Breaking Time

Breaking Time #1

by Sasha Alsberg

Fate brought them together. Time will tear them apart.

When a mysterious Scotsman appears out of nowhere in the middle of the road, Klara thinks the biggest problem is whether she hit him with her car. But, as impossible as it sounds, Callum has stepped out of another time, and it’s just the beginning of a deadly adventure. 
 
Klara will soon learn that she is the last Pillar of Time—an anchor point in the timeline of the world and a hiding place for a rogue goddess’s magic. Callum is fated to protect her at all costs. A dark force is hunting for the Pillars, to claim the power of the goddess—and Klara and Callum are the only two standing in the way. Thrown together by fate, the two have to learn to trust one another and work together…but they'll need to protect their hearts from one another if they're going to survive.

Genres: Fantasy, Time Travel, Young Adult, Romance, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Audiobook

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 14, 2022

About the author

I am the #1 NYT Bestselling author of The Androma Saga and Breaking Time Duology.

When I am not writing, reading or being a dog mom, you can find me over at Joffe Books where I am their Social Media Manager.

Represented by Joanna Volpe at New Leaf Literary.

Reviews

[Emilie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book.
This book had a great (if not original) concept, but it was just not good. I could not finish it, because I was rolling my eyes too much. The characters were flat. Klara felt like the author was trying way too hard to create a stereotypical yet "cool and relatable" teenage girl, and Callum felt like an overdone melodramatic "hero" from a teenaged girl's idea of a romance novel. The actual writing and word choice in the book was--I have to say it--cringy. No one talks like that, not now or hundreds of years ago. It felt like the characters were reciting lines from a badly-written play and not having actual conversations or real feelings.
And what I am assuming was supposed to be a grounding in Celtic mythology just felt like a haphazard mish-mash of anything Irish, Welsh, or Scottish. You can't pick an obscure figure from Welsh mythology and stick that in with references to Irish mythology; it doesn't feel organic or consistent, especially when the author is having these ideas be familiar frames of reference for a young uneducated man who lived in Scotland in the 1500s, especially when he makes a point to remember how he was brought up in the Catholic faith (it would have been incredibly blasphemous and heretical for him to learn anything about Celtic mythology). You can't be talking about Cu Chulainn on one page and then Arianrhod on another page while you're in a fairy ring in Scotland worried about evil Scottish fairies. Either pick large, overarching general themes and beliefs from non-specific Celtic mythology, or pick Irish or Welsh or--HEY, since you're in Scotland!!--Scottish mythology and stick with that one system. Use consistently Irish names for things, or Scottish names for things, or Welsh names for things PLEASE. While, yes, Celtic mythology is extremely similar throughout the British Isles, IT IS NOT INTERCHANGEABLE.
I just could not get into this book for so many reasons. If you are looking for a time-traveling YA fantasy version of Outlander, I'd keep looking and skip this one (and to be honest, there are a lot of books out there that try to be a YA fantasy version of Outlander, and I haven't read a GOOD one yet...)

[Kayla]

I haven't read this new publication of Sasha's; however, I did want to point out that the book description reminds me of Outlander. Did anyone pick up on that?

[Monique]

One of the primary reasons I won’t be reading this is the obvious self-insert on the cover and the “New York Times Bestselling Author” title. Honestly, the only reason Zenith hit that spot for like a day was because her fan base at the time were blindly buying it like sheep. It was probably one of the worst YA books I have tried to read.

Also this is clearly unoriginal- a blatant rip-off of Outlander.

Hard no.

[Jaye Berry · Rating 1 out of 5]

Six years??? She spent six years writing this?? Girl what were you doing the whole time?? I'd like to think the actual "work" on this was like, two months and the rest of the time was spent travelling and calling it "research" while her editor fought for their life lmao. There's no other explanation for it being THIS bad, oh my god so embarrassing.

I'm not gonna write a full review because the thought of giving this book more effort than the author did makes me want to barf but this was really bad Outlander / self insert fanfic and the romance wasn't even interesting. It had zero flavor like what was the point? It was complete instalove and they were talking about dying for each other after 3 days of meeting?? The wish fulfillment was just weird and should have stayed in the diary because there was no part of this MC that wasn't Sasha.

The man out of time part was done so badly it hurt. I don't even like time travel but I could still have done better. She had this dude easily driving a car for gods sake. Maybe it just took me forever to learn how to drive but I'm from this time and that shit was not easy.

Last thing- Sasha what year do you think Taylor Swift's album 1989 came out? Of all the things to remind you of the 80s, why this. Pls explain I can't sleep until I have answers.

[Mayela · Rating 1 out of 5]

Sorry to be harsh, but I'll just never understand why Sasha Alsberg keeps getting published. She's not a good or original writer. This was a ripoff and a very poorly done one. I saw someone said it was "just fanfiction" for Outlander and that it was meant to be fun, but fanfiction shouldn't be traditionally published. There's a space for that.

