“They had spent most of their lives lonely. Her in a cold house; him in a cold world. They were houseplants that people forgot to check on. And now they had each other.”

Skipshock by Caroline O’Donoghue
Release date:June 3rd
Rating:⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Age rating:16+
Spice:they talk about things, and I’d consider it fade to black

Thank you Netgalley and Caroline O’Donoghue for this arc! I need book two in my hands now. Go add this to your tbr immediately. YALL. This was so good. I ate up every second of it. I couldn’t stop reading. The world/worlds is SO COOL. It felt so unique. And how everything works is just so fascinating. Truly such an interesting plot, loved it. The characters were amazing. I love Margo and Moon SO MUCH! The tension between the two of them was destroying me. Like ugh I just love them. They’re such interesting characters to read about and I am going to miss them so much. They’re my babies and deserve the world. The sub plot of romance had me losing my mind, like it was just perfect. Will definitely be picking up book two whenever it comes out because that ending was kind of mean. Everything I want to say will spoil it so I won’t say anything, but just go read this when comes out, please, I’ll need people to talk to about it.

US Release Date: 06.03.2025
Genre: YA Fantasy, Science Fiction, Romance
Format Read: E-Book / E-ARC
Tropes:
❥ Duel-POV
❥ Time Travel
❥ Slow Burn

My Synopsis:
In this duology opener we follow Margo, a young student traveling by train to a boarding school in Dublin. During her journey, she is unexpectedly transported into a completely different train car, on a mysterious train that travels between worlds. It is here that she meets Moon, a traveling salesman suffering from “skipshock”: the deadly toll that frequent traveling between worlds can have on the body. As Margo and Moon grow closer, so does the looming rebellion in this world, and before she can get home, Margo and Moon must team up to take down a tyrannical government.

My review:
Skipshock is an entirely unique YA fantasy novel. We get a wholly original concept, with rich world building throughout and a fascinating magic system. Time travel can be a difficult concept to write about, and wrap your head around while reading. There is a lot to unpack here regarding the mechanics of time, but I think that the author did a fantastic job in making these concepts palatable and intelligible.

The pacing in this book is medium, with an adventurous tone. We are thrown right into the action, which unfortunately I think impacted my ability to feel a deep connection with the characters. I found that with all the world building, some character development was lost, which seems common in YA fantasy. I’m hoping that since the stage has been set in this book, we will get more of this in the follow up. The plot was also predictable, which wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but I wouldn’t go into this expecting a whole lot of mystery.

The romance was a little too close to instant-love for me to find it believable. However, I did think that Margo and Moon’s interactions were sweet, and we did get some tension between them in spite of their relationship being quick to develop. Romance is a sub-plot here, and it was very light. As a side-note, it was also hard for me to determine the age of Moon due to the way time works in this story, which was a little off putting since Margo is only 16? I don’t think anything inappropriate is going on, it just could have used a more concrete explanation.

Overall, I would recommend this book if you enjoy more adventurous reads, appreciate unique and well thought out magic systems, and if the concept intrigues you! Also, that cover is STUNNING.

Thank you to @netgalley, Holiday House / Peachtree / Pixel+Ink for access to this advanced copy!

Margo has waited for days to turn into years so that she could be old enough to run away from the ghost of her dead father and the suffocating nature of her widowed mother. She didn't expect her train ride to Dublin to collapse into a new place where the hours in the day are as precious as currency. And she certainly didn't expect Moon, a mysterious salesman with a crescent moon scar on his face, who fills her in on the rules of this new place: Travel to the far South, and the days are longer and luxurious, with time slowed enough to prolong aging. Travel to the far North, and days pass in a matter of hours; people rush around desperately to make their short lives to the fullest.

In between, haunting the select few salesmen who are allowed to travel between worlds, is the Skipshock. The body's shutting down as it struggles to process the time differences. And as Margo and Moon become inextricably linked, tied into a scheme to save the fate of the North from power-hungry Southern Guard, she feels the days she used to take for granted slipping between her fingers faster than she can grasp.

What a brilliant concept and whimsical plot! As Margo grapples with the privilege she didn't know she had, I also confronted the reality that twenty-four hours in a day is a precious thing. She and Moon are brilliantly crafted characters that grow not only literally as a result of the increased aging, but also through masterful character arcs and development. Their romance is tender and a perfect slow-burn.

I feel like just as I was getting used to all the oddities of this world and noticing little clues and hints, the book ended. Skipshock is a novel of building, which was not frustrating but a good mirror of the themes of rebellion and otherness in the novel. I am desperate for book two, but this being a duology feels important; a standalone would pass by too breathlessly, but a trilogy would drag on too long. Look: I'm still measuring time preciously after reading this book! I can't wait for the conclusion.

