Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for the eARC.

If you like time travel, Celtic mythology, the Gilded Age, and romantasy, this might just be the book for you.

The book starts off with the FMC climbing out of a literal hole in the ground (a hellhole) in the Catskills of Upstate New York. She's covered in dirt and blood and has no memory of her life. All she knows for sure is that her name is Rua. Except everyone is calling her "Emma" and telling her that she's an outspoken member of Manhattan's wealthy. Rua struggles to adapt to the societal demands and expectations while she desperately tries to remember her life before. Things only get worse when Lord Finn Donore, a wealthy Irish man, enters the picture. Trying to climb his way up the ranks in Manhattan, he struggles with what's right for society and what will help him get what he wants. When he meets Rua for the first time, he can't help but feel like they've met before. As Lord Donore and Rua get to know each other, their memories of life before 1870s Manhattan return, and nothing is what it seems.

The book started off very strong. I loved the flashbacks of Rua's life, and the imagery was uncanny. I felt like I was there in the beginning. The characters for the most part were very well-developed, though I wish I knew more about Rua's sisters. I was also a little confused about the villains and towards the middle I had assumed some characters weren't what they seemed only to be proven wrong at the end. Not necessarily a bad thing, but I think a little more deception from certain characters would have made for a more interesting, engaging read. I found the pace a little uneven. The beginning was hard to put down, but the middle felt like it dragged. The ending was a little too abrupt and a bit confusing. I had to reread the last 3 chapters to make sure I didn't miss something. I was hoping for a little more.

Overall, I think this is a pretty strong book and give it 4/5 stars!

4.5 stars! The Gods Time Forgot is a beautiful historical fantasy romance with impeccable banter and the pining and yearning that so many other comparable books lack. The story leans more into the historical aspect than I’m accustomed to- but it was a nice change! Irish mythology was expertly woven into the story.

The story brings to light the darker side of New York socialites/business moguls in the late 1800s. Rua must pretend to be a woman of new money in order to figure out her past and how she ended up in her odd predicament. Finn is a wealthy Irish immigrant determined to climb the social ladder in order to help the less fortunate of Manhattan. They cross paths and cannot seem to stop running into each other- much to each other’s detriment. They both discover there’s a far greater power (and evil) at work. The intricacies of being a person in the Upper Tens are fascinating and well explained!

The beginning is a bit slow, but the plot really picks up at around the 40% mark. The last 30% was a whirlwind of scandal and revelations!

Thank you Alcove Press for the gifted egalley. I really enjoyed it!

I think this is one of those books that I would have loved had I read a physical copy but I just struggled with the Kindle version. The amnesia and fantasy mixed with reality threw me a bit and I struggled with wanting to flip back to previous chapters and look at something as I read (which is not the easiest to do with kindle).

I did really enjoy all of the characters and the charm in this book. The atmosphere, banter, vibe, was all just so good!

I didn't love the amnesia element and struggled with pacing but overall a decent read.

This one took me a little while to get into. I didn’t completely understand what was happening at first and it made it difficult to get engaged. I think it would have been more helpful to have the conversation between Macha and Nemain at the beginning of the book to at least set the stage.

With that being said, I did enjoy the story once it picked up and I sort of figured out what was happening. I’ve never read a historical romantasy before and I really enjoyed the wealthy society setting.

The side characters were written so well. I absolutely hated Anette, Flossie, and Richard…and I was supposed to.

Rua’s and Finn’s relationship came on fast and it took a little while for me to be invested in them. Again, I think it would have helped to have a little more context of their history before we met them.

A really unique read. I loved the premise.

A big thank you to Net Galley and Alcove Press for an eARC in exchange for my honest feedback.

I ADORED this book... until the end. The story itself, taking place in high society New York was perfection. Someone out of time having to figure out how to navigate balls and society. I loved it. I loved Rua. I loved Finn. The mythology was so great... but then the end. I was going to give this book 5 stars until then. The end felt rushed and unfinished. I needed more. I needed to understand more. I needed to see why. I needed more answers than I was given.

Really great story, fairly disappointing ending.

4.5⭐️

Thank you Alcove Press and NetGalley for the eARC!

This book was so amazing, I’ve quickly become so obsessed with it! I am a huge fan of books set in the 1800s, and I loved this book being set in 1870s Manhattan. It was a beautiful romance with Irish Gods, memory loss, and a little bit of magic.

The romance between Finn and Rua was something to swoon over, they really were quite adorable. It did feel like it dragged on a bit towards the end and it took too long for them to get together, like there was a bit too much back and forth of them falling in love and then fighting again.

