Whoa this book has really done my head in and I’ve needed time to digest and process what just happened.

Natalie is an influencer raising her large family on a farm and posting about her daily life with her handsome cowboy husband and her perfectly styled kitchen and well-behaved children. It seems she has it all and her followers lap it up despite the fact Natalie has lots of paid help.

However, she wakes one morning cast back into the 1800’s with her same family, same farm house and same husband. But something isn’t quite right.

The story is told in two timelines: her life in the present as a traditional wife and her backstory. The other tells how she navigates her life back in history. From the first page I was hooked because all I wanted to know was how she had time travelled back to the 1800’s.

I loved the two-time line structure and her backstory. The writing was very good too. However, her life in the 1800’s was quite brutal and confronting. Was she held a prisoner, had she time travelled or was she merely suffering some sort of nightmare dream? I won’t put any spoilers in here but there were quite a few holes when I looked back on that second timeline e.g she suffers an injury but no help is called. I couldn’t buy into the callousness of that.

Nevertheless, it’s a wild ride and I can see why it’s captured many readers. I did come away feeling very little for Natalie’s character. Her husband even more so. She really was the angry woman and the question is why she put up with it all for so long. I did wonder though if she was an unreliable narrator and when you consider that, the whole thing is barely believable. If anything it’s quite a sad story.

This would be a great book club pick because it would no doubt ignite a lot of debate. Check it out if you haven’t already.