader of the Reckoners, also wants the remedy so he can decide who lives and dies ... giving him complete power.

Never knowing for sure who she can trust, Bix must infiltrate a mental institution in the 1950s to find answers and get out in time to return with a cure. This edge of your seat novel is makes for an exciting debut.

unique, well written, high concept, and SUPER interesting book that is shells upon shells upon shells. if an onion was a mobius strip. 5 stars. tysm for the arc.

I very rarely give a one star and giving a book a bad rating is the worst feeling in the world especially for a debut authour, but when something is marketed better than reading the actual book, the review becomes the least of my worries.

The Once and Future Me had the ability to be it all! From the fun cover art to the (albeit a bit shaky) premise, a little scifi mixed with a “hysterical woman” plotline, the commentary had the makings of a great book, but that was unfortunately the furthest we got when it comes to execution.

Science fiction means the world to me and find it’s done poorly so often, from a lack of understanding of the genre to the lackadaisical writing in terms of social commentary and BIG themes. There was an attempt here on those themes from misogyny and how we inherently treat women in our society, ableism. survivors guilt, a whole pandemic, etc but the lack of ability was so great that it often felt like a fan fiction. I understand this is the first attempt but this is something I’d expect to read online, not in a published book.

Instead of hitting the theme of misogyny, it hits the reader over the end with a big ol’ BOINK. The ableism actually turned itself on its head and delved into being ableist instead of trying to dispose of it. The pandemic storyline was so frustrating especially when referencing Covid as something we have “handled.” As a disabled person, so many of these plot lines felt so offensive and frustrating. Nothing was really delved into but rather sat at the surface, from themes to technical style to world building. It was clear that the authour had big dreams and big takes on the story which I wholly admire, but didn’t have the ability to do anything with them.

Not only were there issues with the “commentary” or lack there of but the writing was incredibly difficult to get through. Not because the themes weren’t there or that it was hard to understand, it was just poorly written. I despise comparing it to fan fiction but that’s the best I can do. The majority of this book was written in dialogue (I’m talking 90%) and that gets extremely exhausting to read and it ends up doing little in terms of world building, action, or anything else besides feeling juvenile in terms of skill. The world building was non existent, thank you dialogue, that even a time traveling storyline had me rolling my eyes because we needed the “science” part of science fiction, right? Our science fiction terminology was boiled down to words “football” for tech and “yoloyear,” as a science fiction lover I wanted to scream.

There are some things you want to love but I even lost the urge to try to love this after the halfway point and just fell into hatred. I’m tired of my favourite genre being seen as an “easy in” to the industry and wish this would’ve stayed in the drafts or at the very least, gone through 5 more editors who actually had the authours best interest at heart.

Get ready for this psychological thriller with a dystopian sci-fi, time-travel twist. Set in 1950s Virginia, it follows a woman with no memory who’s told she’s mentally ill, but her instincts say otherwise. Is she a compliant housewife or a badass woman with a violent streak? The future of the world depends on her finding that out. The ending sets the stage for a possible sequel and I hope to hell there’s one, this was a 5-star all the way around for her debut novel!

This one will absolutely make its way to my bookshelf!

Well friends, this one was not for me. A woman is on a bus with other mentally ill patients and it is the year 1954. They call her Dorothy but she doesn't think it is her name, and she apparently has a diagnosis of Schizophrenia. She then determines that she has is a time traveler named Bix. She has a husband Paul in one of the timelines, but she also has a mission to save the world from destruction.

That is about all I understood. I think if you like the book Dissolution you would like this. I love speculative fiction but this was very cerebral. It has the pacing of a mystery but I couldn't quite grasp the concepts and then found myself skimming.

Thanks to NetGalley and Henry Holt publishing for the ARC. Book to be published August 19, 2025.

I did not enjoy this book. It was outlandish and difficult to follow. It reminded me of Girl, Interrupted and the asylum season of American Horror Story. It also seemed like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But this book just had too much going with no payoff.

An engaging first novel, with an interesting setup for having an unreliable narrator and a definitely emotional connection with the protagonist. Avoiding spoilers, I’ll say I enjoyed it overall, but pacing-wise the first half drags a bit and the last quarter has a whole lot (including a Bond-movie-worthy explanation by an antagonist and at least one Deus Ex Machina moment) crammed in a short space. The conclusion isn’t fully satisfying, in a way that seems to be leaving room for a sequel or trilogy rather than having being left open to serve the story..

But still, the connection that Pace makes between the reader and Dorothy as the narrator questions her own sanity is extremely well done, and will keep you flipping pages to the end to find out what’s really happening. It’s an engaging first effort, and I’ll look forward to seeing what else Pace has in store. On a decimal 1-5 scale, I’d rate it 3.75.

Thanks to Netgalley and Henry Holt & Co. for the ARC.

An interesting concept with a mostly gripping pace, "Once and Future Me" will generally work for people who, like me, were fans of shows such as Fringe, Dark and Continuum.

It has a good mix of MK Ultra-meets-Stepford Wives for the first half and a heavier dose of suspenseful sci-fi for the second half, a motley of genres that in my opinion helps keep it intriguing.

