Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

OKAY 👏 This made my childhood self happy. This is exactly the kind of book that made me fall in love with reading in middle/high school. This book is not nearly as popular as it should be! I was unsurprised to see the author is a teacher, this has school reading material all over it (in a good way).

It took me a little longer than I wanted to adjust to the story, but once we were in it, I liked it more and more. I almost think the stakes could have been higher in some aspects - the possibilities are endless with this concept - but I was never disappointed.

But that ending - I might have teared up. Also, it ended so fast! I was hoping for a bit more of a wrap up or conclusion to our characters moving on from here. It really felt abrupt. But, I know there is a book 2 (& 3!) so I'll be hopping into those soon anyway 😄

Time travel stories can be difficult to pull off, but The Time Trials handled the concept in a way that felt exciting, accessible, and incredibly engaging. I loved slowly uncovering the rules of the world alongside the characters, and each new revelation made me even more invested in the outcome.

The pacing kept me hooked from beginning to end, blending adventure with thoughtful character development. The emotional stakes never got lost beneath the larger science fiction concepts, which made the story even stronger.

This was an imaginative adventure that left me eager to see where the series might go next.

The story follows Finn Mallory as a scholarship recipient for the prestigious Wharton Academy. Finn and three other students are invited by their history professor to be members of the Young Historians Club, but their fieldtrips are far from ordinary.

I was gripped with the book from the start, with an intriguing story and easy to follow writing, this was a definite page turner. I did find some of the time jumps between chapters jarring, as it felt that some of the story was missing, and I would have liked to hear how the story progressed from the previous chapter.

I found all the characters easily readable, and the four main characters meshed together great. The romance was unexpected, but I quite enjoyed it as it developed.

I am excited to continue with the story!

Thank you to the authors, publisher, and NetGalley for having this available to read!

The Time Trials by Jon and Dayna McConnell is a great fast paced time travel book. It has an elite boarding school setting and has high-stakes competitive historical games that involve collecting artifacts from specific time periods within a set amount of time. It involves healing from personal trauma, guilt, grief, self blame, high parental expectations, isolation, terrifying scenarios, corruption, and mysteries. The characters are quite diverse and have to look past their differences. This book is an emotional roller-coaster. It made me feel anxious, heartbroken, hopeful, and frustrated.

I got this honestly because it looked like something that my son would enjoy at night before bed. I was not wrong. We have both become invested in the story of Whorton Academy and Finn and the Historian Society. Worth a read/listen/ any other way you can consume it. It reminds me of Hunger Games, Harry Potter (without the Author) and Gregor the Overlander. The characters are relatable even to someone who isnt even in highschool anymore/hasn't gone yet, and the story is compelling and you want to know what happens next. We were only 3 chapters in when I requested the other 2 novels in the series!!!

I didn't know what to expect from this book, but my goodness....it was so good! I couldn't put it down. I immediately started the second one. I really enjoyed all of the characters in this book and they all grew through out the story in their own unique way.. I did question some of the adult choices, but it wouldn't have been as a great a story with out them. This is reminiscent of Hunger games but with a time travel twist.

I received a free E-ARC from Net galley and Two Crows Press for my honest review.