A unique blend of quantum mechanics in the form of time travel and fantasy, I give this a 3.5 out of 5 stars. Thank you NetGalley for the ARC.

The worldbuilding in this book is its biggest seller. The amount of detail that was put into this world and the mechanics of time is insane. Imagine pancakes stacked on top of each other, where the farther up the stack you go, the smaller the pancake is... Now instead of pancakes imagine each is a representation of the amount of hours in a day. The "poorer" worlds are those with less hours in a day, such as 4 hours per day, meaning that over the course of 24 hours you have gone through 6 days. Someone who looks only 16 could by time measure actually be 45. This is a buckwild concept and I love it.

HOWEVER, the characters as a whole just fell flat for me and I didn't really connect with any of them. I did start to really appreciate Moon and his history by the end of the book, especially once you realize just how much he has been affected by the realm jumping he does, but Margo is literally a child in the story, both literally as she is under 18 but she ends up spending a lot of the story feeling a bit whiny and "woe is me."

I will be curious to see where this story goes, and really want to delve more into Moon's backstory and the history of his people.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for my honest opinion!

Caroline O'Donoghue has been one of my favorite authors since I read her "Gifts" trilogy, so of course I absolutely lost my mind when I was approved to read this book. And let me tell you, she does NOT disappoint! I love the concept of this novel, the characters, the imagery, even the freaking cover. Everything draws you in and won't let you go, even after you finish the book! I'm so glad this will be part of a duology so we will get to experience more of Moon and Margo. I absolutely cannot wait for this to be published and watch everyone else enjoy this as much as I did!

First off, that ending? I’m still reeling! I need the next book immediately!!!
Huge thanks to NetGalley for the ARC!

Rating: 3.75⭐️/5⭐️

Read if you like:
• Two worlds colliding
• Time travel with high stakes
• YA romantasy

Skipshock felt like such a refreshing take on romantasy. The concept of time travel combined with magical elements really pulled me in. It was unlike anything I’ve read before, and I loved how unpredictable and adventurous it felt. The worldbuilding was vivid and creative. It made me feel like I was exploring a dreamscape full of hidden layers and strange beauty!

Margo and Moon were both incredibly well-written. Their dual POVs worked so well to show their emotional journeys, and I felt every bit of their confusion, fear, wonder, and hope. Even the side characters like Vesna and Taiyo felt important and complex, adding richness to the story without feeling like background filler.

One of my favorite aspects was the setting. The way the time travel element let me explore different eras and locations within the same world made everything feel expansive and exciting. It felt like I was on a magical road trip through time!

If I had one issue, it was the pacing. The first three-quarters moved slowly. It reminded me a bit of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue in that way. But once it picked up, it really picked up. The slow start was worth pushing through, and the final chapters completely delivered!⭐️

Overall, Skipshock was an emotional, imaginative ride. The world is rich, the characters layered, and the ending left me desperate for more. If you’re into romantasy with a twist, this one is worth checking out!

Many thanks to NetGalley and Holiday House for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a slow grower on me. I was intrigued by the world, and Moon was instantly a character I knew I would love, but it took me a while to feel fully engrossed in the story. It took its time letting Margo settle in to these mysterious worlds, took its time slowly unravelling Moon’s character but when it got to the end of the spool, damn it was good.

About halfway through the book I was hooked. The characters were just so likeable, even Margo who I found a tiny bit frustrating at the start grew on me, I thought she was a fabulous main character and her growing relationships with all of the extended cast only made me like her more. Moon was just easy to adore, he was the grumpy guy who didn’t want to let anyone get close because of his tortured past. And now he has let someone close, well, I’ll say I can’t wait to see what boundaries he will break to be close to them again.

Any Taiyo??? No I’m too hurt to comment on Taiyo right now. He deserved better!!!

But the world was just so luscious and rich and such a fascinating concept. The mystery that kept unfolding only added layers of intrigue to the world and the story. And that ending!!!

This was an excellent piece of work by Caroline O’Donoghue and I’d recommend it to anyone who was a fantasy book that is completely different to anything they’ve read before!!
4.5/5 🌟

The unique story and the world building really sucked me in on this one and kept me turning pages to get to the end. This was a fun (and different!) YA read.

Thanks for Netgalley and Walker Books for the eARC of Shipshock!

It was bound to happen eventually - after loving Caroline O'Donoghue's previous YA and adult offerings, I finally found one that just didn't click for me. "Skipshock" has excellent worldbuilding and a truly unique concept, but is bogged down by forced romance and flat characters. The protagonist, Margo, is dull as rocks: typically O'Donoghue's heroines are so interesting and active, but Margo is a passenger to the interesting, layered science fiction tale unfurling here. Moon fares marginally better, but his air of maturity contrasts sharply with the hapless, helpless Margo, making rooting for their romance difficult.

