Engaging and immersive. A recommended purchase in all formats where more literary bent spec fic is popular.

Thank you Spotify and TLC booktours for the review copy. This fast-paced, emotionally layered sci-fi novel had me hooked from the very beginning. Following four individuals as they return to a single, life-altering moment in their past, the story weaves together themes of grief, forgiveness, and lost love with just the right touch of mystery. The character development is strong throughout, and I had no trouble keeping track of each voice and backstory—especially in the audiobook, which shines with a varied and compelling cast. A satisfying, thought-provoking listen that blends heart and high-concept storytelling in equal measure.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for an ARC for an Honest review
The memory collectors was an interesting look at time travel, grief and regret. The characters didn't resonate with me, and I didn't particularly enjoy the narrator. I felt like I kept losing track of whose point of view we were in due to the lack of change in voices etc. I enjoyed the e-book better once it came out.

Four people travel back in time to relive one hour of their lives–a grieving mother, an thrill-seeking amputee, a guy who was ghosted by a girl, and a woman who made a terrible mistake that wrecked her life. It soon becomes clear these four people may be strangers, but their lives and past regrets and wonderings are interconnected. I enjoyed this book overall and liked how the storylines began to overlap. Even though the time travel company claims they cannot change the past with their one-hour visit, I wondered throughout the book if they could get around that barrier, particularly after their stays lasted much longer than the advertised hour. I liked how the author chose four people whose lives took a turn that resulted in different types of regret--regret over traumatic injury, regret over lost love, regret over personal error, and regret related to grief.

I'm not usually a huge fan of books with a lot of characters introduced in the beginning and then trying to figure out where their lives intersect and how they all know each other; however, Dete Meserve does a really good job packing meaning into the lives of the characters and showing the reader that we may not know everything we think we know about the people we interact with and how they fit into our stories. The Memory Collectors are four individuals who travel back to the same night in their lives when everything went wrong for them. Over the course of their self-discovery, they realize that although they cannot change the past, they can change their perspectives on it, which influences how they live the future.

The Memory Collectors is a beautifully crafted novel that offers a fresh perspective on the interplay between emotions and the physical world. Neville's storytelling invites readers to reflect on the memories we attach to objects and the healing power of confronting our past. This book is recommended for those who appreciate introspective narratives with a touch of the supernatural.

I can’t believe I hesitated to read this book! For some inexplicable reason, I thought it might not be my cup of tea, but boy, was I mistaken! Not only was this book tailor-made for me, but I’d wager it’s perfect for anyone I know. I can’t stop thinking about it!

In "The Memory Collectors," four strangers find themselves time-traveling to a pivotal moment in their pasts in a beach town in Ventura, California. Each is seeking closure: Elizabeth wants to reconnect with her deceased son, Andy hopes to find his lost first love, Logan longs to reclaim his adventurous spirit after an accident, and Brooke seeks relief from guilt over a mistake. They use a time travel invention called Aeon Expeditions, which promises to let them relive an hour from their past without altering the future. However, when their scheduled hour extends unexpectedly, they become trapped and uncover dark secrets from that fateful night, revealing that someone else with harmful intentions was also present.

Imagine if you could turn back time and alter the course of your life. Sounds tempting, right? But let’s be real, doing so would unleash a chaotic chain reaction of unforeseen consequences. Instead, what if you could view your challenging situations through a fresh lens and grant yourself a second chance? Would you take it?

This book will tug at your heartstrings! I’ll admit, the cover didn’t initially grab me, but the content. Absolutely captivating! Do yourself a favor and dive into this mind-blowing journey—it’s like stepping into an entirely new dream world! I was fortunate enough to experience the audiobook, and the narrators were phenomenal. I was hooked, eagerly anticipating how everything would unfold!

This heartfelt fantasy is sprinkled with just the right amount of mystery and suspense. There’s so much to love about it! The characters are relatable, the writing is exquisite, and the resolution is satisfying. I genuinely believe we all need this book in our lives to help us see things from a different perspective. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, the outcome is simply beyond our control. So, be kind to yourself and others. Life can be tough enough without piling on extra emotional baggage!

This might just be one of the best books I’ve read this year! I won’t spoil any details, but I want to convey how deeply it resonated with me. I hope that when you find yourself at a crossroads, someone hands you this book to help shift your perspective. WOW! Absolutely amazing!

Thank you, Spotify Audiobooks and Crooked Lane Books, for the digital ARC copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

This book was a really interesting concept and actually pretty good execution! There was sometimes a little bit too much explanation, but I thought the way the plot came together was really well done. A little heavy handed in the messaging maybe.

