best historical time travel romance novels

Time Travel Romance Novels Beyond Outlander

Jessica Pryde

Jessica Pryde is a member of that (some might call) rare breed that grew up in Washington, DC, but is happily enjoying the warmer weather of the desert Southwest. While she is still working on what she wants to be when she grows up, she’s enjoying dabbling in librarianship and writing all the things. She can be found drowning in her ever-growing TBR and exclaiming about romance in the Book Riot podcast ( When in Romance ), as well as on social media. Find her exclamations about books and pho on twitter ( JessIsReading ) and instagram ( jess_is_reading ).

View All posts by Jessica Pryde

I love time travel. I will consume it in almost any format: prose, poetry, comics, film, television, radio drama. You name it, I’m there . I don’t know where my interest originally started, but it’s probably no coincidence that the earliest two adult books I recall reading were both time travel romance novels. To this day, a good time travel romance is a thing of beauty that I always find myself keeping an eye out for. 

There are several elements that play into making a time-travel romance successful. The biggest element is how the author establishes the HEA. Does the time-traveling protagonist elect to stay in their new time? Does the one who was traveled to somehow find their way to the other’s time period? Does the one who lives in the present find the soul of the one they met in the past? Or maybe something completely different?

Let’s look at a few to start with:

1. A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

If you want a good example of an old-school time travel romance, you can’t go wrong with Deveraux. In A Knight in Shining Armor , we find out what happens when a young woman, abandoned and crying in a churchyard far from home, comes face to face with a real-ass knight, who is rightfully confused. Trying to keep the poor man alive is hard enough, but then there’s the whole being incredibly attracted to him thing.

If you enjoy that one, you might also find other books of hers interesting, including Legend , Remembrance , and Return to Summerhouse .

2. Love, Eternally by Morgan O’Neill

A flautist playing in an ancient ruin finds herself in the middle of the Roman empire. The Emperor is terrible, but a young senator catches her eye. Also, there’s a rebellion brewing, and Gigi is there to help fan the flames to dethrone a tyrant.

3. Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown

A woman from the future ends up in the past. Sounds pretty cool, right? In a world built on VR, Ginn, a VR designer, accidentally ends up in the 10th century. Multiple people have recommended this to me, and someone even said their husband told them “you didn’t tell me it was a romance—with the setting!” So yeah, if you’re into a lush depiction of a time period and a beautiful love story, this one’s for you.

4. The Duke and the Domina by Jenn LeBlanc

A reluctant duke marries a switch from the twenty-first century. That’s a hook. Grayson has been trying to escape his desire to submit, but that all goes to pot when he marries a woman who has awakened in a new body and a new time. Lulu is a professional dominatrix and she doesn’t want to be where she is, and isn’t sure she can trust her new husband. But it’s a romance, so they’ll figure it out.

5. Everything for Love by Marilyn Vix

Deidre is a Timeanaut. She travels through time using sex to power her travels.

Yeah, you read that right.

When she sees the same man in multiple time periods (I’m guessing unchanged? Because they’re not that far apart), she discovers that he, too, is a time traveler, and has been sent to save her life. They have adventures and make enemies and do all those things you’d expect people screwing with the timeline to do, including fall in love. But there are some complications with that, too.

6. Timeless and Timekeeper by Alexandra Monir

These are technically YA, but I loved Timeless so much. This book features an uncommon element in time-travel romance: the ability to go into and out of the specified time period. Usually, in one of these (thanks probably in part to Diana Gabaldon, NGL), the heroine (because it’s almost always the heroine) finds herself in a moment in history, and one of the most important plot elements is how to get her back to her own time (if, in the end, she even decides to do so). But Michele uses a journal to bounce back and forth between her own time and that of Philip, the boy she will eventually fall in love with. Also, it’s fun to get all the historical tidbits.

There are also some really, great, memorable, and iconic books that are more “time travel novels with romance in them” instead of the other way around. The love story isn’t always the focus, but these are definitely romantic love stories within the time travel story.

7. The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz

No matter if it’s more general fiction or four alarm fire erotic kinky romance, Tiffany Reisz is an amazing storyteller. Here, Faye falls into the ocean and breaks the surface in 1921, where the spitting image of her now-dead husband is staring back at her. Part love story, part supernatural, part mystery, this book is all the things.  

Also: If you want to become completely obsessed with the history of lighthouses on the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, this book is the starting off point.

8. The Firebird   by Susanna Kearsley

Nicola has a gift that allows her to see the pasts of objects she touches. Working at a gallery, this is a cool gift to have, for obvious reasons. When she touches a small carving and discovers its intriguing history, she follows a girl into the past.

9. The River of No Return by Bee Ridg way

A man about to die in the Napoleonic Wars wakes up in the modern day. There is a guild of time lords masters travelers who tell him he can’t go back. But he longs for his lady love, and long after he expected to be able to return, he is sent back in time. There is adventure and intrigue in this one, but people also appreciate the love story.

10. Somewhere in Time by Richard Matheson

When I was a kid, I was obsessed with this movie. Superman and Dr. Quinn fell in love but couldn’t be together. That sucked. But then it didn’t. I loved it. It wasn’t until years later that I discovered it was a book. The book was a little different, but in essence was the same. A young man “falls in love” with a woman in a portrait and then finds a way to get to her time period in order to meet her. Things ensue.

If there’s one thing you might notice about this list of time travel romance novels, it’s that with the exception of Alexandra Monir, the authors are all white. Non-white authors are indeed writing about time travel, but if they are writing time-travel romance , I have not yet heard about it. In fact, I wrote an entire essay about why (in my opinion) it is difficult for black women in particular to write about a modern black character traveling backwards into any era (except maybe prehistoric). The same can probably be said of members of other races who have dealt with Western oppression, whether it was slavery, genocide, ethnic cleansing, colonization, or anything else on the massive list of sins our European ancestors dealt onto our ancestors from Africa, the Americas, the entire continent of Asia, and the majority of Oceania and the Pacific Islands. I would love to see someone successfully write a believable Outlander-style romance featuring a protagonist of color. Or even a modern-day story in the style of The Time Traveler’s Wife , but, you know, happy.

Give me About Time with people of color in book form. I’ll love you forever.

(Okay, so Courtney Milan  did  write a story in which Adam Fucking Reynolds travels in time and encounters Frederica “Free” Marshal, but it doesn’t really count, right?)

The other thing about this particular list is that it’s pretty damn straight. Do you have any favorite time travel romance novels featuring queer protagonists? I want to hear about that too.

Or just tell me your favorite time travel romance novels. I want to know. (Give me moooooore.)

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15 Fantastical Time Travel Romance Books

Last Updated on November 29, 2023 by Louisa

Time travel has always been something that’s both fascinated me and intrigued me. Paired with romance, and you’re on to a winning romance trope!

Time travel love stories can be truly enthralling as love is explored between characters across different periods and places. 

As readers, we have often been whisked away to faraway moments in history beyond our imagination and knowledge, whether in the past to 17th-century Scotland or the future when Martians have conquered the earth.

And this makes time travel romance books so gripping for me; it’s not just the romance story but what I learn about history and cultures in a time beyond the one I know.

If you’re looking for a special time travel romance book that combines creative imagination, history, and love, then you’re going to love these 15 books… 

Affiliate Disclosure : This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you, if you make a purchase through any of these links. 

What To Expect From Time Travel Romance Books?