DNF at like 5%. Won't even count it toward my goal, cause just... no,

[Margaret · Rating 1 out of 5]

I should probably stop reading books by Booktubers, because I have yet to read one that I like, and I always have this gnawing guilt for not liking them because I weirdly know too much about the author. This is obviously a passion project, so I’m not going to slam it, but I’m kind of annoyed that I feel like I can’t. Does that make sense??

Anyways I didn’t like this book at all. I've tried to think of a redeeming quality, but I can't. So let that speak for itself.

[TReader4 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was provided a copy of Breaking Time through Netgalley.
DNF at chapter 6
I was looking forward to this book based on the cover and description. Honestly, the first thing that threw me off is I thought this book was more Adult, even upper YA. The cover and description definitely reminded me of Outlander so I was expecting something a little more adult.
I love YA though so that doesn't bother me, but was still surprised that the writing wasn't more in line with upper YA.
The first chapter was hard to get through, but I kept going. I never try to judge a book by the first chapter, but it only went downhill from there.
The writing style was not my favorite. Within the first chapter I was cringing at some of the things being said. (All the things in the first fight scene)
Also, I didn't connect with the characters at all. By chapter three I was skimming.
Really the writing just isn't my style. And a few things like, "...the antiques her mother had painstakingly brought over from the states to give the manor its perfect Scottish charm." Made me cringe too. Maybe I'm misunderstanding something but what Scottish antiques are you bringing over from the states to make a Scottish inn feel more Scottish??
Overall, I'm not finishing it.

[Kiki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I truly cannot fathom how this book got published. It's like that lime squeezing thing on Tiktok that Amazon sells for £10.99 but that you can get on knockoff sites for 99p. This book is the £10.99 version of a story you could find for free on Wattpad. I mean... seriously, Inkyard? In this economy?

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ *]

dnf @ 2%

🙁🙁🙁

[Elizabeth Sagan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this! I love the time-traveling trope in the sense that I find it absolutely terrifying :)) and each book I read that has it leaves me feel a certain way, whether it's about traveling into the future or back in time. The idea of being locked out of your time is literal existential crisis. It also doesn't surprise me that I have issue and yet again I like the villain.

[Caroline Fosse · Rating 1 out of 5]

Breaking Time follows Claire who accidentally time travels and meets the handsome Scotsman Jamie Fraser oh wait, wrong book. Breaking Time follows Scotsman Callum who accidentally time travels and meets Klara, and together they have to do whatever they can to survive.

Let me start off with the positives, her writing has improved and I do genuinely believe that IF Outlander didn’t exist, I would like this more. But considering Sasha has been obsessed with Outlander and made that + Scotland her entire personality the last couple of years, I do find it hard to believe that this isn’t a self insert fan fiction with her and Jamie in mind. A white woman with red long hair who grew up in America and then moved to Scotland after her mother died, who meets this handsome Scottish man with a thick accent, dark curly hair and tons of muscles.

Do I believe this book should’ve been published? To be honest, as harsh as it might sound, no. This is not «inspired by outlander», Diana Gabaldon came up with 90 percent of the story and Sasha ran with it, barely changing the names. Claire and Klara, Finley and Fraser, it all sounds the same, and also Sashas dog is named Fraser so it’s just another self insert type of thing. I would’ve liked the magic and the fate aspect of the book if she found a creative way to do it that didn’t include the whole plot of another more successful well-written book.

I think this is another example of «just because you read doesn’t mean you can write», because even though her writing DID improve since her last books, she didn’t come up with this idea herself. I don’t think this book would’ve been published if she didn’t already have a fanbase and dedicated followers, and that goes for a lot of other booktubers as well. Usually they release a mediocre book with an overused plot that brings absolutely nothing new to the table, and all their youtube friends hype them up for it. If she sent the manuscript to a publisher with no fanbase and no famous friends to hype her up, I think they would see it as an Outlander copy and say no.

All this being said though, I think this book would’ve been much better if it was a more adult book, if she slowed it down a little bit and maybe had some smutty scenes in it. If Klara and Callum took their time to get to know each other and didn’t fall in love instantly, and if we got to know more about the Scottish history, the traditions and the mythology she said she spent so much time researching. To me it felt like a missed opportunity to do something cool, she could’ve done so much more with it, instead she made it extremely fast pace and it just ended up flopping for me. The book didn’t need two povs because they spent almost no time apart, and in this case I feel like the book would’ve benefited from having only Klaras pov and then spending more time talking about history + building a relationship between her and Callum rather than just having a sex dream about him and then everyone around her saying how he’s the right man for her after meeting him once for two seconds. It got a little bit annoying when they were talking about getting married and how they love each other so so sooo much after literally five or six days of knowing each other.

