This was fun. You have Kembral, a mother making her first escape after having a baby to go to a New Years Eve party that starts fairly normal but quickly descends to chaos after an odd clock starts chiming. I was interested in the way people can fall into echoes and how there is a guild that fishes people back out (with Kembral being the best of course) and investigate crimes and mysteries.

The story takes a sharp dive into weird and scary with the chime of the clock, lots of murder, though thankfully it gets reset every hour. I really felt for Kembral, who was so tired but doing her best to solve why it was all happening (very ominous reason!) and the players behind it. It got really interesting when she teamed up with Rita who has secrets of her own, besides being a cat and they made a lot of progress when they worked together both on finding the solution to the big falling down into the echoes, plus a burgeoning love interest that was sweet. The all powerful beings in the echoes were fascinating too. To me they seemed quite a bit like immortal fae. So this world is kind of a mishmash of multiverses and fae realms with odd creepiness (A carnivorous tree made with human hands instead of leaves?!)

I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to more stories from this interesting world, especially what is going to happen in the next year for that place. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for letting me read this good book and getting the chance to review it.

Get ready to dive into this multi-layered groundhog day x knives out x fantasy novel.

This book wasn’t exactly what I expected when reading the synopsis. For some reason I was expecting an epic fantasy where you embark on a magical, time-bending journey with Kembral and her teammates. Instead you get this comically written locked-mansion-murder-mystery kind of thing where the main characters need to defeat the bad guy.

Meanwhile the party venue sinks deeper and deeper into stranger layers of reality. And all this happens in the span of a few hours, I don’t think more than 24h pass in total (yet this book is about 400 pages long. Maybe I would have liked it better if it was cut a bit shorter?). On top of that the same part of the evening keeps repeating itself in a certain way like in groundhog day. I can’t say there is much worldbuilding or character depth. The story pretends to have both, with all the names and events and such being thrown at you, but it only serves to make everything more confusing, not more thought-through. If that isn’t enough, certain developments come completely out of the blue, not making any sense at all, and a certain something keeps being mentioned over and over again (but it feels like it’s being mentioned all these times just for the sake of it instead of because it fits the story). Still, I feel like this story has potential.

So I guess you could say that this book wasn’t really for me. Maybe it would have been different if I’d gone in without expectations (don’t ask me where these expectations came from, I don’t know). Two things I did enjoy are the funny yet fitting chapter titles, and the fact that the whole Echo and multi-layered reality thing seems interesting. The execution and writing style were less my cup of tea.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking for a story that will give you groundhog day x knives out x fantasy vibes, you might want to give this one a shot.


Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

First off, I absolutely loved the fact that the main character was a new mom, who had all the new mom problems - in fantasy this was SO refreshing!!

I also loved the urban fantasy setting, and the infinite worlds that we follow Kem through. The world building was so well done and original that I just couldn't get enough. Highly recommend this one if you're looking for a fresh new read in the fantasy genre!

Right out of the gate, The Last Hour Between Worlds had the feel of a 5-star read, as long as it maintained the quality and promise of the first few chapters - I personally felt it went one better, and delivered an ending that cements this book as one of my favourites of the year. This is a fast-paced and highly inventive fantasy story that retains its high quality storytelling throughout.

The decision to choose a protagonist who is a single parent raising a new-born child is not something I’ve encountered in the genre before, and from a character development perspective it proves to be absolutely inspired. Kembral spends the story feeling exhausted and isolated from society, a workaholic forced to spend months away from her self-perceived purpose. The shift in priorities in her life is the undertone of the novel, and does wonders adding stakes to the action, and connecting you with the main characters. The elements of friendship and romance are well intertwined in the story, balancing with the high-action plot without slowing the pace at all.

For me, the standout feature of the book I will remember is the slow descent through the world’s Echoes, and the gradual ramping up of the weird and eldritch-horror worldbuilding the deeper they go. The twisted worlds and ominous antagonists created here feel weighty and dangerous, and give the story real stakes and a sense of dread. Combined with the game element that is slowly puzzled out over the novel’s length, there is plenty to propel you through the story, be it working out why these events are unfolding, or to glimpse the horrors of the lowest Echoes.