Time travel romance books are known to combine elements of science fiction, adventure, and romance.

What I love about this genre is there are no limits. You can soar into a dystopian future, or back in time to a regency period.

Wherever your time travel plot takes you, you can expect to be taken on an imaginative journey where love transcends time and space.

These books often feature strong-willed characters from different eras or dimensions, who find themselves drawn to each other even though they are separated by time or circumstance.

Being from different generations and time periods, there are often cultural clashes, and different opinions on values, morals, or ways of courtship.

The character dynamics are one of the biggest reasons to read a time travel romance book, and they will be sure to have you questioning your own values and morals in today’s world.

Best Time Travel Romance Books

Now you know a little bit about the main features of the genre, it’s time to show you my favorite fantastic time travel romance books to leave you wishing time travel was real. 

1. A Highlander For Hannah – Mary Warren 

A Highlander for Hannah is a warm and easy-going, time-travel book with a slow burn romance story.

As the title suggests, the story is about the heroine Hannah and her budding relationship with Graham. Graham is a Highlander from the 1700s. 

Hannah summons Graham with a love spell purchased at a Renaissance Fair. Eventually, Hannah has to listen to her heart and decide if she wants to send Graham back to his own time at the next equinox.

Many readers describe this book as charming. Where many time travel stories can be action-packed, this story is more light-hearted and a book to cozy up with. 

View it on:

2. The River of No Return – Bee Ridgway

The River of No Return is an action-packed read. The story tells of Nick Devanant, who was set to die during the Napoleonic Wars but finds himself in London in 2003.

He eventually settles down as a farmer in Vermont. 

Nick is also a part of a time-traveling organization that is involved in intrigue and spying across different eras.

Previously a Lord, Nick navigates his new life while shadowed by The Guild (a guild of time lords), who want him on an assignment in the past. 

Nick also meets Julia, a woman from a neighboring estate.

Their romance is explored through all the action and mystery of Nick’s life as a spy and time traveler for the Guild. The mystery and romance are sure to leave you curious. 

3. The Winter Sea – Susanna Kearsley 

The Winter Sea tells the story of Scottish author Carrie, who treads the fine line between fiction and reality.

As a writer, Carrie starts recounting memories of her characters’ lives. A more imaginative way to explore time travel, this book transports you back to 17th-century Scotland. 

The time travel is done as Carrie recollects vivid memories of her book’s fictional characters. However, the reader is left curious as to what memory is, what imagination is, and what reality is.

The book also explores a secretive and tense romance between Carrie and her landlord’s son, Graham.

A more unconventional way to explore time travel, this story jumps back and forth through the visions of the heroine. A book that will spark your curiosity and leave you guessing til the end. 

4. Beautiful Wreck – Larissa Brown

Beautiful Wreck is about a girl who travels back in time and falls in love. Though it’s not anything new in terms of plot, it has been well written and the world-building is excellent.

Ginn is a virtual reality designer who surprisingly finds herself in 10th-century Iceland. Ginn’s current reality is dull as she exists in a future that is desolate and void of the romance she is craving. 

The book tells the story of how Ginn surprisingly finds herself in Viking Iceland!

She starts to enjoy the simple and homely life of the village she finds herself in and meets and falls in love with a native Icelandic Viking named Heirik. 

Although she finally finds the romance she has always wanted, she learns that love is much more complicated than expected. Henrik is reserved and tormented by what he believes is a curse. 

Penetrating his heart and also fighting against forces that try to tear them apart, this time travel romance lives up to the name of its title, a beautiful wreck.

5. A Knight in Shining Armour – Jude Devereux

A Knight in Shining Armour is a classic time travel romance book by author Jude Devereux .

It tells the story of a young woman who falls in love with a real knight from the Elizabethan age in England.

The book unpacks the love between the heroine Douglass, a young teacher, and a medieval knight, Nicholas.

Douglass is in a dating relationship with a doctor who treats her poorly, and only when meeting Nicholas can she experience true love. 

Although the book is about finding true love, it also shows that love between people from different decades can be challenging. Nicholas and Douglass are tested when they are separated from each other to go back to their times. 

This book will captivate your heart as you become invested in the fight for love between the two main characters.

They fight to discover why Nicholas has come to the current day and how to save his life in the past. 

This is a must-read for fans of time travel, romance and adventure genres, as it combines all three in an unforgettable story.

6. What the Wind Knows – Amy Harmon

What the Wind Knows follows the protagonist Anne as she surprisingly finds herself in Ireland in 1921.

The context is war, and we also glimpse Anne’s inner turmoil as she struggles with hurt and navigates the past.

You are introduced to the history of The Irish Revolution in the 1920s and also to a mysterious doctor named Thomas Smith.

The book explores Anne’s struggles as she begins to fall in love with a man who becomes involved in the war.

Readers are mesmerized by Amy Harmon’s poetic writing and ability to capture the love and heartbreak between Anne and Thomas. 

What the Wind Knows brilliantly weaves history, love, and social commentary into one book.

7. In A Holidaze – Christina Lauren

In A Holidaze is a different take on time travel where the main character Maelyn (Mae) is stuck in a time loop.

She travels back in time, but again and again. She is given a chance to re-live the past as she sees fit.

The book’s romance is not too heavy as it’s about Mae’s budding crush on her friend Andrew. Reliving the past gives her the courage to express how she feels about him finally. 

Set during the Christmas season, it is also festive. This is a friends to lovers romance book with a story that is great for a casual, fun, and upbeat read.

8. Before the Coffee Gets Cold – Toshikazu Kawaguchi

This is a charming story about a coffee house in Tokyo that allows people to travel back in time.

It follows the story of four people who want to travel back in time.

Examining the reasons we love Before the Coffee Gets Cold provides insight into the motives behind love.

One story follows a wife as she travels to the past to meet her husband again and explores love with sincerity and honesty. 

Time travel in this book is not without its rules. Time travelers must return to the present in a stipulated time, and their journeys prove interesting. 

A moving and emotional read, Toshikazu Kawaguchi’s novel is for those who want to dive deeper into time travel and deeper into love. 

9. Time and Again – Jack Finney

Time and Again is not only a love story between the main character Simon and Julia but a love story about New York…

The story tells of a 1970s man Simon traveling back to 1882 to solve a mystery plaguing his heart. 

This is one of the historical time travel love stories that is also an ode to the city in which it is set. New York is the third love in this book, with the author Jack Kinney capturing the city in its early years. 

His writing is gripping and makes it feel like you have been transported back to New York.

The romance is also a tale of choosing to follow the head or the heart, as Simon is torn between the present and the past.

10. Ruby Red – Kerstin Gier 

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier is a witty and lively story of young Gwen who lives in London but soon learns that she can time travel.

A time travel gene runs through her family, although she does not expect to be someone who can time travel.

Soon she is catapulted into time travel suddenly and an unexpected romance. To tell you who the romance is with would spoil the book. You would have to find out by yourself. 

The book is fun and an excellent read for younger readers.

The heroine is 16 years old, and we see the world through her eyes. Described as a clever story, Ruby Red is the easy-going read for your next pick-me-up book.

11. In Five Years – Rebecca Serle

In Five Years is a time-travel romance that fast-forwards to the future!

The main character Dannie finds herself 5 years in the future (through a vision, or is it a reality?), living a life she did not anticipate. She is living with a random man who is not her current fiance.

The book follows Dannie as she unpacks her life 5 years in the future.