There were so many characters in this story to hate, I loved it. Knowing the characters’ reasons for their actions and still disliking them regardless was enjoyable, I don’t know why 😂

The flashback memories of Rua and Finn’s past lives were great to read about but it was not quite enough. I was too confused for so much of the book and it was only more understandable towards the end. But I look forward to learning more about their past in the next book!

It was interesting and I really enjoyed reading it! Love the slowburn and yearning and how Rua standing up for herself. I also the the victorian/regency setting and how things play out with the old myth.

let me set the scene for you: nineteenth century New York meets Irish mythology in a romantasy novel.

Rua wakes up without any memories of who and where she is. The people around her believe her to be Emma, the missing daughter of the Harrington family, and she goes along with the charade as she sees no other way to save herself. Mind you, in 1870 women were not allowed to have opinions, though as Emma was already considered to be a social pariah due to her weird behaviour, Rua can adapt to the role fairly quick. She meets Finn and feels some sort of connection right away, yet social restrictions do not allow them to be together - though they long for each other desperately.

and this is what I enjoyed about the book: the longing, the desperation, and the tension. Rua and Finn had chemistry right from the beginning, and I loved watching their relationship unfold.

what I didn't enjoy so much, unfortunately, was the pacing of the story overall. while it was great for the romance, I sometimes felt like there wasn't really anything going on for pages on end and I had to force myself to keep reading. the ending, in comparison then, felt quite rushed and I was left wondering if this could just be it. the vital backstory that is needed to understand the mythology of it all came in too late for me personally, and I suspect it might have kept me on the edge of my seat if we had seen more of it earlier on.

overall this is a good read if you love mythology and historical romantasy.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for the arc!

A beautifully written book. I absolutely enjoyed everything about it. I can’t wait to read more by this author.

thank you to netgalley and the publisher for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*

What an amazing and enchanting read!!I was hooked from the first page!The slow-burn, enemies-to-lovers dynamic between Rua and Finn, Lord of Donore, was exceptionally well done. Their chemistry crackled on the page, and their witty banter kept me hooked. As Rua’s memories began to surface, and the story ventured into ancient secrets and dark magic, I found myself completely absorbed. Gonzalez’s writing made it easy to feel like I was stepping into the 1870s, and her mythological elements added a sense of timelessness that elevated the plot.

For anyone who enjoys historical romances with a touch of fantasy—especially fans of Outlander or myth-inspired fiction—The Gods Time Forgot is a must-read. It has intrigue, a well-paced romance, and a vibrant historical setting that made it hard to put down.

Thank you NetGalley for ARC. The God Time Forgot by Kelsie Sheridan presents an intriguing premise, where Rua, the main character, finds herself in the body of Emma and is forced to adopt Emma’s persona or face the consequence of being sent to an asylum. The novel offers an interesting blend of romance and fantasy, but I had mixed feelings about the overall execution.
First, the love story between Rua and the other main character was one of the book's strongest elements. The romance felt genuine, with a lot of chemistry between them. I enjoyed watching the relationship unfold, and it was certainly a highlight of the story.
but instead, she often made decisions and behaved in ways that seemed completely out of character for Emma. This inconsistency was frustrating, as it felt like Rua was frequently breaking the rules of the world she was inhabiting. Instead of trying to blend in and act like Emma, she often embarrassed herself and her family, which felt repetitive and tiresome after a while. It seemed like there could have been more tension or conflict without having to make Rua act so recklessly, which detracted from the emotional depth of the story.Additionally, there were elements of the plot, such as unnecessary killings, that felt forced.

I love Irish mythology, so I was immediately drawn to this story. Bonus points that the cover is absolutely stunning.

Manhatten 1870s - Rua doesn't know who she is, all she remembers is crawling out from the ground in the woods. When she's mistaken for someone else and finds herself thrust into high society, she begins to remember a different time, a time of magic and gods and guardians and alongside, Finn, an Irish immigrant, she sets out to learn the truth about her past.

I really loved the premise of this and the dual POV. While the pacing felt slower at times and the ending did seem a tad abrupt, I still felt fairly attached to Rua and Finn and I really enjoyed this overall.

Read this if:
- you love historical romance and Bridgerton vibes
- you enjoy forbidden/star crossed love and enemies to lovers who are just drawn to one another
- Irish mythology
- Dual POV

Many thanks to Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez, Alcove Press, and Netgalley for an sharing an E-ARC of this book with me.

