Wrong Place Wrong Time by Gillian McAllister has been all the rage on the interwebz, so who am I to resist being told what to read? In an interesting premise, Jen is witness to her son committing a murder and when she wakes up the next morning, she's gone backwards in time. The story is told as Jen goes further and further in the past, collecting details and clues about what happened to lead to that awful night.
Look. I wanted to like this book. I don't read a lot of thrillers and I don't necessarily love to read "mom lit" that basically has a woman's life centered around motherhood. So what I'm saying is that all of what I'm about to say should be taken with a grain of salt.
This book was very snooze-inducing. Every time I'd read more than three pages, I'd find myself drifting off. Jen was not interesting. The premise is GREAT, but the execution was not exciting.
So. Huh. I mean, read it if you like this sort of thing, I guess. 3.5/5 stars
Lines of note:
"You all right? You look like shit," he says.
"Ah, married life. So romantic." (page 89)
"Ah, married life. So romantic." (page 89)
I mean, I wake up EVERY morning with a spark for my husband. Doesn't everyone?
But knowing the future is worse than not knowing. Isn't it? (page 200)
This is such an interesting question. Would you want to know the future if you could? I'm not sure it would benefit me AT ALL!
This is such an interesting question. Would you want to know the future if you could? I'm not sure it would benefit me AT ALL!
He fiddles with Henry VIII's collar, the cat lying contentedly on his lap on the sofa...Three candles are lit along the windowsill. (page 212)
This just drew me out of the book so hard. How can you have a cat in the house and real candles with flames? I mean, CATS have unpredictable TAILS. And they are nosy and have WHISKERS.
This just drew me out of the book so hard. How can you have a cat in the house and real candles with flames? I mean, CATS have unpredictable TAILS. And they are nosy and have WHISKERS.
...rushing up the stairs with two coffees and a squash on a tray. (page 251)
I only know that squash is some sort of fruit drink in the world of the British because of Taskmaster! I really felt like a genius when I understood this sentence.
Some days, she supposes, are brighter than others, more memorable. Some days, even the great ones, like their wedding, fade away into history. (page 283)
It's really true, isn't it? We won't remember most days, but that makes the ones we do remember all the more special.
It's really true, isn't it? We won't remember most days, but that makes the ones we do remember all the more special.
Darn, I thought this one looked promising too. Although I've found that the Reese's book club label usually means I won't like a book. The handful of others I have read have had this same problem - they were boring!
ReplyDeleteI didn't know much about Reese's book club, so I went through the list to see how I stack up. I've read 13 of her picks:
Delete5 excellent, 4 pretty good, 3 meh, 1 very bad, and 1 DNF (that I didn't count in the 13).
I guess that's actually a pretty good batting average for me, although I wouldn't necessarily choose all of the books she's picked.
My journey with this book is:
ReplyDelete1. Read the description and it didn't really grab me
2. Saw the interwebz go nuts
3. Needed something to read that was going to work so I picked this up on the recommendation of the interwebz
4. Got sucked in right away but also wanted to make it last so I read it very slowly
5. Lost interest once the mystery was solved.
My take is that this book was an incredible journey but lost steam at the destination, which is fine.
Oh, I thought the journey was bit boring, too. And I have some beefs with the ending. Oh, well. I am glad other people enjoy it so much - yay for everyone having different interests!
DeleteI am sort of not surprised that you didn't love this one, as I feel that you and I have a long history of being Book Opposites. For me, I loved the parenting/motherhood stuff and I loved landing in a new past every day and I loved how this journey made the protagonist re-examine all her relationships through a new lens and I loved thinking about how the author put this story-in-reverse together. The mystery stuff was super predictable and I thought the ending was dumb. BUT I enjoyed the rest of it so much that those things didn't matter. I realize I wrote a full review on this one, so I should probably just revisit that but these are my memories of the book. It made me giggle that you found this so snooze-worthy, though, since I found it impossible to put down. Also, I am surprised that you then gave it 3.5 stars! Have you written about how you rate books? I find that kind of thing very interesting.
ReplyDeleteI have written about my star ratings before: https://ngradstudent.blogspot.com/search?q=star+ratings
DeleteI probably should have given this one 3 stars, but I was influenced by how much everyone else loves it. I just don't want to be THAT person who is snotty about a book everyone else loves. It's just not a book *for me* and if I'd known the whole "motherhood as driving force for everything I do" was going to be such a theme, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it at all. Anyway, it got the star rating because the premise is fascinating and it is readable with some good lines. It's just not a book I'd really recommend at all.
I also really liked this one and it almost made my best of list! I thought that part about motherhood/mom guilt was very relatable/realistic. So that really added to the book for me. I don't know how I would have felt reading it if I wasn't a mom, though!
ReplyDeleteAs a non-mom, I say boo to this book! Ha. If I'd known motherhood was such a driving theme, I probably would have skipped this one. That's on me, though, not the book.
DeleteI like both mom lit and thrillers-- and I DID like this one. Although, without the time conceit, the story was not great.
ReplyDeleteThe time conceit was super interesting and I did really like to think about how it could have been done in a way that would have made more of an impact on me.
DeleteHmmm. The premise of this is definitely interesting to me, since I have a son. BUT, my problem with these books sometimes is that it hits a little too close to home and makes me very, very anxious. I don't know- I'm torn based on your review and everyone else's. I would probably read this if it somehow comes my way, but I probably won't go out of my way to read it. And, no, I wouldn't want to know the future, unless of course I had the power to change it.
ReplyDeleteWell, my beefs probably won't resonate with you, but you might find some of it hard to read since your son is roughly the same age as the son in this book! Beware!
DeleteI'm confused by your rating of 3.5 if you were so bored by it. :) I listened to this one, and I really enjoyed it. I didn't notice the cat/candle/window thing. I haven't had a cat in decades (husband is allergic) but I do know they love to sit in windows, and this would NOT work. Perhaps the author is also allergic? In which case, perhaps she should have had a dog.
ReplyDeleteI think I would give this book a 3.5 or 4.0, but in my book, those are really good grades, if a PERFECT book is a 5.
It probably is a 3 star book, not 3.5, but I know everyone else loved it, so it got some grade inflation from me. Generally speaking, 3.5 stars is just fine. I read it, probably won't remember much about it, and wouldn't necessarily recommend it. A 4 or 4.5 is really good in my world and a 5 is something I'd widely recommend to a wide variety of people. There is no perfect book in my world. Ha!
DeleteI know Gillian from the old blogging/vlogging days but I haven't read any of her books (yet)... I was intrigued by this one, but maybe I should start with another? Anyway, thanks for your insights... it's always interesting how differently people feel about a book (but that's the beauty - that's why there are books for everyone!).
ReplyDeleteLots of people like it, so if you think you'll like it, go for it!
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