Time After Time / Mikki Daughtry / Book Review

TIME AFTER TIME

Nobody needs to tell nineteen-year-old Libby that pouring her college fund into buying an old Victorian house is a bad idea. She's very aware it's a bad idea. But she's been obsessed with the fixer-upper since she was a kid visiting her grandmother, so much so that the For Sale sign seems like, well, a sign.

When her parents find out what she's done (and when they determine she's not willing to give up the house she bought), Libby finds herself out of one home... and into a new one. Living in the old Victorian feels strange at first, all alone, but as she settles in, Libby discovers the journals of a young woman, Elizabeth Post, who once called this house home, too. Elizabeth, who fell in love in this house circa 1925.

Libby has no plans of falling in love, but she does want to fix up this old house. Which means she needs Tish. Whatever compelled broke college student Tish to knock on her door was a stroke of luck for Libby, who offers Tish a place to stay in exchange for her help. And they're a match made in heaven, right from the start. But as they get to know each other, their story starts to echo a different story that unfolded in this house a hundred years ago, and Libby begins to think that maybe their meeting wasn't quite a coincidence...

THOUGHTS

I don't know that I have the words to describe how much I adored this book. It was everything I could have wanted. It was warmth and light, like sipping hot chocolate next to a crackling fire on a cold, cold winter evening. I loved this book so, so much.

PROS

Miscommunication Misdirect	There's just nothing I hate as much as the miscommunication trope, and this book does toe the line... to allow for a complete misdirect! Mikki Daughtry absolutely sets these girls up for some major miscommunication, and I was so relieved (and, really, delighted) when this book veered in the opposite direction. They're reasonable, instead. They don't jump to conclusions while they're observing each other, learning about each other. What's standing in the way of their relationship isn't some contrived miscommunication (which is never realistic, am I right?) but simply their own insecurities and doubts (something that is much, much more realistic). This book doesn't rely on manufactured conflict, and I adored that.
Real Consequences	As much as this is a warm and fuzzy book, I liked that it also acknowledges the real consequences that come from making your own choices--from growing up, from living how you want and need to. I like that there are no idle threats in this book, and that hard choices have hard consequences (even if the choice was the right one, for the character and the moment). I liked that this book lays out those consequences and champions making the decisions you need to for yourself, whatever the consequences might be (and even if people follow through on manipulative threats), because that's a good message in and of itself. Sometimes you need to break away to find out who you are and who you want to be, even if that means leaving people behind in the process.
Escapist Fantasy	While this book falls firmly into the "this could happen" brand of contemporary fiction, it still feels very much like an escapist fantasy: a fantasy about buying a house and finding someone to fall in love with while you fix it up together. It's, for lack of a better word, really nice. It's soft. It's cozy. It's warm. It's something I adored sinking into as I watched these girls reno this old house together, like the ultimate HGTV dream. That backdrop laced with their Romance--and you know it's a capital-R Romance when you're quoting Rabindranath Tagore--is an all-encompassing piece of wonderful escapism.

CONS

If there was one thing I didn't get enough of in this book, it would be the initial bonding that happened between Tish and Libby. Oh, don't get me wrong. It's there, but it's not necessarily on the page. And while I am a "less is more" type of romance reader, I would have liked a bit of that banter, that bonding on the page. Though more might have diminished the almost magical quality of the romance of this book... Perhaps I should be careful what I wish for. Even if the chemistry between these characters was so good I wanted more.	Butterflies
I loved Tish and Libby's story so much that I never wanted to leave it. Even if I liked Elizabeth and Patricia's story, too. Which I did. I definitely did. But there were times when we would jump back in time to be with Elizabeth and Patricia that would bum me out, just because I loved Tish and Libby too much to want to leave them, even for a chapter or two.	Timeline Troubles
The treatment of the historic sapphics in this book is... strange. Not because it couldn't happen like Mikki Daughtry presents but because historic views on lesbianism tend to be a little less black-and-white than other types of homosexual attraction. The sort of outward hostility in this historic time feels a little off, just because it feels very much like a today-looking-backward sort of hostility. Don't get me wrong. The 1920s wasn't a time that encouraged happy same-sex relationships, even if the relationship was between two women. But the outward vehemence doesn't quite match up with historic precedent, which was more about ignoring what could be ignored, especially before World War 2 made the nuclear family the true American ideal.	Historic Lesbians

Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
10/10

Those who loved Malinda Lo's Last Night at the Telegraph Club will love diving into a bit of queer history. Those who liked the complicated history of sapphics found in Patricia Highsmith's The Price of Salt will love this now-and-then historic romance.

Details Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers Date: May 27, 2025 Series: N/A Add to Goodreads Buy it HERE

Note: I was provided with an ARC by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. All opinions here are my own.