Love this one! This story sucks you in very quickly and brings you through an emotional rollercoaster as we jump between two timelines and multiple POVs. I loved the characters in this one they were easy to connect to and felt very realistic, and the romance was just as good! The plot was interesting and held my attention from start to end! I did find myself at times getting lost or sucked out of the story a bit because we would switch between the two timelines and multiple POVs but overall this was a great read! Definitely recommend checking this book out!

The Book of Lost Hours is a time travel novel that blends romance and espionage. The characters leap between time periods—and so do we as readers, with a non-linear narrative told from multiple points of view. The main plot takes place between 1938-1965.

The world-building takes some time to set up and felt a bit tedious at first. The “rules” of time travel aren’t always consistent, and at times they seemed conveniently introduced to serve the plot. Still, as the story unfolded and the characters and their relationships came into focus, I found myself increasingly drawn in—and pleasantly surprised by where it all led. In the end, I really enjoyed the book.

Thank you to Atria Books for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

It’s historical Fiction meets a bit of sci-fy and a bit of romance. This being Gelfuso’s debut novel floors me in the best way. The characters were written so fluidly between middle aged characters and young children characters. The world building with the time space and setting were so atmospheric it felt like I was watching the movie. The plot and the characters fill your heart and breaks it all at the same time 😭



Thank you NetGalley for giving me a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!!

Lisavet Levy broke my heart over & over again. This is a story about history & who controls it. A story of love and of losses. The sacrifices & terrible choices we make for the people we love. I think it’s best to go into this one knowing as little as possible to fully appreciate the twists in the story. Part historical fiction, part romance, part spy thriller. I’m not sure how I feel about the ending but overall I loved it.

Wow. I wasn't expecting all of THAT from this book!
From the storytelling, the pacing, and the characters. Im seriously blown away.
I loved the different timelines, it was so immersive throughout the entire story. Super interesting concept of time and timekeepers.
There were so many times that I was sobbing with Moria and felt so sad for her. I hated Jack oh my god. Good for her. I was jumping with joy for that part.
I would highly recommend this book to my friends and anyone really.


Thank you to Netgalley and Atria Books for providing a free e-copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

The Book of Lost Hours tells the story of two young girls who just happen to both be able to access an otherworldly library of time and memories. They come from different times and have different trauma, but their stories parallel each other.

Lisavet comes from World War II Germany where obvious risks and not so obvious ones pile up and lead her into the mysterious Time Space.

Amelia is in the 1960s. She is orphaned and also loses her uncle, and finds herself the owner of the family heirloom that lets her access the Time Space.

The stories intertwine in some unexpected ways, and you find yourself really feeling for the characters.

As I was reading I just kept thinking about how this could be an episode of Doctor Who. Like The Girl in the Fireplace. The book was very cinematic, and I could see this becoming a movie or TV show. It is a little slow in parts, but there is a lot of dialogue and character growth.

The emotions in this book hit hard. I was glad for the little bit of romance, but that also led to some sadness. I cried a few times, but I also felt the love and the anger. It is crazy how poignant the theme of this book is right now.

If you like speculative fiction like The Lost Apothecary or The London Seance Society, you'll probably love this.

Thank you NetGalley for the eARC!

“To know too much about the course Time is taking before it happens is to fill oneself with torment. Living is the most dangerous thing, after all. More than death. More than memories.” -Hayley Gelfuso

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This book took my breath away several times. I haven’t had a book do this since The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. It’s hard to believe that this is a debut novel. The writing is cinematic but I think this would also be a difficult novel to bring to the screen. The story is woven in a way that really allows you to believe in its magical realism. Gelfuso is a master of this story with her captivating character development, seamless story development and twists. Couldn’t put this book down…it is heartbreaking and heart mending.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book and provide my honest review.

Enjoyed the premise of the book of timekeepslers. I liked following both storyline and seeing how they were connected.