A future she is not familiar with but one with desirable possibilities. In this book, time travel is a tool that helps her to ask, what does she want?

It leaves the reader also wondering, what if I could get a picture of my future? Would I change anything?

The author’s writing style is poetic and evocative, with descriptions that transport you to different times and dimensions.

12. Somewhere in Time – Richard Matheson

Somewhere in Time is a beautiful story of love that lasts the test of time and different periods.

It explores the complications that exist for a modern man as he falls in love with a famous actress in San Francisco in 1896.

The author, Richard Matheson, writes this book intricately and can describe the love between the two characters with warmth.

We learn about love at first sight and are taken away by the chemistry between the two main characters. 

The time travel aspect is a unique and interesting vehicle that drives the plot, but at its core the story is about love, sacrifice, and second chances.

This book is also excellent for anyone who loves reading books about historical America and San Francisco. 

13. More of Us to The West – Trinity Dunn

More of Us to The West tells of heroine Alaina’s budding romance with Jack as they are both stranded on an island after their plane crashes.

The only problem is that Alaina is already married to Chris. 

She struggles to make sense of her new romance and how Jack and she ended up stranded on an island, along with 11 other strangers.

The reader is torn between the past and the future as Alaina tries to make sense of her heart as she is torn between Chris and Jack. 

The book also lures you with a mystery you will be dying to solve, making it hard to put it down.  

14. Return Once More – Trisha Leigh

Return Once More tells of 16-year-old Kaia, part of a time-traveling group known as the Historians.

Set in the future where humans live on other planets, Kaia grows up quickly as she is taught to be a Historian.

She is tasked with going back in time to witness important events. 

Young and brave, Kaia is lucky enough to be told who her “True One” is. Learning that her true one is her soulmate, she is eager to meet him. 

This story explores Kaia’s relationship with her “True One,” Caesarion. Caesarion happens to be Cleopatra and Caesar’s son from the past! 

Expect nothing less than a creative and original narrative set in the future but also an exotic past.

This book does a great job of depicting a romance across two different cultures and timelines.

15. A Thousand Pieces of You – Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You joins heroine Marguerite as she travels through time and a different universe. Marguerite is on the hunt to solve a mystery close to her heart. 

Marguerite’s parents are the inventors of the Firebird, the machine that allows her to jump from one exciting universe to another.

While focused on her mission, she finds love along the way in the most unexpected places!

This book does a great job of exploring the heart of a young girl keen on an adventure but also open to love.

Part mystery, part romance, this book is a fast-paced and action-packed book that is great for younger readers. 

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Final Word on Time Travel Romance Books

So there you have it, those are the best time travel romance books. As you can see, there are a lot of great novels to choose from!

I hope you found something on this list that sparks your interest. If you have any more suggestions, let me know in the comments.

About Louisa Smith

Editor/Founder - Epic Book Society

Louisa is the Founder, Editor, and Head Honcho of Epic Book Society. She was born and raised in the United Kingdom and graduated from the University for the Creative Arts with a degree in Journalism. Louisa began her writing career at the age of 7 when her poetry was published in an anthology of poems to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee. Upon graduating university, she spent several years working as a journalist writing about books before transitioning to become a Primary School Teacher. Louisa loves all genres of books, but her favorites are Sci-Fi, Romance, Fantasy, and Young Adult Fiction. Read more Louisa's story here .

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14 Titillating Time Travel Romance Novels

Discover love stories that transcend time.

Are you the kind of reader who thinks nothing could possibly be better than a historical romance? Time travel romance combines the historic romance tropes you know and love with elements of science fiction and fantasy, daring adventure, and the steamy tension of a culture clash. 

These temporal tales deliver the ultimate escapist fantasy! Whether you love second chance fiction or a modern fish out of water heroine, these 14 time travel romances novels will leave you swooning.

A Time to Change

By Callie Langridge

As a young girl, Louisa Arnold was fascinated by Hill House and the tragic tale of its owners, the Mandeville family. When she experiences a tragedy of her own, Louisa decides to roam the ruined corridors of Hill House, and finds herself transported 100 years into the past. 

Now a houseguest of the Mandevilles, Louisa becomes friends with Captain Thomas Mandeville, the eldest son. She knows he is fated to die during World War I—but can't help falling in love with him anyway. And now, she'll do everything she can to save him.

A Stitch in Time

By Amanda James

If you’re looking for an exciting and out of the box time travel romance sprinkled with humor, A Stitch in Time is a must-read. Disillusioned divorcée Sarah Yates is working as a history teacher when the mysterious John Needler breezes into her life. The handsome stranger tells Sarah that she’s a “stitch”—someone with the power to travel back in time to guide the path of history. As Sarah bounces from World War II era England to the Old American West to help historical couples find their happily ever afters, a romance of her own begins to stir.

If you find you can’t get enough of Sarah and John’s temporal romps, check out the sequel, Cross Stitch .

RELATED: 14 Paranormal Romance Books That Give Us Chills in All the Right Places  

Hungry for more romance books? No need to beg! Sign up for our free newsletter and get titillating tales delivered right to your inbox.

For All Eternity

By Linda Lael Miller

For All Eternity blends the excitement of time travel with the dark sensuality of paranormal romance. After a painful personal loss, vampire Maeve Tremayne uses her powers to travel back in time to the American Civil War. As she stalks the bloody, misery-laden battlefields freeing the suffering soldiers from the agony of war with her deadly bite, Maeve meets the kindhearted and mortal Doctor Calder Holbrook.

As a larger, darker war brews amongst the vampires, Maeve must resist as her hunger for the tempting doctor grows. Will she leave human worries behind her, or lure Calder into an eternal romance?

RELATED: 18 Vampire Romance Books with Serious Bite

The Medievalist

By Anne-Marie Lacy

According to family legend, PhD student Jayne Lyons believes she is a descendant of King Richard III—and she's determined to prove that Shakespeare unnecessarily vilified him, and wrongfully depicted him murdering the Princes.

While searching for Richard III's lost grave, she finds a silver boar pendant that magically transports her back to the 15th century. There, she finally meets Richard III for herself, and finds herself even more drawn to him than she ever could have imagined.

Christmas Moon

By Elizabeth Lane

Dramatic, gripping, and sensual, Christmas Moon follows the pregnant and unwed history teacher, Emma Carlyle. On Christmas Eve, Emma ventures out to Wyoming on a research expedition for her master’s thesis about the lawman of legend, J.D. McNulty. A snow storm swallows her car on her return trip home, and before she knows it she’s transported back in time to 1870—and going into labor.

Searching for help at a remote cabin, Emma finds the man of her research on the other side of the door. The two of them strike up a sizzling romance, but Emma knows something J.D. doesn’t—J.D. is supposed to die in a matter of weeks.

RELATED: 19 Holiday Romance Books to Light You Up This Christmas  

Anywhere You Are

By Constance O'Day-Flannery

New York Times bestselling author Constance O’Day-Flannery—the “Queen of Time Travel Romance”—strikes gold again with this romance between Mairie Callahan and Jack Delaney. In modern day Las Vegas, Mairie is getting some excitement out of her life by jumping from an airplane. However, this expedition puts other skydiving jaunts to shame when Mairie lands a hundred and twenty-two years in the past. From recent Civil War veteran Jack’s perspective, it just looks like an angel is falling out of the sky.

