This was entertaining. I enjoy time travel stories so making the decision to pick up this book was a simple one. I was hooked by the story early on and found myself liking Hope quite a bit from the start. Things only got more interesting from there. I am only sorry that I waited so long to finally pick this book up.

As the book opens, we are with Hope at her mother’s funeral. Nobody has seen her mother since an earthquake leveled the building her mother was scheduled to speak. Her body has not been found but it is assumed that she is dead. Hope is asked to come to visit her mother’s sister whom she has never met over in Scotland and before she knows it she is on a plane. I liked Hope and thought that her ability to remember everything would come in really handy. I found the story to be rather exciting with a likable cast of characters. It was kind of fun to go back and see the world in an earlier time from Hope’s point of view. I hate to admit that I know nothing about Eleanor of Aquitaine so while I enjoyed the scenes with this historical figure, I can say how accurately she was depicted.

I have been impressed with Amanda Ronconi’s narration in the past and I thought that she did a great job with this story. She used a wide range of voices for the various characters which really helped to bring the story to life. She added just enough emotion to the reading to illustrate the characters’ feelings. I found her voice to be very pleasant and I had no trouble listening to this book for hours at a time. I do believe that her narration added to my overall enjoyment of the story.

I would recommend this book to others. I thought that this was an entertaining and exciting story that was well worth the read. I don’t think that I will read any further in the series since it is my understanding that the second book ends in a cliffhanger and the third book doesn’t seem to be coming anytime soon. If that changes, I will definitely be read to read more of Hope’s story.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Clarion Books via NetGalley and purchased a copy of the audiobook.

My interests have changed since I requested this book as I no longer primarily read YA. At this time, I won't reading or reviewing this title as it does not fit my current interests or the interests of followers of my blog/Instagram. Thank you.

Such a great concept but it fell short.
I love the idea of time travel. I always love time travel. It's so intricate, so many parts, so easily done wrong. The author seemed to get a good bit of this right, though I could not picture exactly how it was done. But the execution of character building, their lack of connections, the pace, the cheesey romance, all were lacking in connection for me. I needed more action, more suspense, more something. I felt like the characters got themselves into bad situations and then they easily solved how to get out of them. There was no intricate thought process, no way to really see the characters struggling to figure out how to solve the problems.
Unfortunately, I won't be moving on to future books in this series

Into the Dim was fast-paced and Taylor kept me interested in reading the entire story. I was fully invested in wanting to find out more about how time travel would work, and Taylor sucked me into the world of the Viators and historic England as Hope finds out her mother isn’t actually dead but rather stuck centuries in the past. All of a sudden, her trip to visit her aunt in Scotland has turned into learning everything her mother hasn’t told her and rescuing her from the past without getting stuck in the past herself. It’s no longer trying to get away from her father who moved on from her mother’s “death” relatively quickly and from her very stereotypical Southern family where her grandmother makes the constant effort not to include her.

(The depiction of Southerners bothered me, but I am but a girl from a city within a southern state, so I really can’t talk.)

While engaging, at the same time, Into the Dim also wasn’t terribly memorable. I remember very little of the characters outside of Eleanor, Thomas and Phoebe. Everyone else just kind of exist in the story for the sole purpose of existing, and I don’t think it’s partially attributed to the fact the novel was fast-paced but more due to the fact they just weren’t as interesting.

Even Hope, who kind of just feels like someone who is told she wasn’t prepared, but is conveniently equipped and prepared. She just seemed prepared with her eidetic memory and being homeschooled throughout her life, where she’s essentially been taught all the things she would need as a Viator. She might not have known about her mother, but she knows a lot about history and has been taught most if not all of the dead languages, which she utilizes in her trip to the past. I just feel with the constant reminder she isn’t prepared, Taylor could’ve spent a little more time in Hope’s preparations for her trip into the past.

The romance also felt unnecessary and forced, although I think a large part of this is me personally not enjoying instalove romance. But I think while I did enjoy Into the Dim, I don’t think I’ll be continuing the rest of the series, especially since it’s been well over three years and a supposed third book hasn’t actually happened (and I don’t want to get myself invested after the second book if things get better).

I loved the concept of this book! Time travel! Historical! The romance was great and the world and time travel believable. this was a fun read!

You have to get past the beginning, which struggles a bit, (including Hope pulling a very familiar 'not like other girls' trope) but once the time traveling hits, it's good! Plus, I think it goes into a time period not a lot of teens know about, which is always appreciated.

Good read. Really Like the story. Characters were very interesting. Good time travel story. Good plot.

Outlander for the YA Verse? Yeah, I mean this was alright. Going back in the past to save your mother sounded like a great plot point. I felt it became more romance though and it got overshadowed.