The Last Hour Between Worlds by Melissa Caruso is a fantastic fantasy mystery with a main character that I fell in love with. Kembral Thorne is a Hound, an investigator who works for the Guild of Hounds, officially charged with investigating crimes relating to magic. She is also a single mother on maternity leave and looking forward to a rare night out at the Year turning ball. The only thing getting in the way of her fun is the presence of Rika Nonesuch, not0rious cat burglar and her professional and sometimes personal arch nemesis, that is until everyone in the room except Kembral drops dead . Kembral finds herself embroiled in a deadly game involving immensely powerful beings striving for control of the future, a magical clock and various realities or echoes that are increasingly dangerous the further they are from the prime world. It is a race against time and the future of the world is at stake.
This was a really propulsive read, the reader is dropped straight into the action with little to no explanation or exploration of the world, its society or its magic. While I sometimes dislike this approach here it worked because I was enjoying the characters and was happy to learn more as the story unfolded. I loved the fact that Kembra was a new mother and that this factored into her thoughts and decision making processes. It's not too often that the kick ass heroine of a book has to factor in breast feeding and childcare. The development of the relationship between Kembra and Rina was beautifully handled and I was absolutely rooting for them. I have seen some people compare this to Groundhog Day but it is far less repetitive than that comparison suggests, in fact I would say Inception might be a better point of reference for the echo realities. The pacing of the story is on point with a feeling of escalating tension that ramps up a the story unfolds and the stakes get higher. There are also several strong secondary characters and I hope that as the series continues we get to see more of them.
I read and reviewed an ARC courtesy of NetGalley and the publisher, all opinions are my own.

🕰️ The Last Hour Between Worlds • Melissa Caruso 🕰️
★★★★★

Read if you enjoy:
🕰️ Urban fantasy
🕰️ Groundhog Day
🕰️ Bizarre alternate realities
🕰️ New mum POV
🕰️ Sapphic romance
🕰️ Rivals team up to save the world

Kembral Thorne celebrates her first night away from her new born baby in style. She attends a party that is rife with politics, rival businesses, and is the source of a tantalizing plot to dominate the world. This is clear when everybody at the party dies after being poisoned, and the strange grandfather clock, recently acquired by the hostess, chimes and sends the party down into a new layer of reality that starts the party all over again. Kembral and her rival, Rika, team up to solve the mystery of who is causing this, as the party sinks into realities that become more bizarre and dangerous as Kembral’s night progresses.

I thought this had an incredible concept with brilliant world building. I eagerly await further stories in this world where the possibilities feel limitless. This was such an exciting book and is one of the best page-turning fantasy books I’ve read all year. It was fun, it was weird, a bit camp, and a lot bad ass. I enjoyed the romance arc at the centre and the individual character arcs too that focused on finding oneself after motherhood for Kembral, and separating oneself from the whims of a mother for Rika.

“Children make you tough. Parents are hard as rock formed in the heart of a volcano.”

“So many people underestimate you if you’re kind. They don’t understand that kindness is a sign of strength. Stars, if I were weak like him, I suppose I couldn’t afford to be so nice!”

I enjoyed reading The Last Hour Between Worlds, but wasn't always drawn to pick it up again - for me, sliding through the different echoes didn't lead to a lot of attachment to the events unfolding. I also felt that the characters could have been further developed, which would have helped with this - even Kembral and Rika felt at times undefined. A bonus for some readers will be that the book leant a lot more heavily into fantasy than I was expected - there's an intriguing blend of genres at play here (sword-wielding sapphics! Steampunk! Characters who are almost god-like in their powers!). I assume the world-building will develop further in future instalments - this initial section of the tale flings us straight into the action, with a lot of plot, and so finer details are often left vague. Nonetheless, a firm sense of place prevails - I could picture the society and the setting, even if I was unaware of or confused by its intricacies. I think the imagery of the world created will stick with me, but I'm unsure if I will continue with the series - it depends on the premise of the second instalment.

Kembral attends a special party when on maternity leave. Everything goes wrong when the whole house gets trapped in a kind of Groundhog Day timeloop, except with each reset they fall down a layer into a deeper Echo and things get weirder and more dangerous as the go.

Fortunately, Kembral is a Hound, she hunts through the different world layers or Echoes to retrieve lost people (or pets). Also in attendance is her frenemy/love interest Rika who is a Cat, which I think is like a sanctioned thief?