I wish we could get to know Callum a bit more, if you’re gonna make it dual pov and you’re gonna make it about time travel, why do we know so little about his life. I would love getting to know about the place he was from, the atmosphere, the people he loved and cared for, the fights happening, what was the town up to? let me know about their beliefs, let me know about the religions and the superstitions, don’t just mention it for two seconds then ignore it for the rest of the book. She said she spent years learning about the mythology, about the traditions and about history, but she did almost nothing with her research.

And of course there's a cliffhanger kind of book, what did I expect-

[Em theglitterybookworm_]

not only does this seem like an exact replica of Outlander but with slightly different names, sasha alsberg is highly problematic. inkyard press, do better

[Fae Funk · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a tough job, being Sasha's most devoted critic, especially when I haven't watched a single one of her videos from start to finish. But someone must do it, I guess. At first, I didn't want to harp too much on this "book", because it's like kicking a sick dog. Low-hanging fruit. Cruel, even. It's beneath me to spend more effort on reading and ranting about this book than Sasha spent writing it.

But then I remember my lovely writer friends, who work their asses off and never get a shred of recognition. I remember myself, how I also spent six years writing my first novel (it went through 5 complete drafts, to be fair) and am now struggling to find an agent for it. And this thing gets published because Sasha has minor internet celebrity clout? Where's the fairness in that?

So no, I don't care that this is beneath me. I don't care that this book doesn't deserve the effort of an in-depth review. It's my god-given right to be mean toward celebrities on the internet.

The Writing

It's bad. It genuinely appears unedited. I found the type of mistakes one makes when writing one's first draft, the type of things you usually catch after reading the thing over once or twice. Words are reused within a few sentences, continuity errors and confusing action scenes make the writing difficult to understand at times, and there's a staggering amount of random typos and grammatical errors. While I'm someone who's generally pretty easy on sentence fragments (it'd be hypocritical not to be) when they're used for effect or voice, here they end up contributing to a very amateurish and choppy reading experience.

Klara removed the stick from his throat, heart pounding in her throat.

But aside from from the technical errors, the writing itself is just so deeply bland and uninspired. Sasha doesn't have a voice, which is fucking impressive for someone who claims to have been working on this "labor of love" for six years. It reads like if you took contemporary YA romcoms and mixed it with, like, bottom-shelf Twilight ripoffs from 2012 and then made a grey slurry out of them in a blender. It reads like she thought "Oh I want to write a thing with a girl and a boy and there's time travel and it's in Scotland" and then she just did it. Didn't think about tone or voice or vocabulary or themes or symbolism or anything. Just wrote the first shit that came to mind and didn't look back.

He looked back up at the torch sconce. Though old with age, it could possibly be of help to him.

When it's not bland and boring, it's melodramatic and trite. The love confessions/realizations are exactly what you'd expect from reading the blurb and looking at the cover. The descriptions are overly flowery and usually don't mix well with the otherwise modern dialogue and narration. The dialogue flip-flops between perfunctory, painful attempts at Marvel-style quips, mystical clichéd nonsense out of a fortune cookie, and over-the-top dramatic monologues.

“If I’m dreaming, then why are you here?”

He shrugged, but the gesture looked unnatural on him. Inhuman. “It’s your dream.”

She scoffed. “It’s a nightmare, then.”

“A nightmare. I like that.” He flashed his teeth. “In the flesh.”

The Characters

Aka Not!Sasha and her made-up boytoy. I don't know enough about Sasha to say whether Klara is as blatant a self-insert as I suspect she is, but the fact that she looks pretty muh exactly like Sasha is proof enough for me. Klara doesn't have a personality outside of being vaguely spunky, vaguely nerdy, vaguely wealthy, vaguely dyslexic, vaguely magical, vaguely everything. She's what a Mary Sue would be if she had an office job. Like if a Mary Sue was your mom's friend at work. Well-rounded in the sense that she has neither flaws nor strengths, sort of a smooth white cue ball character. We're meant to believe Klara is a scientist and was supposed to become an astronomer or astrophysicist (we never figure out what exactly she was meant to study before she called quits), but this is how Sasha portrays Klara's supposed intellect:

Circumstantially, if Callum was from another time – big if – it exlained some things.

The way he acted toward a car was not exactly normal. He called it a carriage, for Pete’s sake. There were theories of parallel universes and timelines, not to mention Einstein’s theory of relativity …

No, it doesn't continue from there. It just ends on the ellipsis like that. Later, we get this:

Her scientist brain churned, considering it in astronomical terms: during the solstice, the earth’s northern hemisphere was the farthest from the sun it could be. Farthest from the light. The cold expanse of space unfurled in her mind. She imagined its darkness spilling onto earth in the lengthening shadows of winter.