It's very hard for me to love a time-traveling book, yet I loved this one. The author did a great job with the jumps where different characters can go back to deal with a major event that changed their lives forever. It makes it more interesting that by reading each POV, we learn that the incident was the same. All characters are connected, and one of them is the family of the creator of this "time machine.""
The resolution for this book was very satisfying because, in a way, it defied the rules. An anomaly allowed for it.
Great thriller. I will continue to recommend it. Made me feel for each character in each situation.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The premise was interesting, but I never really connected with any of the characters. I liked the way the mystery of what really happened on the night of August 25th unfolded, but still felt like something was missing. The pace was fairly steady with a few stutters along the way. Having multiple narrators for the audio version definitely helped keep me engaged with the story, and they all did a good job of voicing all the different characters.

A new company has developed the technology to send you back in time somewhere in your life for an hour. You can’t choose the exact time, but the company guarantees that nothing you do will change anything—when you get back time is reset. The main reason people apply is because of some kind of loss, which is true for each of the four strangers who travel to the past and find themselves stuck there—on the day all their lives were changed forever.

The full cast audiobook for The Memory Collectors was perfection! Hillary Huber voices Elizabeth, a mother longing for one more hour with her son after his death in an accident she still doesn’t understand, and you can hear the longing in her performance in the first chapter of the book. Michael Crouch (one of my favorite narrators!) voices Andy, a writer who is desperate to find out why his first love vanished after a whirlwind romance. Fan favorite Andrew Eiden perfectly portrays the frustration of Logan who craves the rush of surfing and mountain climbing after a misstep landed him in a wheelchair. And Erin Bennett rounds out the cast beautifully as Brooke who is looking for an hour of relief from the guilt of an unforgivable mistake.

I was gripped by this tale almost immediately and couldn’t stop listening. I had to know how the characters were connected and how everything would turn out. The audiobook’s amazing production only added to my desire to not put the book down. I’d definitely recommend listening to this one.

Ultimately this is a novel about hope, grief, and the unexpected nature of second chances. The Memory Collectors didn’t end the way I thought it would and it definitely left me with a lot to think about.

Four strangers travel to the past only to realize they are stuck on the day their lives changed forever. Even though they know they cannot change the past, can their experiences change their future?

I was not sure what to expect, but was surprised by how much I liked this. The book is a thought provoking book that asks what would happen if we were able to travel to the past to relive a moment, but not effectually change the future, but change how we viewed the past instead. The author did a great job at weaving together the stories of four people, Logan, Andy, Brooke and Elizabeth’s pasts into a single eventful night, making the book feel both expansive and concise. I appreciated how the author left you with something to think about, yep wrapped up all the endings. The audio on this is a full cast that enhances the experience! Highly recommend this one!

I could not put this book down! I finished it in 24 hours. The Memory Collectors follows four people as they travel back in time to the days before their lives changed forever. They are only supposed to have 60 minutes in the past but end up staying for much longer. The big question is: can they change the future?

The author really hooked me in from the beginning and I could not stop reading. Sometimes I get confused with multiple story lines but this was super easy to follow. The character development was strong and I absolutely loved the ending. This was a very reflective story about loss, forgiveness and second chances.

I loved it as an audiobook and the narrators did an awesome job. I highly recommend this book, especially for fans of Dark Matter by Blake Crouch.

Oh, this was so good. What a moving sci fi mystery thriller. I mean, there are so many genres in this story and they are all mixed together beautifully. You get the cool sci fi/ time travel aspects. You get like four different mysteries. Which I thought was so well done. Like every time a mystery was resolved, there was a new mystery to figure out. And don't even get me started on the human aspects and the ruminations on grief, memories and love. Also, the "memories are a form of time travel." is such an interesting way to think about it. I think I'm going to suggest this book for my book club when it comes out.

And I owe an apology to Andy, who I thought was gonna be a psycho stalker. I stand corrected. (He's just a little bit of a stalker.)

And the narrators! This book gives us narration from Hillary Huber, Andrew Eiden, Michael Crouch and Erin Bennett!? What an amazing group.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ALC!

If you could go back in time and revisit one hour in your previous life, would you? This story is centers around fort people who pay to have this experience. When they discover that their lives intersect the focus becomes on whether you can change the past I don't know how to say much more without giving ventral components of the story away but I appreciate the direction that it went. Unfortunately I liked the first half more than the second which just became kind of sloggy. I think I needed more character development to care about them more so that when the book moved from action to reflection I cared enough to stay engaged.

This is a touching story that uses its sci-fi elements to explore themes of forgiveness, fate, and acceptance. The characters, each shaped by trauma, travel back in time to relive memories—only to stay longer than expected and confront difficult truths about their pasts. I enjoyed this story and think it would make a great book club selection.

I liked that the story was told from four different characters' perspectives and appreciated following along and waiting for all their storylines to intersect. There were certain parts of the storyline that were less believable (e.g. if you knew a bad outcome happened from a choice in the past, why would you willingly repeat and make that same choice again knowing what is going to happen?), but it was a good chance to reflect on some of the bigger themes of the book. I think I would have enjoyed it more as a physical book instead of the audiobook because one of the narrators has such an "angry" voice which made his character a bit deterring. The overall message/takeaway of the story will stick with me.

