When I first picked up Time Travel for Beginners, I was immediately drawn to the idea behind the story. Who hasn’t wished they could go back in time, even just for a little while? Maybe to relive a favorite memory, spend another day with someone they miss, change a decision, or simply understand why certain things happened the way they did. It’s an interesting concept because I think most of us have moments in our lives that we look back on and wonder, “What if?” Hence my love for alternate history, in addition to science fiction.

The story introduces us to an unusual Time Travel Agency in Sydney, Australia. It isn’t your typical business, and the idea that people can actually revisit moments from their past makes for a fascinating starting point. What I found especially interesting is that the story isn’t really about changing history. It’s more about understanding the past, dealing with the emotions attached to it, and learning how those experiences affect the present.

We meet three main characters, Anna, Teddy, and Jade, who each come to the story with their own complicated lives, disappointments, and personal struggles.

Anna is a single mother who is trying to find her footing and figure out what comes next in her life. I found her situation interesting because starting over isn’t always easy, especially when you have responsibilities and other people depending on you. Her involvement with the Time Travel Agency opens up unexpected possibilities and gives her a chance to look at life differently.

Teddy is dealing with the breakdown of his marriage and is trying to understand how things went wrong. His desire to revisit the past really made me think about relationships and how easy it can be to look back and focus on what we should have said or done differently. Sometimes we don’t fully understand the importance of a moment until it has passed. I found this part of the story particularly relatable because relationships are complicated, and hindsight can be both comforting and painful.

Then there is Jade, who is skeptical about the agency and questions whether time travel is really helping people or simply encouraging them to dwell on things they cannot change. She has her own family challenges, grief, and difficulties involving her teenage daughter. I appreciated that her storyline brought another perspective. Not everyone believes that looking backward is necessarily the answer, and I think that makes the whole concept more interesting.

As the characters’ stories develop, their lives begin to connect in unexpected ways. I enjoyed watching these different personalities and situations come together. Each character has something to work through, and the time-travel element gives the author a creative way to explore their feelings, relationships, and choices. One of my favorite things about this book was the way it takes a fantastical idea and turns it into something very human and relatable. Even though most of us will never walk into a time travel agency, we certainly know what it’s like to wish we could revisit a moment in our lives.

I also enjoyed the different family dynamics throughout the story. The relationships between parents and children, the challenges of marriage, the difficulties of starting over, and the way people sometimes misunderstand one another all felt like very real parts of life. Another thing I appreciated was the humor. The subject matter could easily have become too serious or emotional, but Jaclyn Moriarty balances the heavier moments with quirky situations, amusing characters, and unexpected developments. It kept the story from feeling too heavy.

I also liked that the characters weren’t perfect. They make mistakes, have doubts, struggle with their decisions, and sometimes don’t know what they really want. To me, that makes a story much more believable. It’s easier to connect with characters when they feel like real people rather than people who always make the right choices.

This book really got me thinking about how much time we spend looking backward. I think everyone has things they wish they could change. Maybe it’s a decision we made, something we said in the heat of the moment, an opportunity we didn’t take, or time we wish we had spent differently with someone we loved. But would going back actually make things better? Or would we simply find something else to regret?

That was one of the biggest questions I took away from this story. Sometimes we become so focused on what could have been that we forget to appreciate what we have. Our experiences, even the difficult ones, help shape who we are. We may not always understand why certain things happen, but sometimes we eventually realize that those experiences taught us lessons we needed to learn. The book also serves as a reminder of how important it is to cherish the people in our lives. We never know how much time we have with someone, and ordinary moments can become the memories we treasure most.

I found myself thinking about what I would do if someone offered me the chance to travel back in time. Having lost my oldest daughter, I would like to travel back and spend more time with her, or see what the universe would look like if she were still here. Then again, maybe some memories are better left untouched, and maybe some things make sense only when we look at them from where we are today. Even so, Time Travel for Beginners makes the point that it’s likely I would get so caught up in what could have been that I’d forget to pay attention to what’s here right now.

Although I enjoyed the book, I did find that the different storylines and character connections could occasionally be a little confusing. There is quite a bit happening, and I sometimes wanted the story to slow down so I could spend more time with certain characters and their individual experiences. Some parts were also a little predictable, but that didn’t take away too much from my overall enjoyment. I think the appeal of this book is more about the characters and the bigger questions it raises than trying to figure out every twist.

I really enjoyed Time Travel for Beginners. It was an imaginative story with plenty of heart, humor, family drama, and meaningful moments. I liked that it made me think about my own life without feeling like the author was trying to lecture me or tell me how I should feel. If I could take one thing away from this book, it would be the reminder that we cannot change the past, no matter how much we might wish we could. We can miss people, regret decisions, wonder about different paths, and wish certain moments had lasted longer. But we still have the opportunity to make the most of the time we have now.

I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys character-driven stories, a little bit of magic, family relationships, second chances, and books that leave you thinking after you’ve turned the last page. It’s a reminder that life doesn’t always follow the path we planned, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something beautiful waiting for us along the way.