Time and Regret

by M. K. Tod

When Grace Hansen finds a box belonging to her beloved grandfather, she has no idea it holds the key to his past—and to long-buried family secrets. In the box are his World War I diaries and a cryptic note addressed to her. Determined to solve her grandfather’s puzzle, Grace follows his diary entries across towns and battle sites in northern France, where she becomes increasingly drawn to a charming French man—and suddenly aware that someone is following her…

Through her grandfather’s vivid writing and Grace’s own travels, a picture emerges of a man very unlike the one who raised her: one who watched countless friends and loved ones die horrifically in battle; one who lived a life of regret. But her grandfather wasn’t the only one harboring secrets, and the more Grace learns about her family, the less she thinks she can trust them.

• ISBN10: 1503938409
• ISBN13: 9781503938403
• Publish Date: 16 August 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Out of Print: 1 March 2022
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: Amazon Publishing
• Imprint: Lake Union Publishing
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 366
• Language: English

Reviews

[elysium]

4,5 stars

The book alternates between Martin’s life during WWI and his granddaughter Grace’s life in early 1990s. Grace is recently divorced with two kids who’s trying to get her life back together. When she discovers her grandfather’s old war diaries and a message with a puzzle in her attic, she decides to visit the war sites in France.

I don’t remember if I’ve read books set in WWI before, it’ usually WWII so this was a great change. Although reading Martin’s diary entries it could have been set in either war. I’m not usually fan of letters in books and mostly just skip them but here it worked.

I liked both Grace and Martin and couldn’t choose which POV I liked better which is rare. Martin was so eager to go to war but it soon turns into bitterness and rage as the war goes on. The war changed him forever and it wasn’t easy to come back and live with a survivor’s guilt.

I wasn’t huge fan of Pierre. He was a nice guy and it was great that Grace found him but I don’t know. I think he was boring and that they had no chemistry between them.

I didn’t understand Grace’s grandmother Cynthia’s coldness towards her. I wonder what happened to her because she wasn’t like that in Martin’s diaries. I would have liked to learn more about her.

This was my first book by the author and it definitely won’t be the last. I really loved this book and look forward reading more from her.

[Lianne]

I received a copy of this book as part of a book blog tour that I participated in. This review in its entirety was originally posted at eclectictales.com: http://www.eclectictales.com/blog/2016/09/01/review-time-and-regret-excerpt-giveaway/

Wow, this book was quite the puzzle as readers follow Grace who in turn is following her grandfather’s footsteps and experiences across France during World War One. Martin’s experiences during the war is brought to life in these pages, in part through the terse diary entries that Grace is reading, as well as the alternative chapters throughout the book from his perspective. A lot of different issues were touched on over the course of reading his story, from the experiences of trench warfare and losing comrades to the experience of shell shock and what the recuperation period is like both in hospitals and after the war with settling back into civilian life. It was also interesting to read Martin back then and contrast it to how Grace remembered her grandfather, not to mention her grandmother then and now.

In the “present” storyline, there’s a thriller element running through as Grace finds herself being followed whilst trying to figure out her grandfather’s cryptic message and why he left his diaries with her. It kept me glued to the book, coinciding with Grace’s character journey. She’s a woman who finds herself at a crossroads following a divorce and finds herself not only immersed in French culture but also reevaluating her life, what she wants, and finding love along the way. I liked the characters and really enjoyed following Grace’s story. The title of course ties in more closely with Martin’s and Cynthia’s story and their own regrets, less so on Grace’s part but these elements are ever-present in the story and the way that the different generations interacted with each other.

I don’t know what else to say about this novel except that I greatly enjoyed reading Time and Regret. It has a nice balance of the historical fiction and present day mystery and story that come together quite nicely. Highly recommended!