Ding. Ding. Ding. We have a winner, folks. Give this new time travel read five "lived up to the hype" stars. It is not often that a book has me biting my nails and reaching for the tissues.

What if you could travel back in time for one hour? Would it be worth your life savings? Even if your time there would change nothing about the future?

Four people jump back in time with Aeon Expeditions:

Elizabeth Saunders - divorced wife of Aeon founder Mark Saunders and grieving mother. Could she just have some more time with her son Sam?

Andy Schapiro - bestselling author whose own story is unfinished. What happened to Kate, the love of his life? Where did she go after leaving him on the beach?

Logan Sandoval - a once vibrant athlete, but now angry and imprisoned in a wheelchair. What if he could experience the thrills of walking, running, and more again?

Brooke Dalton - a confusing experience on the PCH has doomed her to a life of regret. Her family will never be the same, nor will two other families affected by that moment in time. If she could go back, would anything change?

This will be one of my favorite reads for the year. All four characters and the supporting roles were well-drawn and relatable. If you decide to go the audio route, you will not be disappointed. Hillary Huber, Erin Bennett, Michael Crouch, and Andrew Eiden do a top notch job of bringing this book to life. Where have you been hiding, Dete Meserve? I will be reading some of you back catalog when I get the chance.

Thank you to Spotify Audiobooks and NetGalley for an audio ARC . All opinions are my own.

In a gut-wrenching novel of love, loss, and technology - reminiscent of Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow - Meserve pulls at the threads of four lives gone awry and all the ways they are knotted up in one another.

Four strangers - people who have never met, yet are irrevocably linked by a tragedy three years ago - embark on a time travel expedition that few have experienced. Aeon Expeditions allows clients to revisit an hour of their past, with no impact on the future. All four travelers have their own reasons for reliving that perfect moment trapped in the amber of the past. Andy is desperate to find his lost first love. Logan craves the freedom of his body before his paralysis. Brooke wishes to experience a moment unencumbered by the guilt of a terrible mistake. And Elizabeth grieves for her dead son, Sam, whose tragic accident links all of them together.
Their promised sixty minutes, however, becomes hours and days. They are stranded in the past, trying to course correct the paths of fate that, ultimately, they cannot change. Because no matter what they do in the past, it will make no difference to the future they return to. The only thing they can change is themselves.

This audiobook is narrated by a cast of characters, allowing the reader to become immersed in the individual voice of each of the four Memory Collectors. This not only helps to distinguish which plotline the reader is following, but also allows for incredible nuance between character's individual mannerisms. Each narrator is expressive in their own way - Brooke's narrator conveys her internal anguish and anxiety; Logan's offers a hint of arrogance and boyish charm; Andy's is the consummate writer, both thoughtful and pondering; and Elizabeth's conveys her maternal love with sincerity and depth. All narrators offer a smooth reading experience that is pleasant to listen to.

The biggest heartache of this story is that the reader spends the entire time walking out the days before the fatal tragedy with the four travelers. We are also hoping against hope that the scientists at Aeon Expeditions are wrong - that the travelers can change the course of history and wake up in a bright new world. After all, the scientists were wrong about only spending an hour in the past; the whole book's premise is that the time travel machine does not work as intended. Is it too much to hope for a happy ending?
But happy endings are not always what we think they should look like. The tidy, wrapped-up-with-a-bow version (accident averted, families made whole, futures changed for the better) fails to take into account the inherent messiness of the human condition. How do you find a happy ending in the midst of grief, sorrow, tragedy? Ultimately, the four The Memory Collectors choose connection and love over being stuck in the past.

A time travel story that will leave you thinking about the "what-if" ramifications of being able to revisit your past! The technology for people to go back to an hour of their life now exists and it is a highly coveted experience. But what happens when the hour expires and you still find yourself stuck in the past? When 4 strangers seize the opportunity to go back in time, all for very different reasons, and their return doesn't happen as expected, they try to figure out why they are still there. When they each begin to stumble upon one another, they soon find their visits may be connected, and it might not be as coincidental as it seems.

I read sci-fi/time travel books pretty sparingly, they aren't usually my favorites, but every once in awhile I will read a synopsis of a book in this genre and think it might be worth a read (i.e. "Tomorrow, And Tomorrow, And Tomorrow"). Once again, I have been very pleasantly surprised at how much I loved my toe-dip into sci-fi! I devoured this audio book in just a day, I needed to know what the fate of the 4 main characters was, and how their pasts all intertwined! This was a first read for me of Dete Meserve, but I will be going back for more!

The audiobook featured several audio narrators, which I am a huge fan of to help differentiate each character and give them more realness. I thought the story took off right at the beginning and didn't stop, it never lagged for me or got too wordy. I will absolutely be recommending this book to our library patrons and my colleagues and anyone else who will listen!!

Thank you to NetGalley and Spotify Audiobooks for this advanced audio copy!