Unfortunately this was a DNF for me at 10%.

I loved the premise of this book but really struggled to get into it. The writing felt like we were kept at arm's length from the characters emotions. Perhaps it's just because I have just been reading so many first person romances lately, but as I read this, I felt like I was watching the events playing out through a dusty window.

This moved too slow for me. Within the first 10% all that had happened was that the FMC had gone back in time, found a body and had very lengthy conversations with two people on set.

The romance aspect also felt quite flat to me. I'm assuming the guy she meets in the first 10% is the love interest, but she didn't seem all that interested in him, there was no real spark between them.

Still giving two stars here because I appreciate this could all just be personal preference and maybe just wasn't my cup of tea.

Lots of good reviews here, so I am sure this book would be loved by those who enjoy this style of writing and story!

Well, here’s a thing. There you were, minding your own business and - whoosh - suddenly you find yourself moved along a couple of centuries from the late 18th to the 21st century. To add insult to injury, this is no ordinary time travel but one that places you in the midst of a serious crime…..

Happily, we have a guide to this rather abrupt relocation through two centuries or so in the shape of Amelia Blackwell, who takes us on a quirky and entertaining tale that works hard to make sense of the clever plot.

Quirky? Certainly. Engaging? Oh yes. Worth your time reading? Definitely.

This is a lovely cosy-crime story that sees Georgiana Darcy from Austen’s Pride & Prejudice accidentally time travel to 1995 where she witnesses a murder & has to solve it with the help of handsome Irish security guard, Quinn.

I really enjoyed the regency details and reimagining of Austen’s world. I’m a big Jane Austen & regency historical fiction fan and these parts were some really well. Georgiana was a wonderful character that the author brought to life really well with excellent character development. Her trying to navigate the modern world & acclimate made me laugh & I admired her tenacity in coping. Enjoyed the cute romance too.

Although the mystery was well plotted and paced, I didn’t love the resolution to the crime as I do like to be able to guess it but liked that things are left open for a sequel which I’ll definitely read.

I tried so hard to really enjoy A Crime Through Time but stalled and hence the 3 Star rating. The concept was potentially fascinating with all sorts of interactions possible. Sadly, none of them really gelled for me and that is not because I could not "get it", the fantasy; I read quite a number of such books and am not challenged by willing suspension of disbelief.

I really do not want to list the challenges to be had because it will mess with potential readers' heads. I will however mention just one, the language spoken. The English spoken in 1799 would have made today's language almost if not totally incomprehensible and vice-versa.

In closing, I did read the book from cover to cover and, sadly, that has not persuaded me to look to see if there is a part 2 on the horizon.

ᴀ ᴄʀɪᴍᴇ ᴛʜʀᴏᴜɢʜ ᴛɪᴍᴇ

A lovely blend of regency charm, time-travel, mystery, and cosy crime.

The story follows Georgiana Darcy (yes, that Georgiana), as she escapes an unwanted suitor in 1799 only to stumble into 1995 via a ‘magical?’ pager. There, she finds herself on the set of a Jane Austen film (ironic) and at the centre of a murder investigation.

We follow ‘George’ through love, adventure and self-discovery as she copes surprisingly well with the new world she’s been thrust into, attempting to solve the mystery of the dead body she discovered upon her arrival.

It was a very light and easy read, leaving plenty of doors ajar to be explored in later books. There were plenty of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth Bennett cameo’s whilst ensuring this remained Georgiana’s story which, as a self proclaimed Pride & Prejudice Superfan, I loved!

Perfect for anyone anyone craving a Regency twist on the classic low-stake whodunnit.