I don't know how this girl got accepted into college with these kinds of scientific insights. So if Klara's one defining characteristic is that she's a scientist, and this is how it's shown to us whenever it's referenced at all ... Well, you can guess how much of a personality this woman has. Her being ginger is probably more significant than anything else, and it's referenced more often than her interest in astronomy.

Callum isn't much better. I haven't read Outlander (and refuse to) so I can't say how much he resembles the guy in that work of fart, but he's somehow just as bland as Klara is. He's Scottish and his accent is written out phonetically ... and by that I mean he just says "ye" and "yer" instead of "you" and "your" ... Most of the time. He slips up every now and then. I guess this 16th century Scottish peasant can't be too Scottish, or we the self-inserted reader won't be able to understand him. And no, it's never explained how Callum and Klara can understand each other despite being separated by an ocean of time and also the literal ocean. The book even makes a point of how he finds Klara's (a New Yorker) accent "spirited" and similar to Scottish, but how he barely understands Texans and their wacky speech. That felt kinda loaded, but I'm not American so I wouldn't know.

Callum is also hot, sort of. He's a pit fighter of some kind, so he's a badass of course. He's totally cool with women though! And doesn't mind People of Color, not that there are any in this book. He mostly exists to think about how he failed his best friend/brother figure and how he's ready to die defending Klara despite knowing her for a couple of days at best. We don't even figure out why he dropped out of time in the first place. So far it seems like it was an accident. Meaning we don't even know why one of the protagonists in the book is there to begin with. Oh, wait. I know why.

Callum’s body was…not forgettable.

Muscled. Ripped. Svelte. Bonnie. Tan and lean, with a dusting of dark hair on his upper chest which also sprouted below his belly button and went lower than she cared to admit she had noticed. Definitely not forgettable.

I have no idea how this man is muscled and ripped at the same time as he's svelte and lean. Someone tell Sasha that words mean things before she publishes another book.

There are other characters, but they're perfunctory and little time is spent on exploring them. The villain is the third most important one, but he's so boring and mustache-twirly that he's not worth mentioning. Klara also has a family, who are all generic good people who have no issues with her going off on mysterious quests and don't worry about their 18-year-old grand/child at all. There are also a few magical side-characters who all exist to spout mystical nonsense at Callum and Klara whenever the two enter their general vicinities, like NPCs with quest icons over their heads.

That brings me to

The Plot

Some evil mysterious guy keeps traveling in time in order to kill people called Pillars. Thomas, Callum's friend, gets shanked by the evil guy, who then teleports himself and Callum to modern times in order to kill Klara, who is a Pillar. Klara and Callum travel from special place to special place in order to unlock Klara's special magic powers so she can stop the evil guy from killing Klara and ending the world. They fall in love, supposedly.

Most of the book is Callum and Klara traveling from one cultural spot in Scotland to the next. They also spend a lot of time asking other people, mostly magical beings or people implied to be magical, about the plot and the bad guy. These people never give them a straight answer, mostly speaking in mystical clichés, but usually repeating the same information over and over. This leads to Klara and Callum "realizing" the same things multiple times, each time written like it's the first time. So the book is: go to a place > see mystical place > talk to a magical rando > learn something they already knew > make out > move to next place. As you get closer to the ending, it starts to feel like a fever dream. "Wait, didn't they know this already?" "Wait, didn't someone already explain this?" I felt like I was being gaslit.

What's funny is that it feels completely unintentional, most likely because it is. Klara meets at least 3 characters who don't even know why they're there talking to her, because she unwittingly summoned them to her. So the scenes involve our protagonist, who didn't know she summoned someone and is confused that they're even there, and the character, who doesn't know why they were summoned or what Klara wants with them. And that's just how the whole book is "constructed." Things just happen one after the other without anything feeling like it's connected or like one thing leads into another. It's like a loose LEGO set. You know what it's supposed to be, but nobody bothered to build it.

Dishonorable mention goes to the way Klara's "power" is her "intuition", which is just an embarrassingly blatant cover for the plot pulling her strings. In the beginning, Klara wants to leave Callum and return to her life, but a mysterious power in her chest literally, physically forces her back to him. No, really. And at the climax, Klara takes a moment to wait for the plot to tell her what to do. She actually waits for outside instruction on how to continue the book. It's kind of sad, really.

The Scottish

Sasha claims to have done a ton of research in preparation for this book. Which doesn't really explain why a central character and plot point recolves around a Welsh goddess, or why a lot of the folklore referenced seems suspiciously Irish-flavored. But I dunno, maybe that's a mythological deep cut I'm too much of a pleb to understand.

