time crossing books | Stray Thoughts

Every Hour Until Then is the fifth in Gabrielle Meyer’s Time Crosser novels about a handful of people who lead double lives. They live a day in one year, and when they go to sleep, they wake up in another year and place, centuries before or after. The next day, they wake up in the first timeline as if no time had passed there. They have until their twenty-first or twenty-fifth birthdays (depended on a number of factors) to chose which path they want to stay in. At that time, they’ll lose the other path.

Twenty-three-year-old Kathryn Kelly lives a privileged life in 1888 London with her parents and sister, Mary. As the book opens, Mary is packing to leave home but won’t tell Kathryn why. Kathryn runs to her father to stop Mary, but he insists Mary is now dead to them. But Kathryn is determined to find out what’s going on. She learns that Mary has gone to live as a charwoman in the Whitechapel district, a poor and dangerous part of London.

Kathryn’s neighbor, Austen Baird, has been her best friend since childhood. But he’s been distant since his parents died a few years ago. Still, she hopes he’ll accompany her to Whitechapel since she can’t go there alone.

In 1938, Kathryn Voland lives with her parents in Washington D.C. She has a lifelong interest in history and works as an assistant exhibit curator at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building. Her father is famous aviator Luke Voland. Her mother is another time crosser, Grace from For a Lifetime. They’ve just come to London because Kathryn has been invited to be a guest curator for a special exhibit at the London Museum. However, Kathryn has ulterior motives for being in London. Kathryn’s two timelines are only fifty years apart, closer than most time crossers. She hopes to find clues in 1938 that might help her find Mary in 1888. Yet with the threat of war with Germany looming, she doesn’t know how long she’ll be able to stay in London.

As Kathryn meets with the museum’s Keeper, Sir Bryant Rothschild, she learns that the special exhibit will feature Jack the Ripper on the fiftieth anniversary of his crime spree.

As Kathryn researches Jacks’ gruesome murders, she’s horrified to learn that her sister in 1888, Mary Jane Kelly, is Jack’s fifth victim.

Her first instinct is to put all her energy into finding and saving Mary. But one of the time crossers’ rules is that if they knowingly change history, they’ll lose their lives in that timeline. Kathryn’s planning to stay in 1938 anyway, so leaving 1888 a couple of years early is not a great loss. But her mother has warned her that changing history can have serious unintended consequences.

And her relationship with Austen is just beginning to reconnect. She believes he feels something more than friendship for her. Does she really want to leave without exploring whether they could have a future together?

She decides that, whatever the risks or consequences, she must save Mary.

I’ve enjoyed all of Gabrielle’s Time Crossers stories, but this one was riveting, especially the last half. Often I can guess at the ways a plot might go, but this one had a twist that gobsmacked me.

I had known very little about the Jack the Ripper murders before reading this book. They remain some of the worst murders of all time. I felt the author did a good job conveying what Jack did without going into unnecessary details.

I got a little irritated at Kathryn’s penchant for getting herself into dangerous situations. However, she does begin to realize that she is impetuous, headstrong, and stubborn, and that those qualities are not always good. She also finds that she runs ahead of God, hoping He’ll approve her plans, instead of waiting on His leading.

I enjoyed the audiobook read by Liz Pearce. I am used to Liz’s voice on some of Roseanna M. White’s books, so it took some adjustment to remember I was in another author’s stories.

I’m glad this audiobook contained the author’s historical notes, sharing where she got her inspiration and what facts were true or fiction. There are several theories about who Jack was and why he committed his crimes. Gabrielle chose one of the theories to incorporate into her novel.

I’ve wondered how many ways Gabrielle can take this time crossing theme. All of the books have been excellent so far, and another is due out this fall. I can’t wait.

(Sharing with Bookish Bliss)

In This Moment is the sequel to When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer. Maggie is the youngest daughter of Libby from the first book. Like Libby, Maggie is a time crosser. But because both Maggie’s parents were time crossers, she has three paths instead of two.

One of her timelines is in Washington D.C. in 1861, where she goes by Margaret and is the daughter of a senator. The Civil War has begin, and after hearing of Confederate spies in the area, she keeps alert. She helps Clara Barton nurse wounded soldiers, but incognito, because such work would be frowned upon in society. Maggie wouldn’t care what people thought, but she has to think of her father’s reputation.

When Maggie goes to sleep in 1861, she wakes up in 1941. Her time crossing parents reside in Williamsburg, VA. Maggie is a nurse who joins the Navy along with her sister, Anna. But when they are asked to join a team on a hospital ship in Pearl Harbor, Maggie wrestles with what she knows will happen.

When Maggie goes to sleep in 1941, she wakes up in 2001 in D. C., where she is in medical school training to become a surgeon.

Though it takes Maggie 30 years to get through 10 normal years, no time is lost between her timelines. When she wakes up in one timeline, it’s the next day after the last time she was there.

Like her mother, Maggie will have to choose which timeline she wants to stay in by her twenty-first birthday. Then her body will die in the other two time periods.

Her mother knew all her life which timeline she wanted, though she had to wrestle with the fact that her preference might not be what God wanted. However, Maggie has no clear preference. She loves all of her timelines and her families. She has important work to do in each one. She’s frustrated that God seems silent on the matter.

Maggie has determined not to become romantically involved in any timeline before her twenty-first birthday because she doesn’t want the complication for her decision-making. But an attractive man becomes part of each of her lives.

Since Maggie is involved in medicine in all three lives, it’s hard not to let her twenty-first century medical knowledge impact her work in 1861 and 1941. If she knowingly tries to change history in any timeline, she’ll forfeit her life in that timeline early. She also struggles with the knowledge of what will happen in 1861 and 1941 and the desire to warn people. But no one in any of her timelines knows that disaster is looming in September 2001.

i loved this book just as much as the first one. I wondered how Gabrielle could write another book about time crossers without repeating some of the same scenarios in the first book. But though Maggie and her parents wrestled with some of the same things, their circumstances and challenges were very different.

I liked the fact that the 1861 and 2001 timelines both occurred in Washington, D. C., but with vast differences.

Happily, the audiobook this time included the author’s notes about what circumstances and people were real and which were made up. I always enjoy that information after finishing a historical fiction book.

There were just a couple of small things I disagreed with here—one character saying he had to learn to love himself before others could love him, and another who determines to “follow her heart.”

But overall, I loved this book. I kept looking for ways to sneak in a few minutes listening more than my usual times. There is at least one more book coming in this series, and I am looking forward to it.