I love me a good literary squad and team 236 or as they're affectionately know 'team weird' are becoming a firm favourite. Luke, Jane and Matthew certainly don't fit in with the 'regulation' style Time Police, but you can't say they're not effective. As their training is coming to an end they are all expected to choose which division of the Time Police they want to apply for, but they are a little reluctant to leave one another. Luckily a distraction comes in the stranding of a Politicians daughter in 17th Century. Team 236 are sent to retrieve the girl only she is a little reluctant to return... no thanks to having a past with Luke Parrish. The Time Police are determined to stop this little illegal time travel operation and so they need to send people undercover, people who could never be accused of being Time Police... you can see where I'm going with this right? Unfortunately, the deeper they get into the organisation, the true depravity of it comes to life and team 236 end up in a whole heap of trouble.

Luke, Jane and Matthew certainly make for a unique team. Lead by Major Ellis, they are the laughing stock of the Time Police, more likely to end up in a corridor brawl than actually working, but when they do get out there their differences and strengths come to light, and team 236 might just be taking the Time Police in the right direction. Luke has certainly not changed from book 1, still philandering, thinks too highly of himself and never knows when to shut up. BUT when the shit hits the fan he can, at times, be an effective leader... mainly because he doesn't give anyone else the chance. Jane is the characters I've seen grow the most from book one. She still blushes at the barest hint of praise, and still has slightly schizophrenic tendencies, but clearly being accused of Murder in book one has done wonders for her confidence, slightly more bolshy and not afraid to take Luke down a peg or two she is quickly becoming my favourite character. Matthew just wants to break away from St Mary's and his parents legacy, he is a wonder with the Time Map ( even if he broke it that one time), and that seems like a logical place for him to head after graduation, but he is hesitant to leave his friends, this unlikely band of misfits where he fits in. His is another character whose confidence has definitely grown from book one and I enjoyed him being a little more talkative and assertive. Taylor also manages to bring up well built up side characters, each with their own individual personalities and traits. Some you like, some you don't but they are all effortlessly brought to life.

I found the whole concept of 'Time Police' really intriguing and we definitely get to explore it in more depth in this book. Sounds pretty straightforward right? They Police Time? And they do, they make sure that nobody tries to go back and alter any important historical events (man the amount of people who have tried to kill Hitler!), they try and catch rogue time travellers and they also look for any inconsistencies such as time slips. It should get repetitive, but instead Taylor makes every book its own adventure, think The Librarians mixed in with Indiana Jones (only less impressive) and she makes the humour in the books so utterly British, I defy you not to giggle your way through them. I still really need to read the St Mary's Chronicles because I feel a little of the backstory is lost on me, but not enough to affect my overall enjoyment.

>Like 'Doing Time' this book was filled with a multitude of twists and turns, and this book tends towards the darker side in some ways. But not too dark, don't worry! If you're here for a fast paced read, adventure and utterly hilarious one liners, you wont be disappointed. This is a series I will definitely be carrying on with and I can't wait to get my hands on the next adventure with Team Weird.

Q O T D. Are there any authors you exclusively buy just on audiobook? Believe it or not, 12 books and 14 novellas later up until I received the ARC (massive, massive thanks to @headlinebooks & @netgalley by the way) for Hard Time I’d never, ever read a Jodi Taylor Book. The Chronicles of St. Mary’s are one of my all time favourite, most re-read adult series but I’ve always, exclusively had them in audiobook read by the wonderful Zara Ramm. Needless to say I’ll still be ordering my audiobook on publication day (Oct 15th)!

Hard Time by @joditaylorbooks - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️(⭐️) - this was a 4.9 for me, but I know the -0.1 was because the characters voices were missing and they are so much part of their personalities!

Team Weird are back in this second, brilliant Chronicles of St. Mary’s Time Police spin off series and, typically things in the world of policing illegal time travel never go as planned. Hard Time is everything you could possibly want from one of Jodi’s books - the usual suspects from St Mary’s even make a brief appearance - with only one minor flaw that is not really the books fault.

