Crossing in Time (Between Two Evils, #1)

The past isn't over, it's an opening. The future isn't hidden, it's a trap.
If she ever wants to see him again, she'll have to take the risk.

Fall into this "Funny, Romantic & Harrowing" (Publishers Weekly Starred Review) dystopian love story and prepare to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely NO ditzes!)

When offered a one-way trip to the past, Isabel sacrifices everything for a chance to change the rapidly deteriorating present--and see her murdered lover one last time. When she arrives twenty years in the past, buck naked and mortally wounded, she has 24 hours to convince a stunned but enraptured nineteen-year-old to change their future. Definitely easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that's a heart breaker, save the world or not.

This offbeat tale is about falling madly in love when one is too cynical for such things, letting go of pessimism when it's the last life jacket on a sinking ship, and racing against the clock when one doesn't have the proper footwear. It's a coming-of-age story for old fogeys, a how-to-make-love guide for diehard celibates, and a laugh-out-loud tragedy with a hopeful twist.

Many thanks to TheWriteReads for inclusion on this blog tour.

I jumped on the chance to read this book as soon as I read the blurb … and who could blame me?

Sounds perfect for me! Unfortunately, I ended up having to DNF it around 40%, because of a rather traumatic miscarriage experience, which is probably about my only reading trigger. I totally peeked at other reviews to see what happened in the end, though.

Since I unfortunately had to DNF it for personal reasons, I won’t be writing a review, but I thought … what could I do that’d be even more fun than a review? So I put my library clerk hat on and settled on who should read this book!

I do, after all, have experience with this whole recommending books things. *puffs out chest and points to upside-down library nametag* So without further ado, if you fit any of these, you might enjoy picking up Crossing in Time.

You Might Enjoy “Crossing In Time” If …

You enjoy comedic banter.

This was my first impression of the book: the banter. Y’all know how much I love my banter. Gosh did I appreciate it here, because it’s fun (and funny). It felt very much like watching people I know interact, and I loved the relatability of it. Doesn’t even matter what character you choose, all the main ones basically have their own flavor of banter, so they don’t all the same, but they’re all fun to read, just the same.

Funny puns is more your humor speed.

I love puns. I won’t even apologize for it. The cheesier the joke, the more groan-worthy the pun, the better I like it. I’m a professional at corny dad jokes, which I think should qualify as another language for me because I’m not a dad, so look at me, being an overachiever.

This book is just full of puns and corny jokes, in the best possible way. I had to laugh. I couldn’t even help it. The humor gave a nice balance between the darker themes, which really helped with not getting bogged down by all the bad things that happen.

Delightfully prickly scientists.

Honestly, those are the best kind, right? Are you even a scientist if you aren’t fluent in sarcasm? I’d argue perhaps not. Dr. Hudson (who would totally object to being called “doctor,” but this is my blog and not his, so there), is a delightful character. He’s clearly smart and well versed in his field, but also mouthy and not afraid to voice his thoughts. From the moment he was introduced, he became my favorite character.

Time travel and multiple timelines.

Time travel is always a little weird to me because of paradoxes that my little meager brain can’t wrap itself around, but it’s such a fun concept! If time travel is your thing, this book delivers. I didn’t get to the time travel part, so I can’t really say too much about it, but it’s a slow build to get there, which I really liked and appreciated. Even though the blurb tells you what to expect, the journey was pleasant and intriguing, really captivating my interest to make me curious how everything fit together.

Fast-paced, flirty romance.

Not gonna lie, romance is just … not my thing usually. The focus here was a little too much on the romance for me, and it was a bit fast. They weren’t together and it was never going to happen and then a few pages later they were blissfully in love and couldn’t imagine being without each other.

However, if you are a romance fan, this is a couple you may be able to get behind and root for. While I didn’t love the timeline that it happened in, I enjoyed the “old married couple” feel between them and they comfort they had with each other.