Basic premise is that in 1870, socialite Emma Harrington finds herself in an underground cave, and when she comes out she does not believe herself to be Emma, but someone names Rua. She has dreams and visions of herself in mythological times as a ruthless warrior and killing her true love. And then there is Lord Finn Donore, a wealthy Irish immigrant, trying to get into the upper crust. He’s supposed to be courting his boss’s daughter, but the minute he sees Emma, he’s instantly attracted to her, despite her bad reputation. He also starts having dreams about he and Rua together in the past.

The book talks a lot about Irish Gods and Goddesses (which I only knew existed thanks to the old Hercules TV show). Most of the book is Rua in high society situations that no one wants her at, dealing with an abusive mother who basically sees her bad reputation as bad for her own social standing, and trying to stop her attraction to Finn. We learn about the Irish Gods from Rua’s maid, Mara, who taught her about them and worships them.

The ending seemed very rushed to me, and I felt there should have been some consequences that just never happened.

3 stars for an interesting concept, but the story bored me for the most part.

The first half of this book really hooked me. Flossie and Annette were delightfully awful, Rua and Finn's banter had me grinning, and the promise of New York politics had me greatly intrigued. Rua in particular is very fun—I enjoy the archetype of "woman who can't stop mouthing off despite the consequences", and the narrative doesn't shy away from consequences. But the fantasy elements and their past lives never quite worked for me, and as that plotline crescendoed in the second half, I found myself more often baffled than intrigued.

I wasn't convinced of this as enemies to lovers. Finn is sympathetic to Rua from the start. Rua insists she dislikes him because... well it was never actually clear to me why she disliked him. She seemed to get worked up over how rude and dismissive he was when he'd said fairly normal things by my reading, and despite the fact that he was also—by her own admission—the only person who was nice to her at these events. She'd say one moment she was glad he was gone because he so clearly dislikes her and then get mad when he said something merely implying polite disinterest. All the while, both of them feel the magnetic pull of their past lives that keeps them seeking each other out.

The New York plot and the fantasy plot never quite combine into a single coherent story. As a result, the emotions and motivations of the characters are increasingly muddled as the story goes on. This could have been an interesting tension point, where the characters have to reconcile their past and present selves' different points of view with their current circumstances. But the book's forays into this sort of conflict are infrequent and short lived, as their past lives almost exclusively reinforce the things they already believe. It ESPECIALLY reinforces the part where these characters are in love.

So instead of internal conflict, you get scenes where Finn goes, "well, I love her now, and I loved her then. Can I trust her?" with no connective tissue to make that last thought land. Instead of Rua thinking about her budding affection for Finn as a complication to the life she feels like she must get back to she...thinks about the magic plotline, and thinks about Finn, both completely separately.

The book was at its strongest with the petty New York class politics, which has some pretty compelling arguments for keeping them apart (Finn has business contracts to protect, and Rua's not actually who she says she is, both of them are new money outsiders). But it spends so much of its focus on the fantasy element and pretending the characters are enemies that I never grasped many of the stakes for Finn. All we get are vague euphemisms like "Richard opens doors around the city" and "Finn's projects" but nothing really about what these projects are, what they mean to him or why Richard, specifically, is necessary. He's wealthy without Richard. He's funding an orphanage already (which is the beginning but not the end of his fabled projects). He loses access to... Ned? Maybe? Surely if he married Ned's daughter Rua he'd keep access to Ned.

I think had this been a romance without the fantastical elements, I would've enjoyed it a lot. The characters are great, and the main couple is great together. Everything about Annette's antics were stressful in the best possible way. Flossie made me clench my jaw whenever she was on the page. Every single party scene was fun! But the end result just didn't work well for me.

While I'm here, justice for Mara.

Thank you to Alcove Press and NetGalley for the ARC. All opinions are my own.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Tropes:

⏳ Historical romantasy
👥 Dual POV
❤️‍🔥 Slow burn
😠 Enemies-to-lovers
📜 Set in 1870s
🇮🇪 Irish folklore

What a wild ride. I have never read anything like this before and I am hooked. The story begins with Rua being stuck in a hole and having no recollection of her memories or herself. But, apparently she is called Emma (or what people thought she is) who is born to the rich Harrington family and therefore, had to pretend to be this so-called daughter to find out the truth of who she is. The mystery got thicker when she experiences flashbacks that seem to be the memories of her past and that of a lover.

When she moved from her hometown to Manhattan, she met an Irish businessman, Finn, who wants to build his name and reputation in the lands of America. When I say the tension and slow burn between this two is burning, I mean it - the chemistry was off the charts! In every single scene they appear together, I kept curling my toes and holding my breath because you just don’t know what they’re going to do. I love their relationship so much - the banter and the yearning. Not to mention the drama that shakes their relationship where Finn is torn between Rua and another daughter from an influential family. He has to choose to follow, either, his heart or his mind.