I liked the idea, I liked the setting, I didn’t mind the characters even though there isn’t a great deal of development for the secondary characters. The world building was lacking and quite confusing – give me a glossary, an info dump – anything. Explain the different houses? Guilds? Whatever they are. The different moon types, the different Echoes. To start with everything is referred to as an Echo - the different layers of reality, the different creatures, things - it was very confusing.

I didn’t particularly like the first person narration from Kembral and I found her thoughts so repetitive - thinking about her new baby and being tired or not sure of herself because she's a new mother (not a bad thing on it's own, but there was too much of it and it didn't add anything), her blink stepping ability, and especially about Rika. Kembral spends so much time thinking about her relationship (or lack thereof) with Rika and it's often right in the middle of more important things that really should have her whole focus. In fact, reading this made me realise how much of a pet peeve this is for me.

I don't think this was a bad book and I did genuinely like the setting and thought the story had potential but it wasn't my style in the end. I do think this would make a fun movie or tv show, something like Doctor Who crossed with Labyrinth.

2.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC.

I really loved this - one of my favourites reads of the year. Hardly any novels featured women who've just given birth, let alone sci-fi/fantasy novels, so this was a refreshing breath of fresh air. The progression through the layers was intriguing and somehow never got boring, and I loved the relationship between Kembral and Rika. For a SFF novel to tackle how women feel about motherhood and returning to work is a brilliant step forward, and I really look forward to reading the rest of the series.

Thank you to the author and publisher for the opportunity to read this early.

Unfortunately, this wasn’t for me. And that’s entirely my problem, because what wasn’t made abundantly clear from the blurb was this is a Groundhog Day plot and I personally despise this trope/ book genre theme. Even with subtle changes I hate reading the same thing over and over so not liking this book is entirely a me problem.

Kembral is still on maternity leave after giving birth, and decides to attend a fancy party because she deserves to have a fun night out. Sadly for her, the new year's eve party in question ends up repeating itself in different layers of reality, with people getting murdered in every layer. Guess who gets to come back from leave for a night to figure it all out?! Jup, it is Kembral.

I've loved Melissa Caruso since I stumbled across The Tethered Mage years ago, and she did not let me down

I honestly don't quite know how to explain this book. It's set in a society reminiscent of medieval Italy, in a inception-y multiverse, with a plot that's got some groundhog day, some murder mystery, and some classic fantasy needing to save the world - all with a healthy dose of witty banter and sapphic pining. If that sounds chaotic, it is! But it's definitely chaotic good :)

Not exactly what I was expecting! Although the book launches straight into action, I wasn't particularly impressed by the pace of the story or its development. I’m sorry to say that the plot didn’t engage me enough to keep reading, so I wasn't able to finish the book.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the e-ARC.

Title: The last hour between worlds
Author: Melissa Caruso
Pages: 432
Rating: 5/5

Publish date - 21st November 2024

A new echo archives series book 1 introduces us to kem and rika. Nemesis to pontetials to nemesis again. They are flung together to try and solve the mystery and save their home.

A more macabre version of ground hog day that had me on the edge of the seat. I was so obsessed with how each "echo" was described. The world building from this story was phenomenon.

I also really liked kem as a character. She'd not long had a baby and was on leave. Not many new mums are made into bum kicking characters so it was really refreshing and enjoying. (As a newish mum myself)

It was a great read with a bit of gore but not disgusting. Endearing and just a fun camp escape room vibe.

The pacing was fantastic. Fast. Quick and addictive.

I'm so excited for book 2 already and the first one isn't even out.

You'll love this book if you like
- enemies to lovers
- no spice
- sapphic love story
- adventure fantasy
- lock/escape rooms

This book was very different to what I was expecting, but I enjoyed it all the same!

The FMC is a new mum with new mum problems (lack of sleep 😂) which i could definitely relate to!!

This is definitely a romantasy book as even though it's listed as science fiction and fantasy, there is romance involved!!

The plot explanations were a little bit confusing at times though

3.5 ⭐️

In this fantasy time loop novel, we follow Kem, a Hound (detective) as she attends her first party after giving birth to her daughter. There, things go from odd to strange as every time the clock chimes the ballroom descends into a different layer of reality.