I’m off to go and watch pride and prejudice 2005 for the 200th time 🏛️

Huge thanks to PanMac for the galley and a finished hardcover copy💕

Rating:3-3.75 /5 ⭐
Review:
✨Thank you to Pan Macmillan & #NetGalley for this #ARC! This review was voluntarily written by me.
✨Truthfully, I had a challenging read with this book even until the end, and it saddened me a bit because the premise is interesting.
✨I’m not familiar with Pride and Prejudice and this kind of backfired at me. This is because I thought that Georgiana Darcy was not the main character of Pride and Prejudice, so I do not really have to know her canon character before reading this. It is my mistake.
✨Based from the synopsis, I guess that this story is more towards mystery, but after reading it, I felt that this story is more towards women’s fiction with romance and mystery combined,
✨What I really like about this story is how on point the writing style for Regency characters and 1990’s characters, even though I’m not truly familiar with English classics. I truly believe that George was from the 1790s from her way of thinking and speaking.
✨In my opinion, this book is a character-driven story, but Georgiana Darcy in this book did not really manage to catch my eyes. Hence, it was really challenging for me to finish this story.
✨For George, I really liked how she still managed to remain calm after travelling to the future and received bad news back home. However, I’m not really a fan of her thinking about certain situations that really showed her high-status upbringing. Yet, it was understandable at the same time.
✨I also felt that the romance did take more of the spotlight than the mystery itself. But, I still liked the mystery parts. The crime itself was sad, and I’m really glad that they caught the murderer. Bro, your hubris did backfired, right?
✨In conclusion, this book is not really for me although I do like some aspects of the book. Yet, I think Pride and Prejudice’s fans may like this story because there were also a number of Mr Darcy and Elizabeth appearances in this book and they may also catch any Easter eggs that I missed here, in this story.

As soon as I heard about the concept of this book I knew I needed to read it. Time travel, regency and the 1990s, a murder?? What more could a girl want?

This debut is written with short, gripping chapters that leave you wanting more. I absolutely flew through the pages because I needed to know what was happening next! I also really enjoyed the time travel aspect, it can be difficult to pull off but Blackwell keeps it simple enough (and currently hides a lot of the details in book one) so you can just accept the weirdness and enjoy the story.

Our main character is Georgiana, a young woman from the start of the regency era who stumbles across a pager in the woods that transports her to 1995. Here she's lucky to be immersed in a regency film-set, so folks don't find her accent and clothing as weird as they might otherwise. Quinn works at this country house, and ends up assisting Georgiana as she attempts to solve a murder she found on her arrival.

The differences in speech between the two is so much fun, upper-class English and 90's Irishman's English, and I love that the author chose thirty years ago for the "modern" setting as it leaves the reader feeling a little out of time too and more able to sympathise with Georgiana.

The mystery is well done also, with the time jumps slotted in juuust where you don't want them. Keeping the suspense high! Both time periods have motivating plots, with murder in the 1990s and illness of a beloved Sister-in-Law in the 1790s.

I definitely am going to be carrying on with this series, I had a lot of fun with book one and there is so much potential for the rest of the books! I can't wait!

I am finding this book really hard to review. The story started off really strongly for me and I was really engrossed up to about half way and then it seemed to stall. I realise the ending must mean (hopefully) that it was the first in a series, but if not then it was not a great way to end it in my opinion.

For mysteries, I do prefer it when the reader can pick up clues for the whodunnit and this was certainly not the case here. I would definitely read the next in the series if there was one. Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for giving me access to an early release of this novel.

This novel is somewhat genre-hopping, with its characters from Pride and Prejudice, time travel, romance and murder mystery. Like its heroine, it works in a gentle way.

Georgiana tells the story, being catapulted two hundred years forward in time by a mysterious bleeping object found in the grounds of Pemberley. Despite the fish-out-of-water experience and archaic mode of conversation, Georgiana gradually perceives her purpose, saving the day both in her own time and in the future, all set against a backdrop of unwanted suitors in her own time and true love in the future.

Georgiana hears the beeping and finds a mysterious black box hidden in the copse of a tree on the estate of Pemberley. With her sister-in-law Elizabeth, ill in bed and her brother beside himself with worry, she reaches in to try and quiet the device.

