Cover Image: What Time is Love?

What Time is Love?

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Member Reviews

This was a delightful read that had an intriguing premise. The writing flowed really well and I enjoyed the characters.

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I wanted to love this book but it fell a little flat for me. I struggled to connect with the characters and didn't feel invested in the story at all.

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Absolutely loved this book!

Holly Williams you are amazing!

I was hooked throughout and couldn't put this book down.

Thank you for accepting my ARC request.

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Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for approving me for this book.

I felt the writing was done well in this book but there was just something missing for me and I couldn't get into it and enjoy it as much as I hoped I would.

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The cover of this book grabbed my attention. It reminded me of a couple of other books with similar covers that were very good reads.

It’s taken me several attempts to read this, unfortunately. I just couldn’t ‘get into’ the story. The idea of the book massively appealed to me, I just wish the excitement I felt reading the synopsis transferred to the actual story.

I wanted to finish the book to see if the separate stories came together. Along the ‘sliding doors’ idea…different journey, same outcome. I think this would have rounded the book off neatly and left me, as a reader, feeling more content.

Thank you NetGalley and publisher for my advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review 📚

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What Time is Love has in interesting premise as we meet the same couple in three different decades and read how their reaction ship unfolds within different historical backdrops and social conventions. I had high hopes for this but was ultimately left feeling a bit disappointed. The nature of the narrative makes it slightly repetitive as we see Albert and Violet meet, fall in love, pursue a relationship only for it to breakdown for various reasons. A lot of the time I found myself incredibly frustrated with Violet and I felt guilty about it but she really was a bit of a shit to Albert most of the time. It was interesting to see the relationship against the different historical contexts and how that effected each of them separately and as a couple. It felt more like a literary exercise than a novel in the end though.

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This was a great read - super easy and flowed so nicely. I raced through it which is always a good sign!

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This one was a lovely read. I really enjoyed reading this one. I just love this kind of books.
4 stars read for me

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A good debut. I love dual timeline narratives, and felt this one was done incredibly well. It's immersive and impressive.

However I would have liked to see a connection between the three couples at the end, and the lack of this made the book feel a bit disjointed and out of place sometimes.

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Unfortunately I DNF this one at 32%. I struggled to gel with the characters and often found my attention wondering whilst reading. I think this is probably a case of I'm not in the mood for the book at the moment and would probably enjoy it if I picked it up a different time. For now I've decided to put it to one side.

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The story of three sets of couples called Vi and Albert, all of whom are in their twenties during the 1940’s 60’s and 80’s. Each with their own endings. A really enjoyable read.

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Violet and Albert are both born on the same day into very different lives. When they meet they are drawn to each other . Is there a perfect time to get their love for each other right? From the forties through the sixties into the the eighties . What time is love. A thought provoking love story that takes us through the decades

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This was a clever and intriguing concept, but unfortunately the payoff didn't really work for me.
I wanted the three stories to come together somehow at the end, I wanted some sort of link between them. I didn't get this.
Instead it was just three stories within the one book. I didn't feel anything more.
Disappointing as I felt it was building to something.

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This novel takes place over three decades, following violet and Albert
I’m such a fan of contemporary romance at the moment and was so happy to be asked to be part of the tour for this book
The writing in this novel is absolutely unique. Holly has a true talent and her writing is like no other I’ve read of this genre
The book plot itself is very unique and I really enjoyed it. Throughout reading the book, there were a lot of thought provoking moments and the book had me questioning life choices
I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it for contemporary romance lovers

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A very interesting concept and full of historical detail but I struggled to stay interested over the three time periods. I certainly enjoyed the 1947 story the most which probably coloured my opinions on 1967 and 1987 (I found the latter period to be overly political to the detriment of the story telling).

Possibly I’m just not the target audience as I’m sure many people will get totally immersed.

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Thank you to the author, the publisher and Netgalley for giving me this ebook in return for a review.

I love books that mess around with the concept of time from The Time Traveller’s Wife to the Chronicles of St Mary’s, so the blurb on this caught my attention.

It’s the story of Violet and Albert born on the same day and how their relationship develops after they meet at 20. This start to their relationship happens in 1947, 1967 and 1987, so we have 3 love stories over 3 different time periods. Each tale of how they get together is well realised and fascinating; the author manages to capture the zeitgeist of each of these eras with ease and the characters swim in a sea of the differing societal pressures convincingly.

The problem is, is this a novel? The characters do seem to learn over time and change but in their individual stories not over the whole of the book. This is no Life After Life; there is only the barest hint that there might be some previous connection between them and it is never explicit or part of the plot. Which, to be honest is disappointing. This reads like a thought experiment rather than a novel and I feel conflicted about that. Would it have worked just as well if the characters were totally different every time? I really don’t know. Clearly the idea is that class differences had less of an impact as the 20th Century went along but not enough of the characters’ conflict was based on these differences to pull these three stories into a more cohesive form.

I must say that I loved all the political references and as a student of history (and having been very interested when New Labour took over) a lot of the political insights were really easy for me to follow and enjoy. I do think, however, they may be a little polarising; politics perhaps isn’t usually the way gain universal appeal. It is rather exclusive and esoteric.

Overall, I did really enjoy reading it. It was gripping and fun to read; I wanted to know how things would work out. I loved working out who was who in each section and I thoroughly enjoyed some of the peripheral characters, particularly Rose. Albert himself was a rare find in fiction - a gentle, sensitive man who wasn’t afraid of his feelings or commitment. So I’d very much recommend it.

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What an unusual and (mostly) successful book. What Time Is Love follows the story of Violet and Albert who meet over three separate time periods at the age of twenty. As such it's really three stories in one, and though I liked all three, I think the first one was the most successful for me. I don't want to give too much away about the plot, but if you want an interesting spin on romance and relationships and the politics around the three different decades, this one is for you. I rated this 3.5 but rounded up to 4 because of how adventurous it was, especially for a debut.

*Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to leave an honest review*

I will leave the same review on Amazon UK on publication day

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Unfortunately not for me. I struggled with the way the story was told which I found confusing and as a consequence I didn't finish it.

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I didn't really enjoy this book. It's clever, the premise of the same couple meeting in different decades, both aged 20, but it felt like none of the three parts were completed. I think my favourite part was the first one, and I would have liked more of that story. I didn't really like Violet in any of the stories, and felt more for Albert, even though I know he made mistakes. I skipped over some of the background detail, especially in the second part. I felt it was boring and just wanted to get on with the story. With thanks to NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

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Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for my ARC of this book.
The premise of the book is quite unusual- that a couple meet in 3 different decades, each time they are 20 years old but meet under different circumstances and overcome differences in class and expectations to find each other. I lived the first incarnation of Letty and Bertie and felt that section if the story ended and left me hanging. I felt like I couldn't gel with the next 2 decades because I was so hooked on the first one. I'm not usually a fan of romances and unfortunately for me this one confirmed that choice- I found it a bit predictable and contrived, but that is my personal choice. I thought the book was well written, I loved the period details, even the shortening of their names, but I would have preferred to delve deeper into Letty and Bertie.

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