Author Melissa Pace apparently has also written TV pilots, and it shows in that the plot moves generally swiftly, albeit episodically. But also in that there are several deus ex machina moments that in my case did strain the suspension of disbelief towards the latter third of the book. That dinged my enjoyment of it a bit, as well as the fact that even with a first person narrative it is hard to get a sense of the main character given the memory loss aspects — and therefore several of the supporting cast, so to speak, also feels not quite fully cooked so that the ending (appropriately, given the marketing, very "Dark Matter"-like) didn't quite land for me.

That said, the writing sometimes really soars in a way that made the novel overall enjoyable. I.e. this phrase that felt particularly evocative: "a high-pitched scream now pours from this audience of children raised by each other".

It's a 3.8/5 for me, rounded up.

This book is a 4.5 star read for me! I can't get over the fact that this is a debut novel! This author is one I will be waiting to see what comes next!

I will admit when I first read the synopsis I was nervous to see if there would be too much going on in this book since we are following the main character who may or may not be from the future. Or may or may not be this Dorothy lady who is a paranoid schizophrenic.

Instead, I was gripped with wanting to find the truth and following her through all that she went through to try to see what her reality was! I feel for myself this book was fast-paced and kept me interested until the end.

Why I rate it a 4.5 star is because I feel the ending fell a little flat for myself, but the rest of the story kept me interested!

I have to thank Net Galley and Henry Holt & Company for my advanced reader copy!

I was excited for this one and wanted to absolutely love it, it just didn't blow me away. For me, the pacing lagged and I just couldn't get invested. I would still recommend this to someone wanting a time travel story!

Thank you, NetGalley and Henry Holt and Company, for the ARC!

What a great plot! This book really has something for everyone. Part thriller, part sci-fi, with some US History, biological warfare, mental asylums, a bit of a love story and I can see the movie version already. The narrator is maybe unreliable or maybe mentally ill or possibly a time traveler. Quite chilling for sure. My only issue was with the pacing; I felt like things moved a bit too slowly at times. Otherwise this is an outstanding debut and I will be reading Melissa Pace’s next novel. Thank to the author and Net Galley for the preview copy.

I loved this book, and it will give me nightmares. The book starts with the FMC on a transport bus in 1954 headed to a psychiatric hospital but with no memory of who she is or why she’s there.

This story is told by a very unreliable narrator, who is diagnosed by hospital staff as a schizophrenic and administered treatments common at the time, like electroshock therapy. The narrator is either ‘Dorothy Frasier,’ a paranoid and suicidal schizophrenic, or ‘Bix,’ a time traveler from the future sent back 12 Monkeys style to save the world from a deadly plague.

The storytelling is fantastic and unravels in an engaging and captivating way. As a reader, I felt confused and unsure of what was happening right along with the FMC.

This is a fantastic edge-of-your-seat psychological sci-fi thriller.

Spice: 2/5
Plot: 5/5
Writing: 5/5
My Enjoyment:5+/5

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Publication Date: August 19, 2025

What an absolute mind-f of a book! I loved this so much that I couldn’t bring myself to read the final few pages for days because I just didn’t want it to end. This was such a gripping, immersive read that I was genuinely unsure whether Dorothy was actually Dorothy Frasier or a time traveler from the future. The psychological tension, the historical setting, and the dystopian elements all blended together perfectly to create an unforgettable experience.

Dorothy is a fantastic protagonist, and her struggle between two possible realities was masterfully written. I felt every ounce of her confusion and desperation. The one thing that didn’t fully work for me was the characters from the possible future. While we’re told that Dorothy cares about them, we don’t spend enough time with them to really feel that connection. I wish those relationships had been fleshed out more rather than just being told they mattered.

Now, let’s talk about the ending. If there’s one thing that will make readers scream, it’s that. It felt more like the end of a chapter than the end of a book, and I was left yelling, “What the f-! It can’t end there!” If a second book were available, I’d be downloading it immediately. Unfortunately, this book isn’t even out yet, so we’ll most likely be waiting a while.

But even with that ending, I can’t recommend this book enough. Dystopian world, mental asylums, U.S. history, time travel. It has everything. This a book that I won’t stop pushing on everyone I know. Easily a 4.5-star read, rounded up to 5.

Thank you to NetGalley and Henry Holt and Co. for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I enjoyed this one! I love when books have you questioning reality and what you are reading. A lot of the time, I questioned what I was comprehending. A fresh thriller. Setting it in a 1950s women's psychiatric hospital was scary in itself but having a whole subplot of biological warfare and time travel set it off. The only thing is that it got a little slow in some of the parts and got a wee bit repetitive. Other than that a great story. Recommending this one, definitely.

This book did a great job at building suspense and making the reader question what was reality or delusion. It was a very interesting premise melding sci-fi with thriller and also exploring womens ability to resist their oppression regardless of the time period. There were a few aspects of the story that I didn't enjoy, Like some traits of the character seemed incongruous with each other and the ending seemed rushed and incomplete.

Thank you Netgalley for the arc. This book was great. Super enjoyable, fun and also a little crazy. I would recommend reading it.