Now, Then and Every When by Rysa Walker

   I joined a Coronacation reading challenge with my co-workers and that is driving my reading selections for now.  One of the categories was a book about time travel.  Usually I am pretty hesitant about time travel books.  I love them when they are done well but I find that so often they aren't.

I really hate the girl goes back in time, girl meets boy, they fall in love but they aren't from the same time so they are doomed forever trope.   I try desperately to avoid it, but it is fairly common in time travel books.  I am happy to say that this book definitely wasn't that.

This book is about Chronos, a time travel governmental agency and what happens when two agents cross paths in one of the most tumultuous times in our history.   Someone breaks the time line, but who?  And how will they fix it? 

I enjoyed this book because it incorporated a lot of things that I find interesting or that I enjoy.  It talks about the 1960's and the civil rights movement.  It projects so much of what it was like, especially for a person of color to live then.  It also talks a lot about music and the importance of pop culture - but especially music.   I had no idea of the real importance of the Beatles.  I mean, of course they are one of the most influential bands - EVER - but when I read this book I learned a lot about their politics, too.  I had no idea that the Beatles refused to play in front segregated audiences.  Think about that.  It's just so powerful.

I love when I read a book and learn something new.  Something unexpected.   This book also had a lot of legal arguments  - human rights arguments so that aspect was really interesting, too.   Unfortunately, I only gave it three stores because sometimes, with such a complex story,  the author got a little lost in the weeds it felt like.   There was just so much information to sift through - a cult in the 1900s,  multiple time lines,  court cases,  a video game played by a psychopath, etc..... Good effort - too convoluted.