TW: sexual assault, animal death, parental emotional abuse

/Thank you so much to NetGalley and Castle Bridge Media for this e-ARC!

Synopsis: In a future Earth on the brink of environmental collapse, a mysterious company called the Program has successfully invented time travel. They use this technology to choose ‘Heros’ to go back in time and prevent future pollution from occurring. Our main character Sloane works in a dead end tech job but dreams of using her superpower memory to become a ‘Hero’. After a fall out with her father, she is selected as the next ‘Hero’ who will travel back in time to 16th century France…..but she also happens to meet her literal ‘dream’ guy right as she begins her training.

Review: The premise of this book is pretty fantastic. I deeply enjoyed the view into a dystopian future where the planet is on the brink of environmental collapse. (If only we could invent time travel in the real world in order to prevent further climate change…..)

Our main character Sloane does a lot of heavy lifting in carrying this book from beginning to end. She is deeply relatable in her desire for love while also getting in the way of her own happiness at times. Despite her being 29, I do feel like this was a coming of age story for her as she went on a journey of self discovery and self love. At first, I was rather annoyed by the insta love between her and Sebastian until I realized that it was a background story arc to Sloane’s own growth as a woman.

Our supporting cast of characters were just okay. I would have appreciated some more development for our love interest Bastian. However, hats off to Nguyen for using the pregnancy trope to actually forward the plot instead of it being thrown in for drama.

Do you have to suspend disbelief to go along with the overly optimistic ending? Yes but its fine. Sometimes you need a hopeful outlook on life and human nature.

Overall, good but not the best out there.

Rating: 4 stars.