Not going to happen. Because the pager sends her directly into the mid 1990s and to Saltram, where the latest Austen adaptation is being filmed. Furthermore, she believes she has stumbled across a crime that neds solving, even if she doesn't fully understand the whys or wheres of the situation. Enter Quinn, and we are invited into a rollicking, humourous crime novel that ticks all the boxes!

What was great about A Crime Through Time was the language. The main characters are an interplay of all the best of the Austen era of writing together with the modern language we are used to. If you are a fan of Bronte/Austen/Hardy etc you will love the nostalgia of this style of narrative done very, very well.

The characters are engaging and the storyline fun. But you'll need to read it to find out what happens!

While there is a murder and a crime to solve, this is more about George and Quinn's relationship, and her getting to grips with the future. Which, quite frankly, she does really well. For the first third she tends to just parrot words back at the characters from the present, who never really stop to question her properly, but after that she is off on the case, and isn't going to let anything like being 200 years in the future stop her. She might be from the Regency era but she is very much her own woman, a strong female character that I enjoyed spending time with.

I enjoyed her descriptions of things we take for granted but she didn't understand, the way she struggled for words she understood to explain what she was looking at. Her dips back into the past were good too, with the subplots of her own wedding and the health of Elizabeth Darcy woven into that timeline.

With the killer however, the story does use my one of my least favourite plot points and cheats a little in the denouncement. I prefer my books to play fair, even if I don't win - in this case there was little to no chance of you being able to work out the killer. There were things that weren't really explained, exactly what was going on with the housemaids (sort of explained but not really), what happened to the doll that scared her so much and what was going on with several characters as the plot was rather abruptly wrapped up.

The ending is open and gives rise to follow up books, which I hope there are, as otherwise I fear for both our leads. But will it be more murder?

I chose to read this book out of curiosity, as I wanted to see how the author would blend Regency-era elements with a modern-day setting. The idea was fresh and fun. I enjoyed the choice to focus on Georgianna Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, with other familiar characters making an appearance, and her reactions to our world were amusing.
While the concept was interesting (and I'm sure many will like it), the shifts in language between eras sometimes felt a bit forced. Georgianna seemed to adapt very quickly to this massive leap in time. Given her situation, she should probably have shown even more confusion.
Despite this, the book delivers on entertainment. For readers who love Regency stories and enjoy a modern twist involving time travel and mystery, this will be an enjoyable read for the summer holidays.

Thank you to Macmillan and NetGalley for the ARC. This is my honest opinion of the book. This review is now available on Goodreads.

Fun, fun, fun with a capital ‘F’.

Georgiana Darcy finds a Pager and does what most of us would do in the circumstance, hits the red button to get it to stop its incessant noise. As is the way with Pager’s that you find in 1794 it whizzed her through time and deposited her in 1995. And the romp ensues.

This cosy mystery has a lot going on, time travel, a murder to solve and a budding romance, not to mention the wonderful comments made on 1995 life from the standpoint of 1794.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

The writing was engaging right from the beginning and I struggled to put it down. I liked the mix of "old" and "new" English throughout. It helped you to visualise the era that you were reading about more easily, and due to the hopping from one era to the next, I was kept in suspense as to who the murderer was right up until the end.

The chapters were short which meant that you moved through the story at a good pace. It was definitely a case of "just one more chapter" for me.

The chapters also had interesting titles so you had a hint as to what you were about to read.

There was an interesting flow to the story as you went to and fro in time. There wasn't a set pattern as to when you were going to go back, so that kept the suspense running through the story. It all came together well at the end.

The characters were excellent. The main character was one of the minor characters in Pride and Prejudice so it was nice to see her take centre stage. The surrounding characters from her 1700s era were all names that cropped up in Pride and Prejudice, so you felt as if you knew them (assuming that you had read Pride and Prejudice).

There were some emotional parts in both timelines that added an extra layer to the mystery and will stay with me.

It was interesting to see how the main character reacted to the change in timeline. 200 years is a long way to travel and it made you see things that we take for granted in a different light. It was also interesting to see how society had changed.

