#BookReview: The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve

More Women’s Fiction Than Science Fiction. Seven years ago, in 2018’s The Space Between, Meserve managed to take a quasi-science/ science fiction concept of a NASA scientist discovering an asteroid behind the sun and spin an electric missing person tale around it – and did so quite well.

Here, she again delves into the “science fiction” element… without ever writing a convincing science fiction book. Yes, it has elements of scifi – the main thrust of the plot is that it is now possible to “time travel” into your own memories and there is now tech to do exactly this. But that is where the science fiction begins and ends here, and other than a (brief) realistic look at the price of such groundbreaking tech and how it would spread to even remotely common use, there really isn’t an actual “scifi” bent to this particular tale.

Now, if one approaches this from more of a “women’s fiction” tale with a few nods to scifi… it actually works a LOT better and is actually quite a strong story… that just needed those nods to scifi to make it work. As a women’s fiction tale of a mother devastated over her son’s death and another mother devastated over something she did that can never be forgiven, both seeking to understand what happened and both desperate to have even a few more minutes of their lives before said events… this is a truly compelling tale.

Meserve manages to weave all four central characters’ stories together seamlessly, though the fact that all use the same tenses and even the same verbal stylings *can* make it a bit hard to distinguish which character you’re reading, particularly in the beginning bits of a hand-off. And still, you can almost see TV/ film producer Meserve – her “day job” when she’s not writing – thinking of camera angles to show viewers certain elements of certain scenes that the characters themselves won’t necessarily realize at the time. Which is actually a cool effect that she brings to the page quite effectively.

Overall I think opinions will likely be divided on this tale based on which side of it you give more weight, which is why I’m trying to caution you in this review. If you come into this book expecting a science fiction book… if you’re familiar with/ enjoy science fiction before this book, you’re going to be disappointed at the science fiction within it. If you’re coming from a more women’s fiction world and perhaps this is (somehow) your first brush with scifi… the scifi may well work for you here. On the other hand, if you’re coming into this book expecting more of a women’s fiction tale with scifi elements to make it work… congratulations, that is *exactly* what you’ve found.

If you’re more of that first more scifi-oriented crowd that is perhaps looking to branch out but need something somewhat close to your scifi preference in order to take a baby step outside of that space to just test the waters… this really is a strong women’s fiction tale that will allow you to do just that, and you’ll likely find something you genuinely enjoy here. So take the chance.

Either way, maybe you think *I’m* the idiot here and that I have no clue what I’m talking about regarding this book. PLEASE, read the book, write your own review – and feel free to call me out as the idiot you think I am, should you feel the need. 🙂

Very much recommended.

This review of The Memory Collectors by Dete Meserve was originally written on April 8, 2025.

#BlogTour: Cassandra In Reverse by Holly Smale

For this blog tour, we’re looking at an intriguing take on time travel fiction. For this blog tour, we’re looking at Cassandra In Reverse by Holly Smale.

Here’s what I had to say about the book on Goodreads:

Neurodivergent Time Travel Women’s Fiction. I do believe this is the first time I’ve ever encountered a book quite like this one – a book with a neurodivergent main character who time jumps most similarly to The Time Traveler’s Wife (vs a true time loop ala Groundhog Day or a “glimpse” ala Family Man), but yet ultimately lands more on the women’s fiction side than the romance side, despite said main character’s main focus being on restoring the romance she loses at the beginning of the tale. There’s also quite a reliance on Greek mythology reimagined, more akin to elements of Jeremy Robinson’s Infinite Timeline event than say Rick Riordian’s Percy Jackson lore. But as with at least Robinson’s books (I’ve never actually read Riordian’s), there is enough explanation of the relevant mythology that one not need have a degree in the field to understand the story enough to enjoy the story for itself. Overall, this has quite a few rare features in it, and fans of the time travel genre will likely enjoy it the most, but others should still step into this wildly quirky world. Very much recommended.

After the jump, the “publisher details”, including an excerpt from the book, the book description, author bio, and social media and buy links.
Continue reading “#BlogTour: Cassandra In Reverse by Holly Smale”

#BookReview: A Time Travel Christmas by Karen McQuestion

Heart And Magic In A Short, Quick Read. This is a perfect Christmas story for anyone who has ever wanted to spend just “one more day” (as Diamond Rio once sang) with a lost loved one at Christmas. Through some scifi/ magical time travel, our lead here gets to do just that – going back to one pivotal night when her grandmother was just a young girl that would change her grandmother – and her entire family – for generations to come. As someone who has been very vocal about wondering about just such tragedies in his own grandparents’ lives, this was particularly moving. But even more generally, this is a great tale that somehow manages to mashup both The Family Man (one of my all time favorite Christmas movies) and Balto (a movie my youngest brother was *obsessed* with as a kid). While lighthearted overall, there is a very real, very visceral threat of imminent danger – and even death – hanging throughout the middle 80% ish of the tale, and this really drives how quick of a read this is – you won’t want to put it down for fear that on the next page someone might die. And yet, the Christmas magic – complete with family and snow (meaning Yankee Christmas, as it rarely snows at that time in the South ;)) and plenty of warmth and surprise – is also present throughout the tale. Very much recommended.

This review of A Time Travel Christmas by Karen McQuestion was originally written on December 2, 2022.

#BookReview: Lost In Time by AG Riddle

Interesting Concepts Yet Disjointed Storytelling. This is one of those books where there is nothing objectively wrong with it, and yet it also feels a bit disjointed. Separated into several parts, it could likely have been better separated into a trilogy, with the events of Parts 1 and 2 in one book, 3 and 4 in a second book, and 5 in a final book. Then you could expand each section out beyond what was presented in even these 400 pages (since you’d arguably need at least another couple hundred or so for a third book) and really make the effort to take a good tale into the stratosphere of being among the best in scifi. Overall the specific application of time travel here was one I hadn’t seen in any form since the early 2000s era Jet Li movie The One, and even here the specific direction Riddle applies is unique in my experience and intriguing overall. Ultimately this is a good tale and well told, it just seemed like it could have been better with a different editing approach. Very much recommended.

This review of Lost In Time by AG Riddle was originally written on August 30, 2022.