I do think I can comment on the weird portrayal of Scotland and Scottish people, which can be summed up with a few choice quotes. Behold:

Winding down the path lit only by moonlight, [Callum] passed into the trees and approached the loch that hugged the property.

He waded into the stream, until he stood waist-deep in the cold sting of the water.

So is it a loch? Or a stream? You'd think a Scotsman would know the difference, but I guess water's wet in every shape, eh?

Klara liked to think that in Scotland, people wouldn’t have balked at a young woman carrying a sword.

Yeah, because Scots are badass medieval warrior people, like in Braveheart! Not just … normal guys. With jobs. Also, Klara's from New York. You'd think she'd be used to ignoring people doing even weirder shit. It comes off as really weird Scottish fetishism, which I guess is accurate enough of a description, but I'd expect ... more? Outsiders who are interested in a culture would still know a bit about it, but this reads like something I'd be able to write, and I'm very much normal about Scottish people and have a passing knowledge of Scottish things. Most I can do is quote the "wa ah" scene from Limmy's Show. Yet somehow, even the supposed love for the people and culture that was one of the driving forces behind this book feels ... half-hearted. Surface-level. Like she couldn't be bothered.

Conclusion

So in the end, I have to ask: How do you spend six years writing this? Genuinely. Where did the effort go? Where did the passion go? Was there any to begin with? Or was it just a front? But six years for a cash grab seems excessive, so something else must've compelled her to write this.

You'd think one would stumble into something decent by brute force if nothing else. The sheer amount of time spent could produce something of worth, right? It's genuinely baffling how a person could spend six years crafting a supposed labor of love and then this comes out the other end. Passionless. Bland. Uninspired.

(The only explanation that would make some sense is that she thought about writing the book for six years, and then wrote it in a month and counted the time between thinking of the idea and having the "finished" book as six years of actual work.)

It's not even full of self-indulgence. Aside from the embarrassing Scottish references and the blatant self-insert, the book is so flavorless and subdued. The romance feels tepid, the adventure doesn't feel fun or exciting, and the power-fantasy is underwhelming and bland. Even the hot Scottish man, who's supposed to be the main draw, is underutilized. The book's not even embarrassingly horny. There's nothing that indicates that Sasha had a good time writing this, nor that she actually wanted to. There's no love or excitement in this at all. But then how -- why spend six years?

I don't know how one writes a wet dream this dry. Set in Scotland, no less.

[teddy · Rating 1 out of 5]

UPDATE: So, apparently (and take this lightly because I DNF'd the book so I can't be 100% sure but), Sasha Alsberg decided to take mythological beings from Cymraeg (Welsh) culture and add them into her book... set in Scotland. Does she not understand that Cymru (Wales) and Scotland are two different countries with two different cultures and two different histories? If you're going to write a novel set in Scotland, why use Cymraeg (Welsh) mythology? Scotland has so much beautiful culture and mythology of its own! To not use it, despite your book taking place there, is a disservice. And apparently Sasha changes the history of the characters she uses (Arianrhod and Lleu Llaw). It pisses me off - because these mythological beings are a part of my culture. And quite frankly, if Sasha actually did the research she claimed she did, she would know about the delicate history Cymru (Wales) has. My culture was almost stamped out, the stories almost disappeared! So to see it taken and used incorrectly, solely to justify a shitty romance novel is just irritating.

I'm sorry for the rant. I'm just a bit miffed that Sasha gets to make money off something she put zero effort into crafting respectfully. Now, as I mentioned below, I didn't finish this book, so if the above information turns out to be misinformation, I'll happily correct myself and apologise.

- - -

Holy hell, this was a painful reading experience. I had to DNF this after a handful of chapters because I was beginning to lose brain cells.

Now, I don't enjoy giving books one-star ratings, but this? This one deserves it. Apparently, the writer, Sasha Alsberg, spent SIX YEARS writing this novel, but there's just no fucking way that's true. When I say that this reads like a (VERY) rough first draft, I mean it. The writing style is all over the place and is tremendously juvenile. (Is it too harsh of me to say that this writing seems as though it would fit right in amongst a Year 8 English writing project?) Also, the insta-love made me nauseous.

At this point, it's clear Alsberg got her book deals not because she's a gifted storyteller but because she has a following on social media. Which is a shame. I know publishing is an industry, and like any other, it's out to make money. But it's always a bummer when publishing houses give book deals to those with less talent solely to save a few bucks on marketing.
-
Now I can't end this review without pointing out the two glaringly obvious points. One: This book is ENTIRELY a Sasha Alsberg self-insert.

The book cover even features a redheaded woman in a flowing dress standing on a Scottish hillside, something Alsberg has cosplayed before. I mean it's one thing to desire being a beautiful redheaded Scottish maiden and entirely another to write a novel inserting yourself into it. It's just cringey, my dude.

