I received this book for free from Audiobook Jukebox in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
My Initial Thoughts:
I picked up Time and Again from Audiobook Jukebox, thinking that the story sounded unique and interesting. Plus I noted that it had an average rating on Goodreads over 4 stars. Unfortunately it didn't deliver for me at all.
I started to DNF at the 20% mark because I thought, "this is only 5 hours, it would be lazy to DNF something that short." But no. It's nothing like what I was expecting, had lots of elements that just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, and the narration was not good.
Why it didn't work for me:
- The narration! I listened to a sample briefly and for some reason thought it was okay or else I would have never requested Time and Again. But I was wrong. I felt like Michelle Baab was in a race - she just sped along with no variation in pace or tone for emotion. I eventually got used to it, but definitely would say it played a big part in my decision to DNF Time and Again.
- The way that Abby (the main character) describes and relates to Merrideth, the 11 year old that she is supposed to be tutoring, bordered on offensive for me. I get that this girl has problems. But the emphasis that the girl is fat and she only eats Kit Kats and named her cats Kit and Chip (for her two favorite foods - Kit Kats and chips) just was overboard. There's more to this girl than being fat and I'd hope that Abby could see that. There's an inkling that she's starting to, but I couldn't take anymore. But maybe this gets better and Abby realizes that she's been far too judgmental?
- The thing is, I don't think that's likely because Abby has a very judgemental personality. She's CONSTANTLY quoting Bible verses. I can handle religion being woven into a story where appropriate, but this had the preachy quality and that rubbed me the wrong way.
- Finally, the pace was just so SLOW. Abby is teaching Merrideth and we actually get to sit in on those lessons. Who wanted to relive grammar lessons when reading a book? Show of hands? Yeah, me either. We could have skipped that, especially since the lessons only felt like they were there to reiterate how stupid Abby thinks Merrideth is. As a tutor/teacher myself, I found it really sad and I felt like Abby was in the wrong field. Although the mystery finally got started around the 40% mark, I still found myself falling asleep, so I called it quits.
So it didn't work for me and I'm calling it.