Jack thinks Mairie is crazy, and Jack just plain drives Mairie crazy. However, as the two navigate danger and race to find a plant that might save Mairie’s ailing brother’s life, a bond beyond friendship starts to blossom. But is it a love that can withstand the test of time travel?

RELATED: The 24 Best Historical Romance Novels That Will Steal Your Heart

The Repeat Year

By Andrea Lochen

One of the staples of time travel romance novels is the “second chance” trope , which Andrea Lochen’s The Repeat Year takes by storm. After a terrible year stuffed with a harrowing breakup, her mother’s infuriating love life, losing touch with her best friend, and the loss of patients at the hospital where she works as an intensive care nurse, Olive Watson is looking for a fresh start in the New Year. However, when she goes to sleep on New Year’s Eve expecting to wake up in 2012, she opens her eyes instead to the bedroom of her supposedly ex-boyfriend on the first day of 2011.

With the help of another more experienced “repeater,” Olive is given the chance to right all the wrongs in the past year which have led her down a path she’s not proud of. But will this opportunity give her the future she’s been dreaming of, or just cause new problems?

The Sterkarm Handshake

By Susan Price

The sci-fi romance Sterkarm trilogy starts out strong with The Sterkarm Handshake , laying the groundwork for a mega-corporation’s business plans for the resources of 16th Century Scotland. When the corporation—FUP—opens up the Time Tube to the past, anthropologist Andrea Mitchell is sent to live with the brutal Sterkarm clan to act as a translator and informant. Andrea is surprised by the warm welcome of the clansmen, and even more surprised to kindle a romance with the supposedly barbaric man, Per.

As tensions rise on both sides of the Time Tube, Andrea is stuck in the middle of the budding war. Will she remain loyal to her modern employers, or will she stay by the side of her anachronistic lover?

RELATED: Kilty Pleasures: 8 Scottish Romance Novels  

By Diana Gabaldon

Diana Gabaldon’s ongoing Outlander series is not only one of the best-selling book series of all time, but it was also adapted into a Starz television series in 2014. In the first novel, Claire Randall is a combat nurse fresh out of World War II. While on a second honeymoon in Scotland with her husband Frank, the brush of an ancient stone transports Claire back in time to 1743.

Caught in a dangerous game of politics and spycraft, Claire finds herself drawn to the Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser. The undeniable passion of Claire’s life in the past is at odds with the settled life she’s built for herself in her own time. As the series weaves history, romance, adventure, mystery, and fantasy together, Claire must decide which time period holds her future.

RELATED: 10 Books like Outlander That’ll Make You Want a Scot of Your Own

Whispers in Time

By Becky Lee Weyrich

Renowned psychic Carol Marlowe has been summoned to New Orleans on police business, but winds up on a wild adventure when a boat ride through the bayou transports her to the past. She's in someone else's body—someone who has a very handsome lover—and she's quickly caught up in a life of scandal and intrigue.

By Kerstin Gier

This internationally bestselling YA romance series, the Ruby Red Trilogy, was originally written in German. Now, it has been translated into English by Anthea Bell. Gwen Shepherd is a mostly normal sixteen-year-old girl living in present day London. The other women in her family are the unusual ones—gifted with the ability to travel through time. However, Gwen’s perfectly typical life goes awry when the time travel gene that was supposed to have skipped over her starts making her take abrupt and unplanned leaps into the past.

With no training on how to handle these jarring journeys, Gwen stumbles through fashion, manners, and secret societies. Not to mention her frustrating run-ins with her fellow time traveller, Gideon, who’s annoying, arrogant, and too handsome for Gwen’s sanity.

RELATED: 10 Young Adult Romance Books Readers of All Ages Will Love

Must Love Breeches

By Angela Quarles

When Isabelle Rochon stumbles upon a mysterious artifact from the Victorian era, she’s transported back in time to 1834 London. Lord Montagu plots a dastardly scheme of vengeance, but he needs a respectable woman on his arm to pull it off. While Isabelle works overtime to protect the truth of her origins and hunt down the time traveling artifact that’s been stolen from her, Montagu convinces her to feign a romance and act as his fiancée. However, the two find themselves battling not just their foes, but their growing and irresistible attraction to one another.

For readers who enjoy Angela Quarles’s work, she has three more books in the time traveling romance Must Love series: Must Love Chainmail , Must Love Kilts , and Must Love More Kilts .

RELATED: 15 Tantalizing Victorian Romance Novels

What the Wind Knows

By Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon’s most recent Irish romance novel , What the Wind Knows , brings intricate historical knowledge to a touching and passionate romance. When Anne Gallagher’s beloved grandfather passes away, she travels to Ireland to spread his ashes in his homeland. Overwhelmed by the man she adored and the wonderful stories he told her of his past, Anne is physically pulled back in time to 1921.

The Ireland of the early twentieth century is on the brink of war, surrounding the disoriented Anne with inevitable danger. When Dr. Thomas Smith takes Anne under his care, a misunderstanding leads him to believe that she is the missing mother of the young boy he’s been acting as the guardian for. Anne slips into the role of this vanished woman, caring for the child and falling hard for the doctor. However, as the war looms closer Thomas and Anne find themselves drawn into the conflict.

RELATED: 9 Must-Read Historical Romance Authors

By Alexandra Monir

High schooler Michelle Windsor moves to her estranged grandparents’ home in New York City after the fallout of a family tragedy. In the attic, Michelle discovers a diary from 1910 full of not only secrets, but the magical ability to transport her back in time. Thrown into a decadent masquerade ball, Michelle sets eyes on a mysterious young man who has danced through her dreams for as long as she can remember.

Michelle has her hands full trying to find a balance between her normal, modern life and her wonderful jaunts to the past. Things don’t get easier when she starts to fall hard for the boy of her dreams. Worse still, Michelle discovers that his fate is in her hands.

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Best time travel romance books ⏳

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Top 12+ Time Travel Romance Books (2023) A Timeless Selection

Time travel has continuously been used to develop central themes for books or devise a story's plot. Books that are themed on time travel will focus on depicting the results of the character's time-travelling into the past or the future.

The principle presumption of time travel stories frequently involves changing past occurrences intentionally or accidentally and how alterations to the past change the future or the present upon the traveler’s return. Best time travel romance books will focus on romance as the main theme.

What Are The Top Time Travel Romance Books?

Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon

Outlander is a historical fiction book by Diana Gabaldon, first published in 1991.

The story begins in 1945, when Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is on a second honeymoon with her husband Frank in Scotland. While visiting a standing stone circle, Claire is suddenly transported back in time to 1743. She finds herself in the midst of dangerous political and social upheaval in Scotland, where she is considered an outlander and is forced to marry Jamie Fraser, a young Scottish warrior, to protect her from being arrested as a spy.

As Claire navigates her new life in the 18th century, she struggles to reconcile her feelings for Jamie with her love for Frank. She also becomes deeply involved in the Jacobite risings, a series of political events in Scotland that sought to restore the Stuart dynasty to the British throne.

Throughout the series, Claire and Jamie's relationship evolves as they face many challenges and adventures together. They also have to deal with the fact that Claire is from the future and Jamie's time is not her time, and the fact that Jamie is wanted by the Redcoats. The story is set in Scotland, France and America and covers a period of 20 years.

The series is known for its rich historical research and its blending of genres, including romance, historical fiction, fantasy, and science fiction. The books have been adapted into a television series which has been highly successful.