This brings me to my next point: you only have to glance at the synopsis to see how glaringly this rips-off Outlander. For starters, both books are based in Scotland and feature one character flashing out of one time period and hundreds of years into another. Secondly, the protagonist's names are... quite similar. Outlander's protagonist is Claire, and Breaking Time's protagonist is Klara. There's also Colum from Outlander and Callum from Breaking Time. Did Sasha think no one would pick up on this?

This book is so clearly a fanfiction retelling of Outlander that it belongs on a site like AO3 or Wattpad. I have nothing against fanfiction, even if it isn't my thing. I only ask that if it's going to be published, can it at least be written well and made clear that it is so?

[Amy Hagberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF. The book was poorly written and embarrassingly bad. Too many books to read, too little time.

[Elliot A · Rating 1 out of 5]

***Breaking Time review video***


Thank you to the publisher, Inkyard Press, and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of Breaking Time in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.


The Gist

I have been staring at my screen trying to find something to say about this story, but words aren’t coming easily today. Or perhaps there isn’t really anything to say.

I don’t mean to sound nasty. And maybe I just don’t have that much patience lately, but it’s been hard finding a good story these days.

Just look at my previous ratings of books. Mostly 2 stars. I feel like I’m just repeating myself these days.

I knew nothing about Breaking Time or the author, but was genuinely looking forward to a YA time travel story.


The Details

There was so much going on in the first chapter, I had no idea what to make of it all.

We are introduced to the first protagonist and pretty much learn his complete backstory and that of his best friend. Plus some weird stuff is going on in the shadows. I felt like my mind was pulled in too many directions. It was impossible to focus. Or even figure out which part of the info dump one is supposed to focus.

Also, I don’t think back in the 1500’s - I’m assuming that’s when the chapter takes place - “streets” was a commonly used word. I could be wrong, but it felt very modern in that scene.

Then we time travel about a half century to read about a rather grumpy, spoiled and self-centred young woman in her late teens, complaining how she is going to end up an old maid.

We also get to read about how her mother bought Scottish antiques in North America to make the Scottish inn that is actually located in Scotland look and feel more Scottish…

If you feel like throwing in the towel just reading this review, you can imagine how I felt reading Breaking Time.

To say that the writing is chaotic is an understatement. The characters are unlikeable, to say the least.

With that I must stop before the big blue vein inside my head pops.

The Verdict

Overall, I feel very discouraged thinking about Breaking Time. It makes me want to curl up in bed and never read again.

Maybe I have finally outlived my time reading YA stories.

[janel · Rating 1 out of 5]

There ain't no way I can write a full review for this, but I'll just say I experienced more realistic 'man out of time' fiction from the Hugh Jackman film "Kate and Leopold" and that's... saying something (no shade to the movie though it's damn good).

[Karyn · Rating 1 out of 5]

If there is one thing I cannot stand it’s authors that try to write historical fiction or some kind of historical mix and don’t do the basic research on verbiage. I just couldn’t get past the first chapter because I got so distracted by the errors.

[Belle]

DNF at 2%

Breaking Time read as an incredibly cringy, poorly written book (from the short portion I was able to get through). The writing style and writing, in general, were below lackluster, and the story failed to grab my attention whatsoever. The dialogue came over like a bad impression instead of actual Scottish dialect, and even when I read some aloud to a co-worker, we both agreed it barely felt like it fit at all despite taking place in, what I assume to be, Scotland. As horrible as it sounds, when one of the characters got stabbed, I honestly laughed at the ridiculousness, and I don't even know how to explain it without just saying "it's so bad, just really bad" over and over again.

[Sylvie {Semi-Hiatus}]

Dnf-ing this without feeling any guilt. #sorrynotsorry

[Eleanore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edit, April 2022: I've received an ARC. I've read some of it. I've lost all hope.

---
I skipped Zenith because it wasn't up my alley (which was only reaffirmed by the reviews), but I'm down to give Sasha's books a chance.

I'd be interested to see how she does on her own, versus with a co-author—an author who I was unfamiliar with, so I can't tell you if Zenith sounded more like her or Sasha.

→ BTW I feel the need to say this, but I don't watch Sasha's videos. Every time I make a statement like this I get called a stan lol. I'm just curious so I added it to my TBR and will update when I read it (wonder if I can snag an arc...👀)

UPDATE OCT 21:
I just read the synopsis and I'm feeling kind of iffy. But a synopsis can be so inaccurate, so I'm still going to read it. But, my initial thought, it seems good but idk where the tension in the romance is going to come from. It says they're being torn apart but the rest of the synopsis doesn't say how? It just seems thrown on the end.

I'm literally just speculating, and this won't have any impact on my final review.