I love a time travel/time loop story and this one did not disappoint. The world building was fantastic and original, and the main character was relatable. Although the story is self contained, there is a sequel in the works, which I very much look forward to reading.

A recommended read for fans of This Is How You Lost the Time War and Groundhog Day.

Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown Book Group UK for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I will say that it took me over two weeks to read but that had more to do with my reading mindset and my energy levels over the past two weeks than anything else. When actually reading it, I struggled to put it down; the characters were so rich in personality, their relationships were oozing with tension, and the world building was utterly fascinating.
~
Kembral as a main character is so good - and I mean that in every way. She has such a strong sense of self, she is intelligent and crafty, she is a skilled fighter, and she also has such a beautiful heart. Everything she does is driven by a love of people and a desire to help those around her. She doesn’t back down from a fight when it means protecting others - even if she doesn’t know them. Her dynamic with Rika is *chefs kiss* - especially as Rika’s walls come down and her vulnerabilities begin to show.
~
This book was deliciously tense - the stakes kept getting higher and higher, and you could see the impact of that on Kembral and Rika. There were, of course, moments where I do think the storyline became a little repetitive, and the world-building got a little bit muddled (or at least my brain couldn’t quite latch onto the descriptions), but overall, there was so much to admire about this book.
~
I enjoyed seeing various characters shine in various realities, and how each of them impacted the narrative both in present and future realities. Kembral is an icon, Rika deserves so much love, The Clockmaker is fascinating, and Blair is an angel who can do no wrong.
~
The ending was beautiful, whilst still sending a chill of fear and tension up the spine, and I’m intrigued to see what the sequel will entail.

I really didn’t enjoy this book.

The idea of the world was good. I liked the echoes and the different levels. But what does it all mean?! How exactly do these echoes exist? Why? How do you travel through them? What exactly are Empyreans? What’s all that stuff about moons?
I feel like we simply have to take everything as it is, barely getting any explanations at all. Or, honestly, maybe we do get explanations, and I was simply too zoned out while reading to notice them. Not sure what’s worse.

The characters were kind of flat. Kem basically only wants to survive and care for her daughter. Rika was kind of interesting at first, but in the end her character boiled down to being obsessed with Kem. Their relationship had no sparks, and I simply didn’t get them.
All the other characters – no. We get so many names, but in the end, none of them were important and I simply didn’t care about them. Some of them died. Most of the time that didn’t really matter, as it wasn’t always clear whether the actual character died or only their echoes, or if their deaths were permanent. Anyway. Even if it was permanent, I didn’t really care.

And I still don’t get the guilds. It seemed like the Cats and the Hounds are enemies – but they are both completely official organisations? People know who and what they are. But some of them do illegal things? Are they allowed to do that? If not, why don’t they get shut down? Are they good? Are they evil? Why exactly are they enemies?

And what even was the plot? I did understand it, but I didn’t understand the point behind it. What were the reasons for everything, except for simply creating chaos and killing people? Very strange.
There was also so much action. Don’t get me wrong, action is fine, action is great! But in this case I didn’t even notice when we had arrived at the grand finale, because it was just like all the rest. Maybe tone it down a little bit?

The book lost me even before the first 20% and it didn’t recover. There were a couple of nice scenes and as I said, the overall idea was nice. But it didn’t make sense. It’s basically just vibes. This book could’ve been alright, but it’s in serious need of editing.

Thank you, NetGalley and Little Brown Book Group UK for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely enjoyed this novel.

Kembral is a new mother who takes a tiny break from motherhood to join and hopefully enjoy an end of the year party. She used to work as retrieval agent, but has been on maternity leave. When the party turns into a "Groundhog Day" scenario Kembral seems to be the only one who recognises that the party/the mansion is slowly sinking into the echoes (parallel worlds that are similar, but not the same as the "prime" world).

I liked Kembral as the main character. She seems fully fleshed out. She knows her strengths, but also her weaknesses, especially after having had a baby only two months before the party. She doesn't shy away from confrontations and has a deep desire to help - or to paraphrase the story: She's the one to get the dog and bring it home when no one else dares to.

The story could have become repetitive, but each repetition of the party has higher stakes. Kembral needs to find allies, who help her puzzle out how to get all of the people attending the party back to their world without any of them dying, but who will believe her and who can she trust?

