Etta Moore is disconcerted when two batty looking women tell her she is going back in time to swop places with her distant ancestor Henrietta Bainbridge. She suddenly finds herself in Regency England where nothing is exactly as she expects from her rom-coms she finds it very cold and restrictive. Her co-traveler Hetty finds herself in a completely different world where things are not as she expected, some better some worse. With the help of her two 'aunts' Hetty tries to make sense of her new world and her place in it. I loved this story, the adventures of both girls were endearing and exciting, very gripping one of the best books I've read in a long time.

I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
I absolutely devoured this book. A time travelling romance to the regency period was the initial attraction however, I loved the dual storyline with the two main characters points of view.
It made me smile quite regularly and actually laughed out loud at one point. (I very rarely laugh at books)
The plot moved along smartly. There was a bit of heat which was relevant to the storyline.
I thought the author made a smart choice with the two love interests for our main characters.
I have already recommended this to someone else.

Historical, scifi romcom - what more do you need?
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Are you kidding me? Regency romance, time travel, lesbian shenanigans, Reddit reactions on Instagram? Sign me up! I’m so there!

Seriously, Gaskell gives us a big city girl/country village milieu romance all twisted up and topsy-turveyed out through a science fantasy lens, like a glorious mix of Jenny Colgan (romance writer) and, er, Jenny Colgan (scifi author), with two—TWO!—protagonists I would gladly follow to the ends of the earth. Etta Moore is stuck, her life in London a round of sleep-commute-work-commute-sleep and repeat, the men she meets a series of no-hopers. When she’s accosted by a pair of lovely old ladies with the chance for a holiday from her life, she—well, she doesn’t quite grasp it with both hands, rather more being shanghaied into it, and the next thing she knows, she’s 200 hundred years in the past, in someone’s else’s body tied to a chair and meeting her brother in that time, and his friend, the most gorgeous man Etta has ever met in her life. Will sparks fly, or will Etta be found out and deemed mad?

In 1817, Henrietta Bainbridge is also stuck, her debilitating malaise driving away her family and friends, until she comes up with a (hand-wavey) method of time travel, and lo and behold, she ends up in Etta’s body in the present, aided by her two aunts/descendants. She’s not prepared for the modern world (while Etta has all her hard gleaned knowledge from Jane Austen and Bridgerton, neither of which mention chamber pots), nor for the beautiful woman teaching her computing basics. Will Hetty finally find her heart taken by someone, or will she crash and return back to her original present?

In a brilliant mix of romcom, sci-fi and comedy (extra com, if you like), Gaskell creates two characters and their worlds, their allies and enemies, and, this being a romance, a pair of endings that more than satisfy. A few loose endings (for the sequel?) but the romances and the comedy that help us get there are perfectly judged, and the characters are suitably novel. There’s one character where I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop, and it did, but boy was I surprised. I applaud thee, Helen Gaskell, romance author!

Four and a half stars

This novel was so much fun! I love a good swap novel and coming from HQ I knew it would be great! Their titles always are! This one was different in the fact the switch is not only dealing with places but time periods as well! It was so fun’s seeing each swapper deal with the different obstacles being Goodwin at them in the various time periods. It really shows an appreciation for what we have both ways. I highly enjoyed this one and know readers will as well!