[KristynRene SwissCheese JellyBean]

DNF
Thank you Edelweiss and Inkyard for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Though this book is written in third person past tense (I’m a sucker for that), the writing reminds me of Post-Twilight YA. It’s very juvenile… I’m actually bummed because the premise sounds delightful but the execution in the eARC is subpar.

I’m underwhelmed, and I feel like I’ve been talked down to…overall, not for me.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5/5 stars. To be released June 2022.

I was drawn to this book due to its setting - Scotland. Scotland is one of my favorite places in the world so I naturally wanted to pick this up. The book gives off Outlander feels as one of the character is transported to the future. The author implements a lot of Scottish and Celtic mythology and legend into this novel. I read about 75% of this book and then ended up skimming the rest. It was interesting, but not interesting enough to keep me engaged. The pacing and writing was okay, but I felt no clear connection to the characters or the relationship the two main characters developed. It was a interesting concept, but unfortunately that was not enough to keep my interest sparked.

[Shae · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC. All thoughts are my own.

Ok, so I rarely leave these kinds of reviews. This book was honestly bad. It feels like bad fanfic. Fanfic can be amazing, but this didn't work at all. It was hard to read, hard to understand, and felt like the author was trying too hard with their word choices. I know that Alsberg has a following from her platforms, but that shouldn't lead to publication. I've read much better from authors who are trying to get their books sold.
All in all, everything about this book fell flat, and I was honestly hoping I would love it.

[Carrie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review coming soon.

[Sara Lavina · Rating 2 out of 5]

ITALIAN BELOW!

Wow, this was bad. And I mean really, really bad.
Before I dive into this review, I want to say that I’m a total supporter of fic writers - what with being one myself -, and it doesn’t cost me anything to admit many fanfictions are written way, way better than published books. It’s not even an admission, it’s a matter of fact.
But this one? Since the very premise it promised to be inspired by Outlander - as far as my research goes, the author is an avid Outlander fan (and well, just read her acknowledgements), I didn’t expect much, but I had hope.
Well, this book was not only so repetitive, but I found an error I can’t overlook.
But let’s go in order.
Both main characters felt a bit… unseasoned. There were good aspects to both of them, yet they were almost incomplete? Claire - aehm - Klara was a bit all over the place, whereas Callum was too calm for someone who travelled 500 years in the future. And oh, how nice is that he can freaking drive? There is, however, a passage near the end of the book which perfectly sums Callum up. They are both dealing with grief, but instead of it being some sort of bridge between them, said grief comes out randomly.
This is also a case of instalove, and while I’m in no way opposed to it, their relationship is unseasoned. There’s a bit of tension, and attraction, but other than that, nothing. Well, besides Callum’s mentality, which somehow might fit the age he was born in, but I’m not sure whether it fits him as a character. It’s just too much, too soon, in a way.
Also, the character of Grams? So bloody cryptic and for what? Heck, yes, the Celtic mythology was probably the best part of this book because it introduced to characters that aren’t widely known, but Grams was just so confusing and secretive about Klara’s destiny and that pissed me off.
I don’t know if I can’t do math despite my degree in economics, at this point I believe Callum can’t count the harvests, though.
But this isn’t the worst error I found, nor how Klara randomly switches from watching things on her laptop due to her dyslexia to doing so on her laptop. And it probably was my mistake to think a 16th-century Scotsman could parallel park, because you never know what they’re capable of. No, the biggest mistake I found has to do with Skye Boat Song. Many people, most people, I dare say, know this song because of Outlander. Well, while the author used the actual lyrics, she still managed to make a huge, inexcusable mistake: how can a guy who lived in the 1500s know a song that was made about a king who lived in the 1700s? How?
This read was a struggle, a huge one. Hadn’t I decided to power through it, I would’ve DNFed it almost immediately.