I’ve written a book before. Two actually, and because of this I understand that producing a brilliant book is not a solo endeavour. We all have brilliant editors and often agents. I wholeheartedly now believe that the fairy dust that makes Jodi Taylor’s Time Police and Chronicles of St Mary’s books so bloody brilliant is their narrator. I think if you follow this account you’ll have to expect that every time one of these books comes out I’m going to wax lyrical about why you need to go get a copy of Just One Damn Thing After Another (the first book) and come along for the ride, but this time I’m telling you: the audiobooks are even better.

Okay so out of the three big twists, I saw two of them coming, but that’s how many of Jodi’s books in this world I’ve read how many times each? Go get started on the books now because every single one of them - including this one - is worth the ride (and do pay attention to Why Is Nothing Ever Simple? because I’m going to have to go back for a re-listen now because what started off as a bit of fun has suddenly become important!)

Jodi knocks it out of the park again!

This is the second in the Time Police spin off series, following Jane (the shy but growing ever more confident), Matthew (Max's Matthew... I'll leave it at that), and Luke (the spoilt). As they finish the last of their training to become fully fledged Time Police officers.

If you're already a fan of the Disaster Magnets of St Mary's, and the first Time police novel then you will NOT be disappointed.

Team Weird!

The second in the Time Police spinoff sees Team Weird tackling time slips, rogue time travel tourists and facing up to their own TP futures; as to be expected nothing goes to plan!
If you're a fan of the author's first series The Chronicles of St. Mary's, then you'll find lots to enjoy here, including a cameo appearance from most of the St Mary's regulars. The mayem continues!

This was an enjoyable sequel to the previous spinoff (Doing Time) from the wonderful Chronicles of St Mary's series, which I am continually surprised is not better-known. The author's trademark humour is present throughout, and easter eggs for loyal readers abound. The main characters feel alive enough that you feel you could meet them walking down the street, however a few of the background characters were a bit less rounded. There were neat cameos from St Mary's characters as well, and the story is well poised for the next sequel, which I'm very much looking forward to!

The second book in the St Mary's spin off series featuring Luke, Jane and Matthew (who is the son of Max Maxwell and Leon Farrell from St Mary's). The three of them are still trainee Time Police officers, known as Team Weird for their unorthodox ways of tackling situations that alternately drive Commander Hay slightly bonkers, while actually appreciating their originality (though she'd never tell them that, of course). This time they are sent to the seventeenth century to rescue a politician's daughter who has been dumped by a team of illegal time tourists. Unfortunately she turns out to be one of Luke's exes and she's not happy to be rescued, especially by him. She does, however give away some details of the illegal time travel organisation and Luke and Jane go undercover to see what information they can ferret out while Matthew spends some quality time with the time map. Expect peril, timeslips, Marie Antoinette, and Luke's mouth on overdrive. There's a brief intervention from St Mary's, some familiar character (Officer North, Major Ellis) and a fast-paced adventure. Jodi Taylor is one of my favourite authors, and this does not disappoint. I had this as an advance review copy from Netgalley. Publication is 15th October 2020.

Team Weird are back! And causing some fire trucking mayhem! All before they have even finished their training. Three weeks to go before Team 236 finish their grunt work and become fully fledged members of the Time Police (those utter bastards) they are sent on a hush hush mission to retrieve the spoiled daughter of a ferocious MP with pull who also happens to be Luke's ex. Things spiral from there. Luke and Jane end up on an undercover operation cut off from help while Mathew is left holding the fort while obviously disregarding direct Time Police orders that see him suspended and forced to ask those reprobates at St. Mary's for help to save his friends.
Hard Time is solid Taylor fare but I didn't enjoy it as much as the first one and the major reason for this is that team weird get spilt up for most of the book, we hardly get any Mathew at all. The little that we do get is quality - being a hero like his dad and screaming like his mother. Luke Parrish is the work of genius and deserves all the stars I love/hate him so much I could spit. He's the best/worst. Jane, armed with her trusty notepad and a sharp knee, is finding her fire trucking big girl pants (even if she does think she schizophrenic) and people are staring to take note. Ellis and North continue to be the grown ups who have to deal with team weirds actions but at least they have each other.... I mean I think they do...don't they....aren't they? 🤔 And most of all the Time Police might just have to admit that actual history might be significant in terms of time travel.