Finding Lorena, by Michael Bartos

What would it be like to go back in time and live all over again, with what you learned and finding out what happened when you lived?

Connor Grace is hit by a car in Charleston and finds herself young again as a teenager in the late 80’s. In his young self, he finds the woman he is aware will become his lover and tries to correct his past wrongs. Miraculously, he is not the only one who has come back from 2018. He is also allowed to meet his mother, who died of cancer and his friend Oscar.

Connor was troubled by these deaths, and he is now allowed to keep away these premature deaths as he tries to understand the turbulent times he went through. What makes this time travel story unique is that Connor still has the memory of the life he had already lived. His knowledge appeals to other people, and his relationship with Lorena is honest and touching.

In this delightful read, time travel, charm, and a journey of self-discovery are unified into creating an adventurous, romantic story. Finding Lorena is an instant page-turner packed with twists. You will enjoy the characters used in developing impeccable storytelling.

Time Change, by Elyse Douglas

Time Change is the kind of book that will have you hooked right away. You will fall for the characters, and you will be compelled to follow them throughout the book in a quest to find out what happens to them in this captivating time travel romance story.

The year is 1948 when a celebrated actress, Rita Randal, comes across a strange man in her photographs. In 2019, Clint West, a writer, also comes across a strange woman in his photographs. The two occupy a beach house years apart, where they meet face to face in a very unusual moment.

Clint is trying to move on after his wife’s death, while Rita has left LA after a deadly confrontation. When they see each other in the photos, Rita is troubled, and Clint is bewildered. Clint delves into and finds out about time travel experiments performed in the 1940s. He meets with Oscar, who had previously been a time traveler and used time portals. Rita is wandering by the beach when a blue wave pivots and takes her to 2019(the future). She meets Clint, and their lives are incessantly changed.

Time After Time, by Lisa Grunwald

Who would not want to be transported to a different time when the world becomes too much? Even better, romantically. Time After Time is a magical romance story that will sweep any reader from the 1920s era into World War II and further. Influenced by Nora Lansing, a woman who vanishes from Grand Central Terminal, this one is a must-read.

Nora is a socialite and aspires to be an artist. When she meets with Joe, she appears to be out of place. He is captivated by her but is now hopeless when she disappears after trying to walk her home. His life and love’s focus now becomes finding her. Later, they form the “Terminal City”, where they create inexhaustible love and fully maximize the use of this space. When the construction of a different landmark impends their future, their love and freedom limits are tested.

Time After Time is an accurate illustration of historical fiction with a delightful twist. It is a blend of history, time travel, and a splendid romance not dependent on time.

Trapped in Time, by Denise Daye

What should a modern woman do the moment she finds herself trapped in the past without a prospective future? Find out from this tale of resilience, Trapped in Time .

Emma has sworn to never fall in love after she and her mother escape her brutal father. She has returned to school to further her studies in medicine, and she has better and bigger things to focus on. One day, heading home from a party and slightly drunk, a car’s shiny white light crashes towards her. She wakes up in 1881 Victorian London instead of a 21 st -century hospital and is now trapped in a time where anything she knew is thought of as witchcraft. It is a tough world for a woman who bears no status or riches. The bigger twist is that to survive, she must get married and marry well.

When the devised plan she had with her friend Lily does not go according to plan, she is caught up with John Evergreen and his family. She must marry the most powerful, feared and disgraceful England duke, William Blackwell. Being a modern woman, Emma comes up with tricks and uses her knowledge to remain ahead of society’s game. The twist is that what starts as a fight for her life may just become her opportunity to find true love.

This time travel romance book will keep your tension high from the developing twists. However, this is a story of the power of love and strength.

The Prophesy, by Kim Sakwa

If you love a time travel love story with staunch lovers and filled with hysterical humor, get yourself The Prophesy . The storyline employed will seamlessly carry you across centuries until fate unites the strong and likable characters. The creative plot connects Scotland’s 1500s with the 21 st century.

Gwendolyn Reynolds has a secure and stable career path being a well-established surgeon. She, however, feels very restless and is frequented by repetitive dreams. An inner urge leads her to leave her job and go on a soul-searching trip to Scotland’s coast. During a storm, she is forced off the road and violently enters the icy waters. When she resurfaces, she meets Greylen MacGreggor, a Scottish laird that she is destined to meet.

Greylen is waiting for an old prophecy in which he is to meet the woman he desires to come true. He could never have imagined or expected her to be from the 21 st century with an aggressive temper. The moment he touches Gwendolyn, he confirms that she is the one destined for him.

Sparks fly between them, and they find out that their fiery fate could be powerful and fatal. Is it possible for them to overcome time differences and find legitimate love?

When Lightning Strikes, by Kathryn Kaleigh

For lovers of historical time travel, this one is a must-read. When Lightning Strikes is an appealing time travel love story with a Cinderella twist. This book defies time and will alter your expectations as a reader regarding romance built upon time travel. The gripping and page-turning story will keep you yearning for more. It will make you believe that true love can conquer anything, even time.

When a modern girl goes back to her hometown, she is employed in a local historical house. The house has a lingering good-looking ghostly appearance haunted by a female ghost that the colonial man can only see.

The moment Hannah Sinclair is taken to her past, she finds out more details about her childhood other than the secrets. She realizes an overlooked time in a world with a homely sensation and a man who steals her heart with a kiss. What comes after? Find out in this intriguing story.

A Wagon Train Weekend, by Stephenia H. McGee

The characters in this time travel romance book are unintentionally sent on an adventure which will reveal their weaknesses and also assist them in growing their strengths. Collette Donaldson and Seth Stone had been in a relationship that was not working out well, and when they are transported back in time, they get to know each other and realize that they need God and one another.

Collette should never have introduced her boyfriend to her family nor taken him to her cousin’s wedding. After one terrible weekend, all Collette wants is to go home and work out her messed up relationship. They fight, have a flat tire, and are also inconvenienced by a storm, being forced to stay the night in a Victorian Bed and Breakfast inn. When Collette comes across her antique photo, the situation shifts from weird to unthinkable. Seth had been ready to propose, but now he is in great doubt.

They wake up in 1857 but are now stranded in a wagon train headed west on the Oregon Trail. Seth is hell-bent on getting home. However, they can only get out of their past by confronting the problems that are stealing and affecting their future. This is when they start getting to know each other better and rethinking their marriage plans.

Tangled in Time, by Barbara Longley

Regan MacCarthy inherited a gift from her Irish ancestors to see ghosts but wishes to give it back. As she attempts to return this power, she goes to Ireland to employ the ancient magic that pervades Newgrange, where a gorgeous warrior awaits her. He claims to be an old Celtic warrior and swears that he is not dead despite Regan believing he is a ghost.

Ahead of being cursed to a fae princess, Faelan was an elite Fionn MacCumhaill soldier. To free himself, he must fall deeply in love and sacrifice himself. The dilemma is, he is not recognized by many. Regan, however, is attracted to him and sees him, especially for his complexity. Faelan must work to persuade Regan to help him even as he falls for her. It is too late when he realizes that drawing her into the world endangers them both. This may lead to the destruction of his long-awaited happiness.

Time of the Rose, by Bonita Clifton

Madison Calloway’s life is filled with despair. She is downhearted following her divorce but has directed all her energy strength in her travel agency. She is from the 21 st century and is visiting Jackson Hole for business. Here, she meets a gunslinger at a shooting exhibition, and his skill captures her attention. He claims he is from 1878.

