The best part about books with time travel is that they can transcend multiple genres. You could read a hardcore scifi where they are preventing the end of the world by going back in time or you could be reading a historical romance where the character falls back in time on accident.
Whether you are here to find a book to fulfill the category in the 2023 reading challenge or just looking for something different to read, try one of the books on this list.
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Books with Time Travel
Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore
I adored this book! The main premise is that every year on Oona’s birthday at midnight, she jumps to a random age in her life. For her first jump ever on her nineteenth birthday, she zooms ahead thirty-two years in the future and lives her year out at fifty-one years old.
She staggers along trying to figure out how to live this life she was destined to live and ends up growing in the process with quite a few surprises along the way. This is a great time travel book if you want something different.
The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger
Of course this classic had to be on the list! It’s a such a heartbreaking love story. Henry is cursed with the rare condition where his genetic clock resets and randomly sends him through time to a different past and future point in his life. He could go at any moment and could be gone for hours or weeks. It’s all seemingly random, so when he falls in love with Clare, she must face the realities of marrying a time traveler.
If you want a time travel romance to start with, here’s your pick!
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub
As Alice turns 40, she reflects on her life. It’s not terrible, but her father is sick and it feels as if something is missing. She wakes up however and she’s jumped back in time to her 16th birthday. As much of a shock as it is, she is even more shocked to see her father healthy. She finds that she can jump back and forth to these same days, her 40th and her 16th birthdays and see how the choices she makes in the past effect her future. Is there anything about her life and relationships she would change if she could? Because now she can make all the difference.
This isn’t a book of romance, but a book of making the most out of your life and realizing what matters the most to you. It’s a heartwarming read that will make you want to hold your family tight.
The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle
This was an audiobook read for me and I went in knowing nothing. I almost loved it even better that way becuse this an edge-of-your-seat mystery that will have you eagerly awaiting each new bit of information you get. It’s like Clue and Groundhog Day smushed together.
Evelyn Hardcastle will die at 11pm. Aiden Bishop must solve the mystery or he is bound to repeat the whole day over again until he figures it out. The catch is each new day he is in the body of a different guest at the party. I can’t say enough how amazing this novel is!
Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness
This is the second novel in one of my favorites series The All Souls Trilogy. Diana and Matthew continue their search for the mysterious book she called from the depths of the Bodleian that is supposedly the key to the creation of all creatures on earth (witches, vampires, and daemons). They travel back in time to Elizabethan London and embark on an even more dangerous journey than when it began.
This series has forbidden romance, magic, rare books and libraries, alchemy and suspense. The writing is very good as well. Deborah Harkness is definitely an author to keep an eye on.
Bones of the Earth by Michael Swanwick
A paleontologist’s world changes when one day a stranger walks into his office with the remains of a freshly killed Stegosaurus. A team of scientists is now able to go back in time and study dinosaurs in their natural habitat. They do just that, but end up stranded millions of years ago in the Cretaceous period and we all know the disastrous consequences of meddling with time!
This is a fun dinosaur time travel book with some interesting science. A good read for those who like adventure and scifi!
Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
Everyone’s favorite Studio Ghibli movie was adapted from a book! After Sophie is cursed by the Witch of the Waste to be in an old woman’s body, she wanders aboard the wizard Howl’s moving castle. As she tries to find a way to break her curse, she goes on many adventures along the way, including time travel!
This lovely book is also on my Must Read Cozy Fantasies List.
One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston
Coming from the author of Red, White & Royal Blue, this time we have a F/F time travel romance. August has recently moved to New York and does not believe in those epic love stories you see in the movies. Little does she know she will fall into one herself when she meets dazzling, mysterious Jane on her subway commute to work. The only problem is Jane is not just dressing like she enjoys the 1970’s, she is actually lost in time and needs August’s help.
So we got a cute, sci-fi LGBTQ romance that I am 100% here for! This novel is also on my best lgbtq romance list.
Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I feel like this is a classic the time travel romance genre! Claire Randall goes on a second honeymoon to the highlands of Scotland with her husband Frank after the end of WWII. Little does she know that when she touches the stone in Craigh na Dun that she will go back in time two hundred years to the year 1743. As she tries to stay alive find her way home, she falls in love with Jamie Fraser.
As someone who read the books and watched the series adaptation of Starz, I might be biased, but this a must read time travel book!
The Atlas Six by Olivie Blake
The Alexandrian society is one of the most sought-after secret societies to join in the world. As keepers of lost knowledge, members secure a life of wealth, power, and prestige beyond their wildest imaginings. Every ten years, five of the most talented magicians in the world are chosen to be initiated and to do so they must pay a terrible price.
Telling you how time travel factors in to this will be a giant spoiler, so you just have to read and find out! This novel is compelling and manipulative in a way that keeps you devouring page after page until the very end and still you are somehow left mind-boggled.
This book is also on my SciFi by BIPOC authors list.
Scribe of Siena by Melodie Winawer
I read this book several years ago now, but still remember it fondly. Here’s another time travel romance, but it’s set in Siena, Italy right before the onset of the Plague. Accomplished neurosurgeon Beatrice takes a trip to Siena to resolve her late brother’s estate, as she wrestles with grief over his recent death.
As she is going through her brother’s affairs, she is catapulted back in time to the 1347. She falls in love, not just with a man, but with medieval Siena and she must grapple the realities of living during the medieval Plague and decide which century she belongs in.
In the same vein as Outlander, read if you love historical romances.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by JK Rowling
Of course this had to be on the list! The third book of the Harry Potter series involves Harry grappling with the realities of who betrayed his parents to Voldemort and now that very same assassin has broken out of Azkaban prison to murder him. As the real truth comes to light, Harry and Hermione must travel back in time to save more than one innocent life from a terrible fate.
This is one of the best books ever in my opinion, but I will leave that choice up to you!
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