I read the first book in this series and then, because that piqued my interest, started on the series that this is a spin off from - The Chronicles of St Mary's. I am currently on book four of that and blooming loving it! I don't think not having read that first impaired my enjoyment of Doing Time or this book but I do recommend, if you haven't already, then you might like to fill in a few gaps with the parent series.
So... team weird is back. Or as they prefer to call themselves; Luke, Jane and Matthew. Their training is coming to an end and they are about to graduate. But before they do there is plenty of time for more of the usual (for them) shenanigans before they have to choose their post-grad departments and are split up. Shenanigans in the form of a politician's daughter who gets abandoned in the 17th century after an illegal trip with her boyfriend goes a bit pear-shaped. Obviously the politician thinks they and their family above the law (really... never... whoda thunk) and wants her back on the QT and it all hushed up. But it's the Time Police we are talking about - nothing ever gets past them. Enter Team 236 / Team Weird to the rescue. Only one small, tiny, snagette though... the daughter in question once dated Luke and, well, things went a bit south at the end. What could possible go wrong? A simple swoop and snatch - no biggie... except, in true TP/StM fashion it is...!
And so begins the start of a rather convoluted cat and mouse game over time and place as Luke and Jane go undercover to infiltrate the illegal time jumpers and bring them to justice before they do too much damage. Again seems a bit of an easy task but little do they realise exactly what they are getting into... and I'm never getting that visual out of my head...
Oh My! I am so glad I opened up my world to this wonderful author and her historical time-travel series of books - both this and TCoStM. I am devouring each and every delicious word, laughing at the wonderful humour and shaking when things go wrong. All the while having an absolute blast as she puts her characters through some really awful and dangerous things. Remind me never to cross her!
Some books are plot driven, others character driven. Here we get the best of both worlds. The plotting is excellent - she much have notebooks full of research and timelines - and the characters playing them out do so with great aplomb. I especially love the interaction between them - banter and the like. It's all a bit fire-truckingly awesome. And we also get to visit a couple of old friends from St Mary's too as they are called in for the assist.
All in all, a cracking follow-up to what was an excellent series opener. I am really hanging for more from this series but I've got plenty of TCoStM books to keep me going in the mean time.
My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Four and a half stars.

Jodi Taylor really knocked it out of the park with this one!

Luke, Jane and Matthew make up team 236, not very affectionately known as Team Weird by the other Time Police teams. As their training draws to a close they are expected to express an interest in which department they want to join after graduation but none of them seems to have a clue.

Then a politician's daughter goes on an illegal trip to the seventeenth century and gets stranded, a girl Luke once dated and Team Weird get called on to rescue her. But what they uncover is an underground organisation running temporal tourism trips to the past. They are well equipped and ruthless. When two crack undercover Time Police hunters are murdered and their bodies sent as a warning the Commander decides the only way to infiltrate the organisation is to bring in Team Weird.

Very different to the St Mary's series, the Time Police series has really hit its stride with this novel. Plot driven with some great characters, Luke in particular is one of my favourites and there are so many unanswered questions left ...

Overall, if you like a book set in the future where people can travel to see Marie Antoinette in one minute then Abu Simnel the next, with wise-cracking and fire-trucking sweariness then this is the series for you.

Loved it.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

This story started off well and was interesting but it soon started to become slow and I must admit I struggled to finish it. I enjoyed the premise and enjoyed the first 1/3 of the book, but it started to feel as though the author was getting paid per chapter as the story was dragged out over double the amount of chapters needed, and filled with pointless chatting. I enjoyed the St Mary's series previously so was hoping for something along those lines, but found this series much slower and less interesting sadly. There is probably a reader out there who would enjoy this, likely someone wanting a sci-fi/crime cross over, but for me I wouldn't have pushed on to finish it if I wasn't reviewing it