Colton Chase is pursuing his parents’ murderer. A mysterious flower takes him to more than a hundred years into the future. He is ready to explore his relationship with a good looking and feisty stranger.

They are drawn to each other, and Colton persuades Madison to spend a day with him. By accident, she returns to his time where he protects her, claiming to be his wife. Madison is reluctant about the whole situation, and Colton agrees to help her go back in her time, but he must first follow a lead for his revenge. As Madison tries to help him, she gets captured.

Will he be able to save her? and if so, can she choose to stay, or will she want to go back and leave him behind? Find out from Time of the Rose .

The Sunstone Brooch, by Katherine Lowry Logan

The Sunstone Brooch is an instalment of the incredible Celtic Brooches series. However, this one gets better and better. You will want to dive in as much as possible. The character development makes you feel like family with the adventure filled with much joy, love, and mystical mysteries. The dangerous adventure changes the characters’ lives risking the survival of the Celtic Brooches and the Clan.

Ensley Williams is getting ready for a dinner date with James Cullen Fraser and her cousin George Williams. As she goes through her jewelry box to choose a piece to add to her outfit, she picks a sunstone brooch that once belonged to her late mother.  Inside the brooch’s stone is an engraved inscription.

The moment she recites the words written in Celtic, she is taken into a scented fog and to the 1885 Dakota Badlands. There, she meets Teddy Roosevelt on his ranch. She is not in a hurry to return to the future as being on a ranch is her liking. James Cullen finds out that she has discovered and decides to keep his trip to find her from the family.

Ensley wants to go on a round-up while James visits the MacKlenna Farm to “borrow” gold. He ends up leaving Ensley with Roosevelt, and as she faces ranch struggles and challenges, he fights an evil force that throws him into a crucible that could bring the MacKlenna Clan down.

Falling through Time, by Nancy Scanlon

Since Fates determined that Reilly O’Malley would be the trainer and leader of a time-travelling clansmen group, he has been sure of everything. He has been to all physical and verbal battles, certain that he will emerge a victor. He lives up to all the titles given to him, confident that he will never die.

Since he met with Gwendolyn Allen many years ago, she has been in love with him. He is her best friend. However, her dreams are shattered when she accepts that Reilly may not reciprocate her love as he is focused on moving on, and somehow, he has.

Reilly is exhausted by living according to the Fates directives, and for weeks, he and Gwendolyn find themselves together. The Fates now choose to leave, and all that Reilly knows is strongly shaken. His other abilities begin to fall through time, and he may have to start trusting something else and not fate. Probably love.

Highlanders Captive, by Mariah Stone

This time travel romance book is for lovers of dauntless warriors, witty heroines, and appealing historical details. Amy MacDougall, a search and rescue officer from the future, has had several fears since her childhood and is lost in the past. She fears relationships, tiny and dark spaces.

When she is a chaperone for a school trip, she must face her fear of tiny spaces to save a student in a dungeon. A magical rock throws her in 1307 AD. There, she shockingly meets Craig Cambel, a powerful and attractive Scottish warrior. He declines to trust anybody; his sister having been kidnapped and abused by Amy’s clan. Cambel and his clan trusted Amy’s clan before. When he discovers her, he becomes established and locks her up to keep her away from warning his enemy. However, when Amy proves to be helpful to Craig and his people, his mistrust starts turning into desire.

Amy tries to find her way home, but her fear to commit is now vanishing, and she falls for Craig. Craig finds out about Amy, and his doubts are reignited.

Will, the disparity of centuries, break them apart, or will they concede to destiny and build themselves a happy future?

Final Thoughts on the best Time Travel Romances

Best time travel romance books are highly engaging and intriguing. Their explanations as time travels give an “imperative distancing effect “that metaphorically allows fiction to communicate present-day romances. This aspect and sometimes the paradoxes and opposite timeliness created are what makes these books enjoyable reads. Also if you are into historical fictions, check out our selection from 2020 and 2021 books.

My profession is online marketing and development (10+ years experience), check my latest mobile app called Upcoming or my Chrome extensions for ChatGPT. But my real passion is reading books both fiction and non-fiction. I have several favorite authors like James Redfield or Daniel Keyes . If I read a book I always want to find the best part of it, every book has its unique value.

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Must-Read Time Travel Romance Books

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When it comes to love, crossing the boundaries of time matters very little. Time travel romance novels remind us of that very thing, as we witness characters who have fallen into the past or sprung forth into the future. No matter the case, true love shines through and conquers all. That said, check out these time travel romance reads that will have you falling in love with every generation.

Here’s our favorite romance novels where characters travel far and wide>>

Opposite of Always by Justin A. Reynolds

Jack and Kate meet at a party, where they spend the entire time bonding over cereal and their favorite movies. Soon the two are in love, and Jack is over the moon—but then tragedy strikes, and Kate dies. Only instead of losing her, Jack is thrown back in time, back to the beginning where they first met, where Kate is whole and happy again. Is this a chance for Jack to save Kate, or will playing with fate and destiny cause Jack to put someone else’s life on the line?

One Last Stop   by Casey McQuiston

August doesn’t believe in magic and cinematic love stories. She’s a cynical twenty-three year old living in New York City, waiting tables at a 24-hour pancake diner and living with too many weird roommates. But then, one day on her subway commute, she meets Jane, a charming old-school punk rocker. Now August has a subway crush that has become the best part of her day. There is only one problem that August soon learns: Jane isn’t just a mysterious girl who dresses from a different era, she was uprooted from the 1970s. Now August will do everything she can to save the girl lost in time.

Here are the best books for Casey McQuiston fans>>

Intersect   by Elle O’Roark

In this second installment of the parallel series, Nick and Quinn are working to piece together the truth about the life they once shared. At first, Nick feels like something is missing from his past, but he isn’t sure what until he meets Quinn for the first time—or so he thinks. Quinn has dreams and memories of a life she shared with Nick. But this time, in this new era, if she wants to prevent history from repeating itself, she’ll have to use her unusual gifts and come clean to Nick about everything.

The Portrait by B.D. Anderson

Marleigh Winters thought she’d be bored at another yard sale her mother dragged her to. Yet she is thoroughly surprised when she discovers a portrait of a soldier, Winston Spencer, for sale. The painting seems like it’s almost alive, and when Marleigh takes it home, she realizes that the man inside is very much trapped in another era under a spell from a witch. Now that she is the owner of the painting, she can communicate with Winston who enlists her to help him break the spell. The attraction Marleigh feels for him is instant—but is Winston only using her to free himself, or could this love truly be real?

Here’s our favorite steamy historical romances>>

Out of Time, Into You by Jay Bell

Reggie Valentine just graduated high school. But instead of celebrating, he’s thrown into a freak accident where he lands in the 1950s. There he meets Daniel Parker, a man his grandmother used to date. Daniel is secretly gay, but he’s in an era that wouldn’t allow him to date or marry another man. When Reggie and Daniel fall in love, Reggie soon forgets any plans he has of leaving this generation. But can their relationship handle the constant secrecy and the intensity of an era that despises them?

A Highlander for Hannah by Mary Warren

Hannah Glenn wants something different from her life. Breaking up with her boyfriend and moving into her family’s farm seems to do the trick. Listening to her best friend, Hannah finds herself buying a love potion and casting a spell in the middle of the night. When she wakes the next morning, to her surprise, an undeniably handsome Scotsman from 1745 has landed in her barn. Graham MacNeil fell asleep in his uncle’s stable and woke up two hundred years later in a strange land. At first the two are shocked beyond belief, but as time passes and they await their only chance to reverse the spell, their attraction grows until neither is sure they want the spring equinox to come.

