Time for Once by Jes Smyth


I was lucky enough to receive an advanced review copy of Time For Once in exchange for an honest review so wanted to start off by saying thank you so much for that Jes and good luck on the upcoming release!

Time for once follows the incredibly intricate and multifaceted story of Jolie and Jace over the course of 10 years while they are trying to navigate their way through coming of age, their relationship and how the mistakes we make as people can shape our journey.

Right from their very first meeting in college there is some unmistakeable pull between Jace and Jolie trying to bring them back together, however poor timing, unresolved issues and being at different stages in their lives means that they aren't able to get things quite in sync.

I really enjoyed this read and I think the author did an excellent job of building the relationship between our two main characters as well as fleshing out the side characters to a point where we are able to help keep track of the story through their progression as well as Jolie and Jace's perspective.

At some points I wanted to just give them both a shake and shout, "You two belong together what are you doing?!" which is definitely a testament to Smyth's writing style and demonstrates how effectively she was able to show the different issues our main characters had to face including metal health issues, eating disorders and sometimes even just plain stubbornness. 

The pacing in the story was nice, and the time jumps were integrated very well, there was always enough background to understand what phase in their lives the characters were at but we weren't overwhelmed or swamped with unnecessary details which really helped the story to progress without too much work on the readers part.

In terms of character development we got to see a good amount from not only Jace and Jolie but also a lot of the other characters we are introduced to as well, I do have a bit of a soft spot for Palmer and I do believe Smyth teased we might see more of him in book two so I am very much looking forward to that. 

This book has definitely helped me get back in to the romance genre and if you're looking for something a bit fresh and different as your next romance read I would definitely recommend it.

Time for Once releases on 3rd February 2023 so be sure to check it out then and follow the author Jes on Instagram at jes.smyth.


Comments