I really loved Caroline O'Donoghue's previous book, The Rachel Incident, but this one is nothing like that. This book is more a fantasy romance, with lots of moments of tension.

I don't read a lot of fantasy as I find it hard to be transported to new worlds, but I enjoyed the one created in this book and found it very fascinating. Caroline O'Donoghue is such a good writer and I found parts of it very stressful and I was very enmeshed.

I loved both Moon and Margo, as well as the side characters.

I didn't realize this was the first in a series until the end -- I am eager to know what happens next!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

3.5* Rounded Up

This was such a unique story, it was a good blend of fantasy and sci-fi thriller that kept me engaged throughout. For me the romance was way too insta-lovey which I tend to not ever like but especially here it seemed to bloom from nothing. I did like both main characters and grew to like their romance in the end but I believe it needed to be fleshed out a bit more and could have used some more build up and connection. While the book started a tad slowly in the explanation front I think that made it more interesting as the reader was learning about what was happening along with the main character. Once I started getting a grasp on the world and the time traveling elements I quickly became engrossed in the story. The way the plot unfolded was well done an I became very invested in this story, now I want to know what happens next after that cliffhanger ending!

I received an eARC thanks to Netgalley and Walker Books US, all opinions are my own.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Skipshock by Caroline O'Donoghue is a mixed first and third person dual-POV YA romantic fantasy. Moon is a salesman, someone who travels between worlds on a series of barely used trains, who has been separated from his culture for years. Margo is a young woman on her way to a boarding school when she ends up on one of the trains used by salesmen, a train she was never supposed to be on and will lead to her becoming caught up in a plot to take down the privileged of Moon’s world.

As Margo is from Dublin and Caroline O’Donoghue is an Irish author, it is impossible for me not to draw parallels to Irish Travellers when it comes to Moon’s backstory. ‘Moon’ is an alias that he has taken on and his people have been forcibly assimilated, their children stolen, and their ability to travel between worlds taken from them. Moon is even viewed as an adult at the age of twelve, something that is very common when a dominant culture views a minority as a threat, unfortunately. There are also parallels to how the Irish were treated by the British over the last eight hundred, particularly in relation to forcible assimilation and others taking parts of your culture for themselves.

I love the cover so much. I love all of the colors and how fantastical and round all the shapes are, like something out of Little Nemo’s Adventures in Slumberland. The phases of the moon up top relate back to Moon’s name and also how the different dimensions have different time frames (some have only six hour days and others three hour days), subtly connecting back to skipshock, the disease that all salesman have that kills them at the age of forty. It’s geometric and bold and colorful with hints of orange and it reminds me of why I love abstract art sometimes.

Margo and Moon’s romance is plagued by two things: skipshock and the fact that Margo will go back to her world eventually. Moon is concerned that if Margo follows him, her skipshock will get worse and she will also die young, especially given that she begins aging faster the longer she’s traveling between worlds. Margo somewhat goes back and forth on whether she could stay or has to go back, with a lot of it being determined by how Moon is feeling about her in that moment as he is pretty hot-and-cold. The plot to take down the upper class add another layer to her desire to stay because she’s been convinced that she can be useful, though Moon doesn’t really want her to get involved.

Content warning for mentions of cultural genocide

I would recommend this to fans of YA Romantasy looking for something involving traveling between worlds and readers of YA who like books split fairly evenly between male and female POVs.

This was a delightful surprise. I was utterly unprepared for how thoroughly I would fall for this book.

This is a story about a girl who accidentally is transported into another world and ends up in the middle of a rebellion. In her journey to return home, she meets Moon, a salesman who travels through worlds and is suffering from skipshock.

From the very first page, I was utterly captivated by the intricate world-building and fascinating magic system the author crafted. And let's not even get started on the romance – absolutely swoon-worthy.

My only critique is that the character work could have been better, I wanted to feel more for certain characters. But besides that, this book was totally amazing. And I need the second book RIGHT NOW!

If you were enchanted by the intricate storytelling of The Mirror Visitor series, then this is an absolute must-read for you! There are some elements that really reminded me of that book series.

This was a case of it’s not you, it’s me. This book was not for me but that doesn’t mean that others will not really enjoy it!

I don’t read or love a lot of fantasy or YA (although I have loved books in both genres before) and this one just really read like YA. I missed the sophisticated writing of her previous book which I absolutely loved.

This book felt like a slog for me and I struggled to get through it. Some of this was the formatting of the arc which was absolutely the worst and made me not want to pick it up. But sadly, a lot was the plot. I needed more character development to really care for the characters and I felt like I had a lot of unanswered questions about the worlds the characters inhabited. I did enjoy the twist at the end- almost enough that I might read the next book.