Don’t miss these novels set in Scotland>>

Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson

Andre Cobb thought his new liver transplant would be the start of his life. Instead, when he wakes up, he finds himself in 1969. Once he gains his bearings, he meets the charming and magnetic Michael. Only just as soon as he gets to know him, Andre slips back into the future, present-day Boston. There the family of his new liver explains the side effects of the transplant: time travel. Now Andre has to learn how to use these gifts from Blake, his donor’s brother, while slipping back into the past where Michael is. When he begins to fall for them both, Andre must soon determine if the love he wants is in the future or the past.

Spin Me Right Round by David Valdes

Luis Gonzalez just wants to spend his prom with his boyfriend. Yet his high school is still too progressive in thinking after an incident in the 80s with one Chaz Wilson. When a hit to the head knocks Luis back to that exact moment in 1985, he gets to meet Chaz and change history by giving Chaz his first kiss. But it turns out their conservative school isn’t the safest place for either boy, especially when Luis’s estranged and homophobic father rules the campus. Will Luis make it back to his era, or will his actions only make things worse?

Borrowed Time   by Russell Dean

Tom Jacob thinks life in England is too mundane. His job is boring, and his love life is nonexistent. Convinced to spend the night partying, Tom agrees, but when he wakes up in Wales in 1889, a century in the past, he regrets listening to his twin brother. Now stuck in Cwm Newydd, a small village near Aberystwyth, Tom must overcome a few things like the language barrier and the suspicion of the town’s people. As he tries to figure out a way to get home, Tom begins to form bonds with a few residents, including a young boy who becomes more than he expected.

Before Time Runs Out   by Amy Matayo

Bree Sanders is failing the last graduate class that she needs to graduate. To ace her dissertation, she creates a Ghost Club similar to the one Charles Dickens made centuries ago. When she finds the original copy of Dickens’ work and gets instantly transported into his actual ghost club in 1870 England, everything she knows changes. Women wearing jeans and t-shirts are forbidden, so she’s forced to hide—but soon she finds Theodore Keyes, who was also transported to this era from Dickens’ old book three months ago. Together they agree to search for the book that will take them home. Yet as their attraction for each other grows, they’ll have to decide to stay in England where their love is blooming or leave and never see each other again.

Don’t miss these must-read historical romance novels>>

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The 35 Best Books About Time Travel

Here's what to read after you finish Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Gabaldon first published Outlander —the book that would eventually inspire the television series starring Caitriona Balfe as Claire and Sam Heughan as Jamie —in 1991, and the ninth novel in the series, Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone , came out in November 2021.

Ahead of the seventh season of Outlander , now's the perfect time (ha) to dive into time travel books. From time traveling romance to alternate realities to murder mysteries, there's something for everyone here.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Any list about time travel books must begin with The Time Traveler's Wife , right? This bestselling novel tells the love story of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Plot sound familiar? The book was adapted into a 2009 film starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana, and a 2022 TV show starring Theo James and Rose Leslie .

Read more: 20 of the best Time Travel Films Ever Made

A Murder in Time

Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI, until one disastrous raid when half her team is murdered and a mole in the FBI is uncovered. After she recovers from her wounds, she's determined to find the man responsible for the death of her team—yet upon her arrival in England, she stumbles back in time to 1815. Mistaken for a lady's maid, Kendra is forced to quickly adapt to the period as she figures out how to get back to her own timeline. There are five books in the Kendra Donovan series , so if you love a time travel mystery, don't miss these.

Author Octavia Butler is a queen of science fiction, and Kindred is her bestselling novel about time travel. In it, she tells the story of Dana, a Black woman, who is celebrating her 26th birthday in 1976. Abruptly, she's transported back to Maryland, circa 1815, where she's on a plantation and has to save Rufus, the white son of the plantation owner. It's not just a time travel book, but one that expertly weaves in narratives of enslaved people and explores the Antebellum South.

Faye, Faraway

Diana Gabaldon herself called Faye, Faraway "a lovely, deeply moving story of loss and love and memory made real , " so you know it's going to be good. The plot focuses on Faye, a mother of two, who lost her own mother, Jeanie, when she was just 8 years old. When Faye suddenly finds herself transported back in time, she befriends her mother—but doesn't let on who she really is. Eventually, she has to choose between her past and her future.

The Eyre Affair

In this version of Great Britain circa 1985, time travel is routine. Our protagonist is Thursday Next, a literary detective, who is placed on a case when someone begins kidnapping characters from works of literature and plucks Jane Eyre from the pages of Brontë's novel.

Bonus: The Eyre Affair is the first in a seven book series following Thursday.

The River of No Return: A Novel

Lord Nicholas Davenant is about to die in the Napoleonic Wars in 1812, and wakes up 200 years later. But he longs to return back in time to his love, Julia. When he arrives in modern society, a mysterious organization called the Guild tells him "there is no return," until one day, they summon him to London and he learns it's possible to travel back through time. A spy thriller that's also historical romance that's also time travel... Say less.

One Last Stop

Casey McQuiston's second novel ( following Red, White, and Royal blue, which is going to be a major motion picture this summer ) is a queer time-loop romance set on the Q train in New York City, and it's riveting. August is 23, working at a 24-hour diner, and meets a gorgeous, charming girl on the train: Jane. But she can't seem to meet up with her off the Q train—until they figure out Jane is stuck in time from the 1970s. How did she travel through time? Can August get Jane unstuck? Will they live happily ever after!? The questions abound.

What the Wind Knows

Anne Gallagher grew up hearing her grandfather’s stories of Ireland. When she returns to the country to spread his ashes, she is transported back in time to 1921—and is drawn into the struggle for Irish independence. There, she meets Dr. Thomas Smith, and must decide whether or not she should return to her own timeline or stay in the past. As one reviewer wrote on Amazon, What the Wind Knows is a "spectacular time travel journey filled with love and loss."

The Midnight Library: A Novel

Imagine a library with an infinite number of books—each containing an alternate reality about your life. That's the plot of The Midnight Library , where our protagonist Nora Seed enters different versions of her life. She undoes old breakups, follows her dream of becoming a glaciologist, and so much more—but what happens to her original life?

The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O.: A Novel

In this novel from Neal Stephenson and Nicole Galland, magic existed—until 1851. A secret government organization, the Department of Diachronic Operations (or D.O.D.O. for short), is dedicated to bringing magic back, and its members will travel through time to change history to do so. As Kirkus Reviews wrote , the novel "blend[s] time travel with Bourne-worthy skulduggery." It's a delight for any fans of science fiction, with a slow burn romance between military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons and linguist Melisande Stokes.

This Is How You Lose the Time War

Cowritten by two beloved and award-winning sci-fi writers, this epistolary romantic novel tells the story of two time-traveling rivals who fall in love. Agents Red and Blue travel back and forth throughout time, trying to alter universes on behalf of their warring empires—and start to leave each other messages. The messages begin taunting but soon turn flirtatious—and when Red's commander discovers her affection for Blue, they soon embark down a timeline they can't change.