I honestly thought the heroine to be quite unremarkable and therefore could not get that invested in her story.

This book had so many elements that I love; a strong female lead, Scotland and time travel! This book follow our main character Hope, as she's sent to Scotland to live with her aunt, where she learns that the disappearance of her mother may not be because of the reasons she believed, and that her mother is actually stuck in 12th century London. Hope finds herself thrust into the world of time travel and needs to learn how she can go back in time with the help of her newfound friends to save her mother and get her back to the present time.

I love books about time travel but add in that it's travelling back in time in ENGLAND? Yes, please! I loved that this book was also filled with lots of strong female characters. I do believe there could be some more character development when it comes to the side characters such as Collum and Phoebe but I hope that will come in the next book! I also hope to be able to learn more about Hope's mother Sarah in the sequel. Can't wait for book 2!

This book sounded so interesting, but it just could not hold my attention. I hate giving up on books, but this one went into my DNF pile. Maybe someday I will retrieve it and give it a second chance.

A YA time-travel story that is suspenseful, unique, full of plot twists and would make a perfect movie.

A mother presumed dead, a daughter who won't give up, a family with deep rooted secrets, and plenty of people who will stop at nothing to destroy those in their path of power and control.

I enjoyed the element of family secrets, time travel, the attention to historical details, and the excitement of cloak and dagger between centuries.


This is not a standalone read.

WHY DID I PICK THIS BOOK TO READ?
Initially, Into The Dim by Janet B. Taylor appealed to me because it was compared to Outlander. I also thought the jacket copy sounded AMAZING. Straight up, I am almost always interested in a time travel romance. Still, I am a huge procrastinator and a huge mood reader. So, this book sat on the Kindle until I decided to really prioritize getting my Netgalley percentage into 80% compliance. Seeing Into The Dim on the shelves of my local library felt like kismet. Alas, it was not meant to be.


WHAT’S THE STORY HERE?
Main character Hope Walton is an American who lives with her father in the South. Unfortunately, her mother died overseas in an earthquake in India, or so that is what Hope was told. The story opens with the funeral of her mother and an empty casket. From there, her father announces she’s going to Scotland for the summer to stay with an aunt she’s never met while he goes on a cruise with this librarian that he’s hooking up with. So then we get to Scotland and Hope stumbles across this time machine in the basement of the estate where she’s staying and oh by the way her mom is trapped in the time of Eleanor of Aquitaine. I couldn’t tell you the rest of the story though.

HOW LONG DID I LAST?
I got to page 116 of 436.

WHY DID I DNF?
Literally 116 pages of set up is SO boring. I want something to actually happen when I read a book. How do we get all the way to a quarter of the book with no time travel, no kissing, no nothing. Plus it is so full of information dumps. The whole how time travel was discovered and why they think her mom is stuck in the past is all revealed in a very long conversation. There’s no careful parceling out of information. To me, that just feels like poor plotting, pacing, and world building. I am not here for that at all.

IS THERE ANYONE INTO THE DIM WOULD APPEAL TO?
If you are a diehard time travel fan, you may like this more than I did. Also people who are patient with books and patient with information dumps.

I loved this book. Hope was an intriguing. I loved her character and the fact that she has a photographic memory. I was drawn to this book because of Hope being sent to live with the Aunt in another country and how it all transpired after the death of her mother, which is still a mystery in itself. I find myself drawn to books where there is something hidden and there is a secret to be revealed.

I had a really hard time getting into this one. I couldn't finish it, sadly. Too bad. The premise sounded amazing. I guess the blurb was better than the book itself.

I wanted to love this book, especially after just reading something about Eleanor of Aquitaine. It just took so long (and with some weird turns) to get to the part where it's historical. By then I was already not into the story.

Fun young adult novel about a 16 year old girl who is sent to visit an aunt she's never met after her mother is missing and presumed dead after an earthquake. She finds out that her mom has actually traveled in time and is stuck in England during the time of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitane, and ends up traveling in time herself to try and save her mother. Very entertaining and look forward to reading the next book in the series.

I wanted to love this book. There's some great details about time travel, and I love the angle of a daughter working to save her mother. However, the historical detail seemed a little scant, and I found the main character tough to connect with emotionally.

It was good but not great. There was nothing bad about the book, it just felt so slow and hardly anything happened through out the story. I hope it’ll get better as the next book progresses.

I really enjoyed this book, which I thought was very different. It is about teenaged Hope, who discovers a world filled with unbelievable, unimaginable things after losing her mom. I really enjoyed the characters in this one and thought that the premise and storyline were great!