Time Travel for Beginners has me giggling and kicking my feet! It was so cute! Thank you for the advanced copy!

Jaclyn Moriarty’s A Corner of White was one of my favorite books as a teen; I loved the whimsical writing style, the way the plot seemed to meander and still have all the elements come together in a sensical and surprising way, the uniqueness of the world and how it combined the real world and fantasy. Time Travel for Beginners reminded me of that in the best way.

Moriarty has such a unique and engaging way of writing, and I was delighted with the conversational style and the way words were used. Her protagonists all have a way of talking that are specific to them but that I can also trace across books that stand out from other authors’ books, which is my favorite when I read several books by an author. Anna’s narration especially felt well in line with her personality (and Jade’s with hers, despite their being the same person!)

Speaking of Jade, I was blown away by the twist; all the clues were there, but I hadn’t seen it until after it was revealed. I loved how the shift of one moment changed so much about Anna/Jade’s life, yet certain elements looped back into both of them (e.g., the Tango Dancer) even from wildly different causes. Related, I liked how time travel was explained and holes were addressed satisfactorily without needing to get science-heavy with it.

And, of course, I did enjoy Teddy, and especially his relationship with his brother.

The end of Moriarty’s contemporary fantasy books always feels sweeping and thematic in a way I find hard to articulate but leaves me thinking, and this was no exception. Would you go back and change the past? What moment would you choose? Even if some things were better, other things might be worse; is yours better because it’s yours? Does seeing another version of you who experienced different things and thus appear very differently mean you have those characteristics inside you as well? How is the best way to parent your child? Is there one best way? If you mess something up, does that mean everything will always be messed up? If you save something from disaster, does that always avert disaster? Are you remembering what happened correctly at all? Even if you see exactly what happened, are you correct? What's another way to see it? How do other people play into all of this?

Overall, I had a wonderful time reading this. I did think it meandered without any clear direction at first, but the plot was all working there in the background, and the conflict in the foreground was strongly and unrepentantly driven by complicated, messy character relationships. It sucked me in and made me think.