I struggle to put my thoughts into words for this book. I thoroughly enjoyed the fantasy aspects, the way the time space worked, and Lisavet's character early in the book. Jack made for an easily hated villain. But the underlying themes felt slightly heavy-handed at times and took me out of the story. I found it hard to root for any outcome at times. The end of the book was satisfying, and I think it would make a good book club pick.

3.5 stars

The Book of Lost Hours is going to be one of my favorites if not my top read this year. I cannot believe this is a debut author. This story was absolutely beautiful exploring love, sacrifice friendship and the essence of time and doing what is right. The idea of the multiverse and memory exploration was so intriguing and unique, especially told in the differing time periods and perspectives.

Thank you Netgalley and Hayley Gelfuso for this Arc. I’m 100% preordering and encourage all in the bookish community to immediately check out this story (releasing August 2025)

The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso is one of my favorite new reads this year. There is plenty of action and romance set against the backdrop of World War 2 and the Cold War. While the idea of a time library is nothing new, I enjoyed the way it was presented in this novel. Lisavette's story was touching, and I felt like her character went through so much that I could hardly believe she was the same person by the end. While it took me a few chapters to get going, I liked the author's style and way of describing Lisavette's experiences. I enjoyed the different timelines to see what was happening with Amelia.
I think fans of time travel and historical fiction stories will thoroughly enjoy this book. Thank you to NetGalley, Atria Books, and Hayley Gelfuso for this ARC. All thoughts and feelings expressed are my own.

This book is so unique! It is filled with romance and mystery. I felt like it got a little slow in spots. Overall, I really loved this.

Book of Lost Hours

Historical fiction mixed with time travel. This unique perspective follows several POVs other journey to change the tragedies of the past and prevent future disasters. The big switch is when the main character debates changing time for something personal.

This was a slow paced read for me, and I didn’t quite get into it until the 40% mark. Overall enjoyable read but could have been shorter. Satisfying and unpredictable conclusion.

I am just a little over halfway and will edit this once done but had to come here to say wow! The book started a little slow but quickly started to come together and now I cant put it down. The characters feel so real and the story is amazing.

“Not knowing the outcome was one of the many dangers of living”

I really enjoyed this book…eventually. It felt uneven overall, and particularly in its pace. I raced through some of it and struggled with other parts. As a debut novel, it is superb. 4.5 rounded down for a few issues.

The first third of the book is super slow, and filled with a lot of Timespace explanations and experiences that I honestly didn’t totally understand. Usually, I can suspend disbelief, but in this case, I wanted more of the science, like “how does this work?” better explained. In the second half of the book, the plot starts to really take off and you learn more about the characters and the backstory behind the current timeline events.

There are two primary time periods (late 1940s/early 50s and mid 1960s) and the story switches back and forth between them to show what happened in the past to explain what is happening in the present.

The characters are well developed and I particularly liked the “girl boss” nature of the two female leads - Lisavet and Amelia. Jack felt like a bit of a caricature, the evil 1950s/1960s government spy.

The poetry references are sublime. I loved how the author weaved them in to highlight the emotions within a pretty high tech/sci-fi experience.

The description of this novel references The Midnight Library, which is one of my favorites. While I can see some of the similarities, I just didn’t feel as much with this story and these characters. Perhaps if the Midnight Library was crossed with Jack Ryan? :)

Please note: I received a digital copy from NetGalley & Atria Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are strictly my own. Read for 2025 Camp NetGalley.

“A memory, once it’s over, is never exactly what it was when it was happening”

Review for The Book of Lost Hours by Hayley Gelfuso

This book completely swept me away. From the first chapter, I fell into Lisavet’s world and genuinely connected to her journey. The author builds a universe that feels magical without over explaining. I could see it all clearly and wanted to stay in it. There’s mystery, heartbreak, twists, and a love story that completely delivers.