Lastly the settings. Whilst they were lightly described throughout the book, they were an integral part of the story. The description that was there didn't take your attention away from the main storyline. It was well balanced with it and enhanced the story rather than distracted you.

Overall an engrossing mystery that I enjoyed reading.

In this Austen-inspired time travel novel. Georgiana Darcy finds herself transported from Pemberley into the year 1995 on the set of a Regency drama. She quickly finds herself solving of murder alongside handsome security guard Quinn.

The time travel aspect was enjoyable, particularly Georgiana's descriptions of some of the modern objects and fashions she encounters as well as the contrast in Georgiana and Quinn's ways of speaking. The crime itself was a little less believable, it seemed primarily to serve as a purpose for their encounters rather than being truly a burning issue. I'm not sure how necessary it was to tie this in with an Austen novel but there were some Easter eggs for Austen fans.

The ending leaves the door open for future books (I understand this is intended to be the first book in the series).

A recommend read for fans of Jane Austen and time travel romance/mystery.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for providing me with a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This was fun ! A really nice twist on the time travel theme. I loved the different views on the present day seen through past times eyes.

This is an enjoyable romp set in 1799 and 1995. Yes, Georgiana Darcy is now able to time travel to the future. In 1995 she immediately stumbles across a dead body and it is this mystery, at first, which keeps drawing her into the future. Fortuitously, she is transported to a future where there is a Jane Austen film being shot so she is not out of place.

The contrast between the two ages is well done with lots of details . Only the language of the 1995 setting is a little too coarse for me. I think Georgiana would have been rightly repelled by it.

There is a full castof characters, including Elizabeth, Darcy, Anne and Lady Catherine. Elizabeth is pregnant and this is a twin plot as she becomes very ill.

I read an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publishers but my views are my own. Good summer reading. .

This was a wonderful, quirky and fun cosy mystery with loads of things to keep every Jane Austen and Pride and Prejudice fan happy.

As Elizabeth is confined with her first pregnancy and Georgiana faces the horrid prospect of marriage to an aging Lord, she stumbles across a pager in the woods that transports her 200 years into the future. Here, yet another film adaption of a Jane Austen classic is in production and she is mistakenly thought to be a member of the cast.

If this wasn't confusing enough, she is also confronted with a dead body.

There is romance, mystery and a lot of laughs. I really look forward to more!

Georgiana Darcy finds a pager which is in fact a port key to the future, whizzing her from Pemberley to Saltram 200 years in the future. As she finds herself transported between her present and future she discovers a sense of purpose, power and finds love. Jane Austen’s characters from Pride & Prejudice are recognisable and familiar and it was amusing to see the modern world through Mr.Darcy’s sister’s eyes. Funny and gently paced this is a light, very readable book.

Amelia Blackwell’s A Crime Through Time is a unique and amusing take on Georgiana Darcy’s life. In this novel, Georgiana is transformed from the shy, gentle and naive character conceived by Austen into an intrepid young woman. She inadvertently time travels 200 years into the future via portal magic and finds herself at the scene of a crime.

Blackwell’s reimagining of Georgiana’s distinctive voice as an upper-class, Regency era woman was wonderfully executed. Her interactions with people in the future were often humorous due to confusion caused by the use of words which had a different or more restricted meaning in the past. Memorably, she was perplexed to be referred to as an extra on an Austen filmset and perturbed by references to setting up for shots.

For an Austen fan like me, allusions to Austen’s life and works, such as a cat named Tom Lefroy, made the story even more enjoyable. I thought that Blackwell captured the essence of Austen’s characters in portrayals of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Darcy. They felt like extensions of the characters I came to know in Pride and Prejudice.

The final section of the book was necessary for the resolution of the crime but the tone of the narrative changed and Georgiana’s voice seemed diminished. 

Blackwell’s setup in this novel has created a good foundation for the continuing series and I’m very much looking forward to reading about Georgiana’s adventures in the next book.

Thank you so much to Pan Macmillan and NetGalley for sharing this eARC with me in exchange for an honest review.