Time after Time by Hannah McKinnon is a book that I’ve been desperate to read ever since the wonderful publishers held their big cover reveal. Now I thought the cover was a real beauty but I can honestly say that it is nothing compared to how stunning the story on the pages is. I was lucky enough to be able to spend one whole, uninterrupted Sunday snuggled up with this book and it really was a pleasure. This is a book that I’ll never forget, a book so beautiful I’ll most certainly cherish my copy of it for a long time to come.
Hayley Cooper has what some people could only dream of, a job as a solicitor at a law firm, a husband called Rick and two adorable children. However, despite all of this she’s not at all happy - her father has had a stroke, she hardly ever sees her family due to the long hours she works and she’s spending large amounts of her time arguing with her husband. After one bad argument too many she storms out of the house one evening to her best friend Ellen’s house where after drinking far too many glasses of wine, Hayley starts to wonder “what if?”. This sets her off on a journey through time where she recalls past boyfriends - Chris, Ian, Matthew and Sean - to catch a glimpse of what her life could’ve been like if she had married one of them instead of Rick. Will she realise that marrying Rick was the best decision she ever made?
Within Time after Time there are three different time periods presented to us. First off there is reality where Hayley is married to Rick, then there is the past where we learn about how Hayley ended up in a relationship with each man and lastly there is then a make-believe reality where Hayley sees how different life would’ve been had she stayed with each individual man. This could quite easily have become quite confusing, and although I have to admit that it did take me a little while to get into the swing of things, I think that the way in which this novel was told worked perfectly and it made for a very entertaining read. I loved the way in which every different scenario led not just to Hayley’s life being very different, but also the lives of those around her.
There was something incredibly special about Hannah McKinnon’s writing style that made this novel really stand out to me. It flowed so beautifully from beginning to end and I have to say that the pacing of the book was absolutely spot on, it was never too fast or too slow and always provided just the right amount of detail. I also loved the way that the book was so well balanced in that an equal amount of time was spent in describing Hayley’s different relationships. We never got caught up with one relationship for too long meaning that it was always engaging and never got boring.
Time after Time is a book with a very interesting premise that I think many readers would very easily be able to relate to, the idea of making decisions and wondering how life might have turned out had a different decision have been made. What this novel really demonstrates throughout is the importance of living in the moment, not having regrets and appreciating what you have in life.