I usually read romance and didn’t expect to be as satisfied by the love story as I was, since this isn’t technically a romance novel. But the way the relationship shifts, deepens, breaks, and rebuilds made me feel... a lot. Right alongside that is this haunting theme about memory and time. What we hold onto. What we try to forget. What shapes us. It makes the book thoughtful, deep, and still whimsical.

There’s one line I keep thinking about:
“A strange feeling crept up on him. Nostalgia for a moment that had not yet passed.”

I can’t stop thinking about it. It’s a feeling I’ve had more times than I can count, but never had a name for. Those moments where something is happening and you already know it matters. You already miss it, even while it’s still unfolding. The author has this quiet, brilliant way of naming emotions most people don’t know how to say out loud. And the book is full of moments like that.

Some other lines I loved:
“She was composed of all the memories she had seen, all the eras she had walked through.”
“Her father’s old coat enveloped her, making her feel every age she’d ever been all at once.”
“I would rewrite all of history for you.”

This book also feels incredibly timely. The theme of erased or rewritten history hit close to home. In 2025 America, it’s not just a metaphor. It’s a mirror.

Lisavet is a complicated character, and the author doesn’t try to soften or fix her. She just lets her be fully human, imperfect, messy, and trying her best. That vulnerability made me love her even more. You feel like you really know her by the end, and I don't feel that way about a character often.

It reminded me of The Night Circus, The Starless Sea, The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, and The Midnight Library. It also had elements of A Wrinkle in Time, which are all books I read again and again when I want to relive their magic.

I honestly couldn’t believe this was a debut. The way she combines emotional depth, world-building, and beautiful writing reads like someone who’s been doing this forever. I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time and pushing it into the hands of anyone who wants to lose themselves in a story that actually says something.

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

What a fantastic journey! It starts off with action and pulls you in and does a beautiful job of character building over time, and then the twists and turns will leave you gasping and going back to reread the first part. It's sweet, and hopeful and entirely unique. A favourite that you keep on your shelf just to lend out to all your best friends. What a wonderful and beautiful adventure.

I fell in love with this story from the very first chapter. The writing is cinematic – dreamy, haunting, and immersive – and the plot felt like a film I couldn’t look away from. As a history teacher, I was especially drawn to the novel’s message: in a world grappling with book bans and historical revisionism, this story is both timely and necessary. Gelfuso sheds light on the quiet devastation of erasure and the lasting strength of memory with grace and emotional depth.

What I appreciated the most was how the historical elements were seamlessly woven into the story. It never felt like a lecture or info dump – it was emotionally driven and tied to the characters’ experiences in a way that made each moment what we’re willing to risk to protect the truth. Thank you to Hayley Gelfuso, Atria Books, and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this unforgettable ARC

As a fan of historical fantasy, I was so excited to read this book. The weaving of time travel with the implications and morality of changing history and memory against the backdrop of World War II and the Cold War is intriguing. As everything falls into place between the different timelines, I grew to love the story so much more and devoured the second half of the book.

The Book of Lost Hours is one of those stories that’s hard to pin down—in a good way. It’s part historical fiction, part fantasy, part Cold War spy drama, with a dose of magical libraries and a bittersweet love story thrown in.

The book jumps between two timelines: Lisavet, a young Jewish girl hiding from the Nazis, who ends up in a magical realm called the Time Space (where people’s memories are stored in books), and Amelia, a teen in the 1960s who stumbles into that same world after a family tragedy. Both storylines slowly connect in some really cool ways.

The concept is super unique—this whole idea of memories being books that can be erased, stolen, or saved—and the writing keeps you invested. Lisavet’s storyline is the emotional heart of the book. Her love story with Ernest is subtle and tragic in the best kind of way. Amelia’s part is more action-packed and spy-like, but it takes a little longer to connect with her.

There are a few moments that feel a little rushed, and not every twist hits as hard as it could have—but overall, it’s a thoughtful, creative story that sticks with you.

If you like magical realism, time travel, secret libraries, and emotional slow-burns, you’ll probably enjoy this one a lot. Definitely a strong debut!