To spice things up even more, it seems like Rua and Finn are intertwined in some way in their past and I really am intrigued with this Irish folklore stuff that Rua is researching about to figure out the truth. Although the ending is a bit abrupt in my opinion, the story as a whole was amazing and captivating that it made me not want to put the book down.

P.S. Thank you to NetGalley, Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez and Alcove Press for the ARC!

I had such high hopes for this one. This is more historical fiction with hints of fantasy.

It starts with a bang but it slows down and drags on. The last 15% was not bad where it picks up but it abruptly ends.

I kept wishing there was more fantasy elements woven throughout and a deeper dive into Rua to keep the intrigue alive.

If you enjoy a slow-burn historical narrative with just a sprinkle of magic, this might work for you.

The beginning of this book had a lot of potential with Rua waking up not remembering anything. She claims the life of Emma Harrington and is thrust into the gilded age society of New York. The Harringtons are desperately trying to break into the upper class society, and Emma is not helping their cause. This creates a lot of tension for Rua and those around her. The one person who might save Rua from the wrath of her family is Finn, a dashing and eligible Lord who should be promised to another.

I really thought there was going to be more fantasy in this book as it was marketed as a historical romantasy. Instead, readers only get the real fantasy aspect of this novel in the last quarter of the book. This would have been fine if the rest of the story was strong in either the setting, the characters, or the plot. However, everything about this book felt surface level. The setting was just a backdrop with little influence except the mean girl politics of the characters, and the plot dragged. The only portion of the novel I enjoyed was the banter between Finn and Rua, but even this grew tiresome as he continually flip flopped between what he wanted and what he should do to fit in with society. I didn't feel that there was a strong villain either, which made me wonder where the plot was going for a majority of the book.

I feel that people who like Bridgerton and the historical politics/romance of that series will enjoy this.

Thank you to Netgalley and to Alcove Press for the eARC in exchange for an honest review!

I know very little about Irish mythology, but mythology in general is one of my favorite things to learn about. So when I saw The Gods Time Forgot up on Netgalley, with that very interested synopsis, and that very beautiful cover, I thought I'd take a shot and requested it. Thankfully, Alcove Press pretty much instantaneously approved me, and I dived right in.

This book is written beautifully. I absolutely loved how fiery Rua was, how done she was with "polite society" rules, and being "accepted" into the higher classes. She wanted nothing to do with these people, and she basically let them know it. The Gods Time Forgot has a very interesting premise, one that I didn't really catch on to what was happening until about 75% of the way through. I had <i>inklings</i> but there was enough going on that I wasn't sure.

Finn was not as widely explored as Rua, unfortunately. I do wish we had learned more about his life before he was The Lord of Donore, and how he came to be. It's sort of handwaved at the end, but I was very interested in him. Even before we know who he is.

The romance is well done, in my opinion. There's enough steam, enough chemistry there that it's entirely believable. They sort of pick at each other to start, and then they really do fall in love. I thoroughly enjoyed watching them fall for each other.

My one beef with The Gods Time Forgot is that it ends SO abruptly. The last chapter reads like there's going to be at least another few to follow, but nope. It just sort of...ends. I really would have loved to follow Rua and Finn as they figured out life together, but nope. We don't get to see that. I wouldn't even really say that it's a true happy ending. It ends before we get to see them happy, which really hurt how I feel about this book. If it had ended appropriately, The Gods Time Forgot would have easily been 5 stars for me. Instead, it's dropped down to a four star read. Still good, but not great.

I'd still recommend this book, especially if you're a fantasy-romance lover with an interest in mythology. Just go into it knowing the ending is a bit disappointing.

4.5 stars! This story is what you get when you combine Irish mythology, historical romance, and a dash of mystery. I really enjoyed this! There is so much chemistry between the fiery FMC and swoon worthy MMC, who are connected on a deep level that they don't fully understand (at first.) The tension & yearning between them was palpable. This was incredibly well written, however, I feel as though the ending was too abrupt. I desperately wish there had been an epilogue because I was NOT ready for the story to end so suddenly. Will there be another book?? I would definitely be interested in reading it, if so. Thank you Netgalley for the ARC!

Irish mythology and Gilded Age premise was so promising. I liked various elements of this book, but things didn't feel layered enough to justify the snail's pace. The 3rd person POV was distracting at times. I did enjoy the characters and things finally picked up in the last 50 pages or so but it felt rushed.