I think if you love fantasy, you will enjoy this one! If you don’t, skip it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc

The synopsis of this sounded so good but unfortunately didn’t meet my expectations. I expected something a bit different to what I read.
Interconnecting worlds, an unexpected encounter from a locked world, two unlikely people with romance. The pacing was off and slow, the characters were interesting but I didn’t really get to know them that well. The world building was somewhat lacking. The premise of worlds having different hours of a day and time was the most precious commodity was an interesting one. The romance was more a subplot.
Also one thing I noticed was the typos, not sure if that’s on purpose to portray the language change or just missed. Either way it was noticeable.

THIS BOOK YOU GUYS!!

this book had everything i find to be lacking in all of these popular booktok fantasies. i loved reading this and i was on the edge of my seat the entire time. so if you haven't picked this book up, it's about a girl named margo who's traveling to a new school in the city. however, when she's on the train, something happens... and she meets moon, a traveling salesman, who's from a whole new world. together, they figure just why margo somehow ended up in their world instead of the city.

let me start with the characters first: i loved moon, he was the best part of the book for me. i thought he was so well-developed! margo i didn't really relate to/connect with which is why this book isn't exactly five stars for me. i found her a little boring. despite this, i thought she worked in the novel because she felt real, like someone i could know in real life. to continue, the romance between the two worked and didn't feel rushed at all which i liked!! also, i loved the side characters!! i liked how they all felt like they belonged in this world, in this book since there's a trend of authors shoving in tropes/characters into books where they don't really need to belong. but more on that later.

the world building in this was so FUN! i loved how fresh and unique this world felt. i loved the idea of traveling salesman hopping worlds. i also liked how this novel is exploring corruption, how tyrannical regimes often target things like travel to further their hold on the people they're trying to control. this added real depth to the novel i think!! i also liked how there was real consequence to the characters' actions. often times, books will have plot armor and characters fight a huge war with no one dying. <i>skipshock</i> doesn't do that. there's real weight to how people behave in this novel. however, since this book doesn't shy away from killing characters, i feel like some emotional beats got cheapened since it felt so sudden. due to that, i didn't really feel like characters could properly express their emotions on what happened.

but i'm so happy i picked this up. like i mentioned before, what worked about this novel was that it felt so fresh. i never once rolled my eyes because it seemed similar to books i've read before. everything felt like it worked, it belonged.

overall, i liked this a lot!! it was a fun time and i know i'll be picking up the second book in the series. a huge thanks to netgalley & the publisher for the arc of this <3 this book will be out on june 3rd, 2025!!

Looking for something different?
The flowery verse and world building immediately starts on this one. Drops you right into the thick of it, but things start clicking fast. Moon and Margo are such well developed characters and the world of time- such a pleasant divergence from the type of stories quickly taking over the field. Margo is from current time but “falls” into a different time and world where she meets Moon. Absolutely obsessed with the time in this book, it’s so interesting and frankly extremely well explained. There is a whole host of other characters as well, all with their own unique quirks. The story just kept pulling me in… this one will live rent free for awhile.

I was waiting so much from this book but it didn’t gave me what I was waiting for…

At first I thought I was going to love this book, but then, the worldbuilding was beginning to be explain and I got lost in the way, trying to find out the age of Moon (spoiler i didn’t, and it realy bother me since he seems a few years older than Margo who is a minor and become completely dependent on him.)

And I unfortunately did not connect with the characters, we don’t really know who they are, so i couldn’t really care about them. I didn’t find a lot of actions or it was repetitive.

I read it to the end waiting for something a bit more intringing but it didn’t come until the end, and for all the wait i didn’t find it worth it, since i already had some suspicions.

The romance between Margo and Moon wasn’t for me. I found their little moments cringe and their tension was pointless to the plot.

I did enjoy the writing, and I have the Gifts series in my TBR

I love Caroline O'Donoghue, and even though this is a departure from the text that introduced me to her (the Rachel Incident), her undeniable talent as an author shines through.

Skipshock sucked me in during the first two paragraphs: “The most common response I get when I tell people what I do for a living is: I couldn’t do a job like that. What they mean is they wouldn’t do a job like this. Every so often a new gruesome story circulates about salesmen and what traveling between time speeds does to one’s physical health. We are twice as likely to be alcoholics, three times as likely to die by suicide, and infinitely more likely to disappear without anyone caring at all.”

This universe is fascinating, every world in Skipshock has a day of a different length. The wealthier south has longer days and the poorer north has days as short as two hours. The northernmost world's people grow beards in a few hours, crops grow rapidly, and people age at an obscene rate. Margo and Moon spend the story traveling between worlds and, by extension, the reader gets to explore how these worlds are shaped by their limited time. It’s so good. The growing relationship between Margo and Moon is sweet and there are several interesting side characters to root for as well.

My only disappointment about this book is realizing it’s not a standalone, now I have to wait for book two! I definitely recommend this to any fantasy readers.