—

Wow, che disastro. E intendo un disastro colossale.
Prima che entri nel pieno di questa recensione, voglio dirvi che sono un’enorme supporter di autori di fanfiction - essendone una io stessa -, e non mi costa nulla ammettere che molte fic sono scritte molto, molto meglio di libri pubblicati. Non è nemmeno un’ammissione, è un dato di fatto.
Ma questo libro? Dato che la premessa stessa promette di essere ispirata ad Outlander - dalla poca ricerca che ho fatto l’autrice è una grande fan di Outalnder (e, beh, leggete i suoi ringraziamenti), non mi aspettavo moltissimo, ma avevo qualche speranza.
Beh, questo libro, oltre a essere ripetitivo, presenta un errore che non posso ignorare.
Ma andiamo in ordine.
Entrambi i protagonisti mi sono sembrati un po’... insipidi. C’erano dei bei tratti in entrambi, eppure sembravano quasi incompleti? Claire - aehm - Klara era un po’ confusionaria come personaggio, mentre Callum era fin troppo calmo per qualcuno che si è fatto un viaggio 500 anni nel futuro. E oh, quanto bello è che sappia persino guidare? C’è, tuttavia, un passaggio verso la fine del libro che descrive Callum perfettamente. Entrambi sono tormentati dal dolore, ma invece di renderlo una sottospecie di ponte tra i due, tale dolore viene fuori in situazioni completamente a random.
C’è anche il caso dell’instalove, a cui non mi oppongo affatto, ma la loro releazione è davvero insipida. C’è un po’ di tensione, e attrazione, ma a parte quello, niente. Beh, a parte la mentalità di Callum, che in un qualche modo centra l’epoca in cui è nato, ma non sono sicura ci azzecchi con lui come personaggio. È semplicemente troppo e troppo presto, in un certo senso.
E poi, il personaggio di Grams? Così dannatamente criptico e per cosa, poi? Cavolo, sì, la mitologia Celtica è stata probabilmente la parte migliore di questo libro perché ha introdotto personaggi che non sono ampiamente conosciuti, ma Grams era talmente confusionaria e dalla bocca cucita relativamente al destino di Klara che mi ha fatto incavolare.
Non so se non sia in grado di fare dei calcoli nonostante la mia laurea in economia, ma a questo punto non credo che nemmeno Callum sappia contare i raccolti.
Ma questo non è il peggiore errore che io abbia trovato, né come Klara sia tranquillamente passata da leggere sul suo telefono per via della dislessia a leggere sul suo portatile. E probabilmente è stato un mio errore pensare che uno Scozzese del Sedicesimo secolo potesse fare un parcheggio parallelo, perché non sai mai di cosa siano capaci. No, l’errore più grande che ho trovato ha a che fare con Skye Boat Song. Molte persone, la maggior parte, oso dire, conosce quella canzone per via di Outlander. Beh, sebbene l’autrice abbia utilizzato il testo originale, ha comunque fatto un errore madornale e imperdonabile: come fa un ragazzo vissuto nel 1500 a conoscere una canzone che riguarda un re vissuto nel 1700? Come?
Questa lettura è stata una lotta, una enorme. Se non avessi deciso di farmi forza e finire il libro, lo avrei lasciato perdere quasi immediatamente.

[Esme · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5⭐

Honestly it's not a terrible book. The writing isn't the greatest and it's not exactly a unique plot but it was decently entertaining. I will more than likely read book 2 cause I hate having unfinished series but it's not a new favorite by any means. The time travel was a little hard to follow and the characters did feel a little stale.

[beverley ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

thank you to harper collins for the arc

this was so bad yikes …. i wanted to give sasha another chance especially after i dnfed zenith.

this wasn't good at all. this felt very unpolished and it felt as if i was reading a draft or an unfinished book. the novel is very mediocre and reads for a younger audience, i've seen a few people saying this is YA or NA but it didn't read like any of those.

the writing style was very average and simple, there was a lack of detail at certain times but for the most part it was easy to read. when it came to the mythology sections i felt as if the author had just copy and pasted certain explanations out from a text book leaving it feeling fragmented. throughout this whole book i still feel as if we didn't get a proper explanation about what was happening with the monsters etc.

the main character felt very bland, again likable but there just wasn't anything interesting about her, it also felt a little bit self-inserty which i won't go too much into but it just wasn't good. callum was also bland, and the two had no chemistry whatsoever and their relationship came out of nowhere. the plot was boring, i wanted to see more of the fantasy element but we didn't get that either and it just felt rushed. as for the plot twist, it was extremely predictable and i have zero desire to pick up the sequel.

[Kate · Rating 1 out of 5]

A big thanks to NetGalley and Inkyard Press for gifting me an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

I don't think I know enough words to describe this book. In a not good way either. As it felt like a ripoff of Outlander, Which was a cool concept, but ended up being really bad execution.

Breaking Time by Sasha Alsberg, is a YA novel inspired by Scottish folklore, following the story of Klara as she nearly hits a man standing in the middle of the road with her car. The only problem is the man, Callum, claims he stepped out of another time. Throw in the fact that Klara is apparently an anchor point in the vast expanse of time, and Callum is fated to love-I mean protect her at all costs.

The writing was decent, but that's about all there was to it. The plot was lackluster and the characters just fell flat. I felt like it was just piggybacking off the success of Zeneith, which was due to the author's popularity on YouTube.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me access to an eARC of this novel in exchange for my honest review.

I really wanted to like this story more than I did.
It started out great—Scotland, traveling through time, a murderous villain, a slightly cheesy but totally tolerable romance plot. The mythology was interesting.

But the overall tone of the book felt very juvenile to me—even for a YA novel. The main character was really difficult for me to connect with. I enjoyed her grandmother’s character a lot—wish we had seen more of her. There were lots of glimpses of potential goodness here, but I just think it missed the mark for me.