The ending of the book is written in a way that it could work as a standalone. Yet, it's a bitter-sweet ending and I am curious to see where the sequel takes Kembral.

I had the chance to not only get an eARC for this novel, but also received the audiobook ARC. Moira Quirk narrates the audiobook and she does a wonderful job, I didn't want to take my earbuds out.

What a great read! With magic, dark lords from the underworlds of the Echos, and a race against time to stop darkness taking over the world, Kembral must figure out what is happening before the new year arrives.

I loved the two main characters, Kembral and Rika, and the changes they go through as the story progresses. With plenty of twists and magic, I was enthralled to discover what the next level of the Echos would bring.

A great start to the series! Highly recommended.

I am grateful to Melissa Caruso, Little Brown Book Group UK, and Netgalley for the Advanced Reader Copy. What follows is my own personal and honest review of the novel to help you decide whether or not this could be your next read.

I wanted to love this book more than I actually did. It had a beautifully designed cover, and an intriguing premise to match. I loved the idea of being at a party and this party altering in some way as it plunged into different realities. Based on this alone, there is not another sci-fi fantasy novel I can think of to liken this story to. I was, therefore, extremely interested in reading something fresh and new.

Kembral Thorne is currently on maternity leave having given birth a couple of months ago. She attends a lavish New Year’s party attended by (potential) clients and colleagues with hopes of letting her hair down and having a rest from all things work i.e., motherhood, and the day job. However, when a strange clock chimes, she finds her world reset and a layer away from where she was on the previous chime in a version of her world more dangerous than the last. With different magical guilds, each with their own talents, can Kembral enlist the right team to fight an array of foes before the real world is lost forever? And in doing so, can she ensure that lives aren’t lost along the way?

Starting with what I loved, I loved the world building, and there was a lot of it. The opening party was already a lavish affair, but when the clock chimed transporting the party and all its guests to a new reality, the ball would either become more, or less, opulent depending on how many resets had occurred. Caruso worked hard to create a visual image of everything in a way akin to J. R. R. Tolkien, although she wasn’t always successful and sometimes it just felt like overkill. That said, I appreciated the sentiment and the visuals that made full sense.

Unfortunately, there was a lot to dislike. After the first few clock chimes, the plot became a bit stagnant; find and kill the enemy to save the party guests and get back to the real world. There were so many enemies taking turns that there were as many world resets to accommodate them all. After the 5th reset, I was bored. Bored of the party, bored of the Groundhog Day effect, bored of all the unnecessary secondary characters, and bored of the love hate relationship between the protagonist and her love interest, Rika Nonesuch.

I found a lot of the story became repetitive i.e., the main characters would keep referring back to an incident that saw them fall out, Kembral would repeatedly want to return home to her baby, but then decide that she had to be her true self. Less of the unnecessary repetition would have shaved a great deal from the 400 pages dedicated to this story. However, despite the repetitions, I felt the story was hard to follow. Firstly, the characters didn’t know what to expect from each world shift, so it was hard for the reader to keep up with drastic changes, secondly, the book introduced many characters early on. I understand the need for lots of people given the story is predominantly set in a ball, however, when a reader is introduced to characters, they expect them to do something. Many of the characters were merely names. As a result, I didn’t connect with any of the characters because many failed to have any depth, left me feeling disappointed, and prevented me from forming attachments with others because I was unsure early on whether they were going to be important or not.

After the first few cycles, the book felt drab, thus slowing my reading. There was talk of the different factions people belonged to i.e., hounds, cats, ravens, empyreans, echoes but they weren’t well explained. The reader has their work cut out figuring this out for themselves. I also struggled with gender; characters were either he, she, or they at random. I’m not sure the book called for more than a traditional view of gender or delivered an important message about it so it would throw me to learn that someone was a say, a ‘brother’ after several conversations that used a ‘feminine’ name to describe them. At the 50% mark, I gave up trying to make sense of it all and jumped ahead to the final 2.5 chapters. From what I gather, the story was resolved well.

Having skipped 40% of the novel, I’ll refrain from recommending the book to a specific audience. All I’ll say on this matter is that this is a long, complex story, which is drawn out. It will require a patient, adult reader to deal with the complexities and obscenities (swearing) who also likes a vibrant, intricate world.