Just One Damned Thing After Another (The Chronicles of St Mary's, #1) in Crazy Challenge Connection

Jan 13, 2017 Roxann rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: first-reads, historical-fiction, science-fiction

An amusing and interesting time-travel story that was filled with interesting characters. I enjoyed the characters and their interaction with each other while trying to complete their assignments of researching historical events. All the characters seemed 'real' and conversations and writing was witty. I would recommend this book.

I received this book free from Goodreads Giveaway. ...more

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Aug 04, 2019 Chris rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, time-travel, series, england

2.5 stars
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Which is not to say I did not like it. There are some really great ideas here - but they've done much better by Connie Willis. This book is a mile wide and about an inch deep. We just jump around from one damned thing to another. And then Taylor does the truly unforgivable and breaks her own rules of time travel. There will be spoilers.

St. Mary's is a triple-super-secret place in England where researchers have developed time machines t 2.5 stars
I really wanted to like this book more than I did. Which is not to say I did not like it. There are some really great ideas here - but they've done much better by Connie Willis. This book is a mile wide and about an inch deep. We just jump around from one damned thing to another. And then Taylor does the truly unforgivable and breaks her own rules of time travel. There will be spoilers.

St. Mary's is a triple-super-secret place in England where researchers have developed time machines that allow them to go back and find out what really happened at various points in history. Not only are they careful not to interfere with the past, but they've found it's impossible to bring things from the past back with them to the present. So, it's all good - until of course it isn't.

"Max" Maxwell is the typical heroine you expect to find in a book like this - everything she touches seems to turn into a disaster that she's always able to pull out of at the last minute. Her compatriots are a motley crew of people who seem equally intent on screwing or screwing one another over. The best part of the book is when they have to deal with the St. Mary's version of Delores Umbridge. Taylor goes for lightheartedness at the oddest moment.

But here's the real problem: While these guys are so careful about not affecting history - there's this other rival group of "evil" time travelers who don't seem to have any such compunctions. Hell, they're bringing safari groups back to the Cretaceous to hunt dinosaurs. And they keep showing up at other points in time. You gotta figure at some point one of them did more than just step on a butterfly.

Then the folks at St. Mary's discover they can bring things to the present as long as they couldn't possibly still exist in this time period (i.e., any object that would have definitely been destroyed in an earlier time). So that sets them off on a mission to rescue documents from the Library at Alexandria (already ablaze when they arrive), which they will put in amphora in a place where they can be dug up in a couple of millennia. So they've completely thrown out their own moral compass.

This is the first in a six-book series, so there are clearly a lot of people who much have like them. Me. I'm not saying I wouldn't read another if there were nothing else around. But, meh. ...more

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Oct 13, 2018 Diane ~Firefly~ rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: kindle, fantasy, time-travel

Well that was quite different in a good way.

What I enjoyed:
* Max was a great character. She totally had the right temperament to be a historian. I can't believe all the awful stuff she went through and was still totally dedicated to the job.
* Chief was great as well. His secret was very surprising, (view spoiler)
* The premise is pretty cool. Going back i ...more

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Jul 22, 2017 Charlotte (Buried in Books) rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: sci-fi

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I bloody loved this book. It's the perfect combination of humour and drama and I just want more of it.

While a lot of first in series spend time with the world building to the detriment of the story - this book didn't suffer and the action cracks along at a wonderful pace.

Although it reads like it's set in the present there are a couple of things that make you wonder - several time's its mentioned that America has closed its borders, so it could be slightly in the future.

Either way this book intr ...more

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Jul 21, 2020 LynnB rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, humor, time-travel, romance, 2020-reads

A fun and adventurous time-travel extravaganza that careens wildly between time periods. I enjoyed the story and might try one more of the series to see if I want to continue.

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