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Cassandra in Reverse: A Reese's Book Club Pick

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The 'mystery woman' - this character (i wont explain more as I don't want spoilers) but this woman that keeps appearing and getting brushed off by Cassandra. The door slams behind me and I jump even though I’m the one who slammed it. Then my phone beeps, so I balance everything precariously on one knee and fumble for it. I try to avoid having unread notifications if I can. They make my bag feel heavy. Unfortunately, the book was mostly too predictable for me to enjoy it. I like Cassandra's arc, she goes a long way, but even that was already too obvious from the start for me to feel like congratulating someone. But, part of liking a book, is liking its main character, and well, that wasn’t likely to happen for me.

The book includes loads of Greek mythology references, which were interesting (to a point) and revealed part of Cassie’s way of processing; but it became a bit much for me. And there are a lot of descriptions of seeing emotions as colors, which is also interesting as it relates to Cassie’s way of processing information; but it’s also overdone. It really is enlightening to get a glimpse behind the curtain to see Cassie’s internal functioning. Earnest portrayals of neurodivergent protagonists are few and far between, and I appreciated that the story honestly depicted Cassie's challenges. Overwhelmed by sounds; befuddled by unwritten social rules; beholden to strict routines of food and clothing; driven mad by pointless work meetings—Cassie sees and experiences the world differently from those around her. Her struggles to fit in have resonated not only with other autistics, but also more broadly across the neurodivergent community. It's important to note, however, that these experiences are not universal. As Smale herself points out: "This book does not represent autism, and neither I nor Cassie represent autistic people. We are simply individual voices in a choir of millions of amazing neurodivergent people, all with our own experiences, our own ways of seeing the world, our own ways of existing."After getting dumped by her boyfriend and fired from her PR job in the same day, Cassandra Dankworth miraculously gains the ability to manipulate time from the past four months. And she'll do anything to fix her mistakes! Holly Smale is an author that I was already familiar with having tried some of her young adult contemporary romance novels. I found her writing a ton of fun and seeing a this was an adult romcom that also mixed in another genre when I love books that mix genres I couldn’t help but get excited. The incredibly great part to this new series for me was finding that an autistic lead was at the front of this story and I couldn’t help but be enamored with it. This one turned into just what I hoped, a ton of laughs along with a lot of character growth as she finds herself and navigates the world so I couldn’t help but to enjoy it as I read along.

Nowhere is this conundrum more evident than when Cassie tries to fix her relationship with the boyfriend who dumped her. At times she seems unhealthily obsessed with engineering the perfect meet-cute, first date, etc., and this does start to get a little tedious. But (without giving away any spoilers), it gets better. As Cassie tries repeatedly to fix the three main things that imploded on the day this all started (boyfriend, roommates, job), things begin to spiral out of control and she starts questioning whether she's doing the right thing at all. But it's not as easy to control time as she first thinks and through a series of time re-runs we discover Cassandra's history, her odd personality traits and who the woman she is trying to avoid at all costs is. I get into the lift and press the button. Ronald now appears to be casually assessing me as if I’m a half-ripe avocado, so I stare at the floor until he reaches a conclusion. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing/MIRA for sharing this digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts. Then, she spends the majority of the book trying to re-establish her relationship with her boyfriend. That got boring fast.Ronald has worn the same thing—a navy cashmere jumper—every day since he started working here a few months ago. It smells really lovely, so I’m guessing there must be plural. All magic comes with a price, though, and for years the sisters have been separated. Esther has fled to a remote base in Antarctica to escape the fate that killed her own mother, and Joanna’s isolated herself in their family home in Vermont, devoting her life to the study of these cherished volumes. But after their father dies suddenly while reading a book Joanna has never seen before, the sisters must reunite to preserve their family legacy. In the process, they’ll uncover a world of magic far bigger and more dangerous than they ever imagined, and all the secrets their parents kept hidden; secrets that span centuries, continents, and even other libraries . . .

I’m not a big fan of ‘groundhog day’ types of repetitive scenarios, especially when they repeat someone’s worst day of terrible encounters over and over again. So much awkwardness and pain. Ugh! The repetitiveness went on too long and just wasn’t enjoyable to read. I wanted to stop. But I persevered and did find redeemable aspects to the story. Explore the theme of self-discovery and personal growth in Cassandra’s journey through time. How does her ability to change the past impact her understanding of herself? But overall, I'm still rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4 for its interesting concept and likable character. I enjoy speculative fiction and time travel. I loved the movie Groundhog Day and loved the premise of this book.One minute you’re twelve, standing in the middle of a play­ground while people fight over who doesn’t get you as a team­mate. The next you’re in your thirties, single and standing by the lifts of an office you’ve just been fired from because no­body wants you as a teammate. Same sensations, different body. Literally: my cells have cunningly replaced themselves at least twice in the interim. Why should I care about getting answers as a reader when I don’t even care about the main protagonist? Self discovery and awareness become the byproduct for Cassandra as she tries to fix her responses to Will in their dating events. It’s half way through that she looks outside herself to discover the other side and it’s not just about her and Will anymore. Other relationships must come into play. Given all of her personal and professional successes, do you think that Cassandra makes the right decision to start over one final time? So, make yourself comfortable, grab your favorite reading beverage, and join me as we embark on this time-traveling adventure with Cassandra. I hope you will enjoy my discussion questions, and let me know what your thoughts are on this amazing novel! ✨ About the story

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