The House on the Strand

Set at an ancient Cornish house called Kilmarth, where Daphne du Maurier lived from 1967, The House on the Strand story follows Dick Young, who has been offered use of Kilmarth by an old college friend, Magnus Lane. Magnus, a biophysicist, is developing a drug that enables people to travel back to the 14th century, and Dick reluctantly agrees to be a test subject. The catch: If you touch anyone, you're transported back to the present. As the story goes on, Dick's visits back to the 1300s become more frequent, and his life back in the modern world becomes unstable.

The Kingdoms

It’s 1898 and there’s a man named Joe, who lives in London, which is, in this alternate historical, a part of the French Empire as in this version of the past, Britain lost the Napoleonic Wars. Joe has gotten off a train from Scotland and cannot remember anything about who he is or where he’s from. He soon returns to his work, and after a few years, he is sent to repair a lighthouse in Eilean Mor in the Outer Hebrides. Joe then finds himself a century earlier, on a British boat with a mysterious captain, fighting the French and hoping for a future that is different than the one he came from. If you're into time travel and queer romance and alternate history, this is for you.

The Future of Another Timeline

In 1992, 17-year-old Beth agrees to help hide the dead body of her friend's abusive boyfriend. The murder sets Beth and her friends on "a path of escalating violence and vengeance" to protect other young women. In 2022, Tess decides to use time travel to fight for change around key moments in history. When Tess believes she's found a way to make an edit to history that actually sticks, she encounters a group of time travelers bent on stopping her at any cost. Tess and Beth's lives intertwine, and war breaks out across the timeline.

Shadow of Night

The sequel to A Discovery of Witches , the plot of Shadow of Night picks up right where the story left off: With Matthew, a vampire, and Diana, a witch, traveling back in time to Elizabethan London to search for an enchanted manuscript. You really need to read the first book before reading Shadow of Night , but the series by Deborah Harkness is a swoony magical romance.

And: It's now a TV show! ( Season one is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .)

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle

In The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, the same day happens again and again. Each day, Evelyn Hardcastle is murdered at 11:00 p.m at Blackheath. And each day, our protagonist Aiden Bishop wakes up in the body of a different witness—and tries to solve her murder. He only has eight days, and it's a race against time to solve Evelyn's murder and to escape the time loop.

Recursion: A Novel

In 2018 New York City, detective Barry Sutton fails to talk Ann out of jumping off a building. But before Ann falls to her death, she tells him she is suffering from False Memory Syndrome—a new neurological disease where people are afflicted with memories of lives they never lived. The dissonance between their present and these memories drives them to death. This is best read unspoiled, but it's undoubtedly a time travel story you haven't read before.

On the eve of her wedding day, Shay Garrett looks into her grandmother's antique mirror and faints. When she wakes up, she's in the same house—but in the body of her grandmother, Brandy, as a young woman in 1900. And Brandy awakens in Shay's body in the present day in 1978. It's like Freaky Friday , but with time travel to the Victorian era.

Here and Now and Then

Kin Stewart is a time traveler from 2142, stuck in 1990s suburban San Francisco. A rescue team arrives to bring Kin back to his timeline—but 18 years too late. Does Kin stay with his "new" family, and the life he's built for himself in San Francisco, or does he return to his original timeline? He's stuck between two families—and ultimately, this is a time travel tale about fatherhood.

A Knight in Shining Armor

Originally published in 1989, this romance novel features a present-day heroine and a knight from the 16th century who fall in love. Per the book's description: "Abandoned by a cruel fate, lovely Dougless Montgomery lies weeping upon a cold tombstone in an English church. Suddenly, the most extraordinary man appears. It is Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck…and according to his tombstone he died in 1564. Drawn to his side by a bond so sudden and compelling it overshadows reason, Dougless knows that Nicholas is nothing less than a miracle: a man who does not seek to change her, who finds her perfect, fascinating, just as she is. What Dougless never imagined was how strong the chains are that tie them to the past…or the grand adventure that lay before them."

Emily Burack (she/her) is the Senior News Editor for Town & Country, where she covers entertainment, culture, the royals, and a range of other subjects. Before joining T&C, she was the deputy managing editor at Hey Alma , a Jewish culture site. Follow her @emburack on Twitter and Instagram .

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While the landed gentry of Regency England have certainly claimed a lot of the historical romance genre's real estate—including the basis for the Bridgerton series on Netflix , adapted from Julia Quinn's novels—there are lusty stories set in every era . Even tense ones, like King Henry VIII's court or the Civil War, can be the backdrop for people coming together. These well-researched books are steeped in the details of another time, so you'll pick up on the realities of life in Colorado in the 1870s, or Han Dynasty China. The settings differ, but the potency of the characters' connection stays the same—after all, love is universal.

Another characteristic of the historical romance genre is abundance . Many of these books are part of a series, meaning you don't really have to leave your literary friends (or the writing style) behind.

Finally, a note: Since the historical romance world is so sprawling, forgive us if we left your faves off the list. Let us know in the comments which books you're passionate about, as we'll be updating this story.

The Duke and I by Julia Quinn

Julia Quinn's beloved  Bridgerton series follows the siblings of a sprawling family in Regency England. The first,  The Duke and I , is the spine of the new Netflix show  Bridgerton . Daphne, the family's eldest daughter, starts a mutually beneficial and fake relationship with  a handsome duke intent on not getting married. She'll get more attention from suitors; he'll quell meddling from other potential matches (and their mothers). Of course, when feelings begin to brew, things get complicated. Permission to imagine  Bridgerton 's cast while reading, granted.

My Fake Rake: The Union of the Rakes by Eva Leigh

From The Princess Diaries   to  Pygmalion , pop culture has made it clear that  women  get transformative makeovers in romances, not men. That's what My Fake Rake is so clever and unexpected: Lady Grace Wyatt, a wealthy woman, chooses to turn her anthropologist friend Sebastian into a "proper" gentleman to make another man jealous.  In the process of transforming Sebastian into a dashing rake, Grace realizes what she was missing all along. 

An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles

K.J. Charles's steamy Sin of the City  series is a blend of romance and mystery. Lodging-house keeper Clem Talleyfer feels a pull toward one of his transient guests, Rowley Green. When a body turns up at the hotel, their routines are interrupted and they have to come together. The plot is page-turner worthy, and the atmosphere of 1872 London is so vivid you can practically see the fog. But the chemistry between the leads is what crackles most.

Duke of My Heart by Kelly Bowen

Ivory Moore has a career as a regency-era fixer. She does PR for scandals—and if you read enough historical romances, you know just how destructive scandals can be. Captain Maximus Harcourt, the Duke of Alderidge, has returned from a voyage at sea to find his family in turmoil and Ivory attempting to smooth over the mess. They clash over the direction of his family's life...and over their own spirited personalities. 

The Beast of Beswick by Amalie Howard

We can't resist a fairy tale retelling with some added steamy bits (well, that and wine ). In this witty book, Lady Astrid Everleigh pulls a Katniss Everdeen and volunteers to do something terrible in her younger sister's stead. The terrible thing? Marrying Lord Thane Hart, a wealthy man with a reputation for a gruesome appearance and an even worse temper. Beauty and the Beast  may be a tale as old as time, but Thane and Astrid's spirited affair still feels like a refreshing update. 

Something Like Love by Beverly Jenkins

Sometimes, a girl's gotta run away from home. After Olivia Sterling's father forces her into an unsavory match, she takes off for Henry Adams, an all-Black town in Kansas. This being the Wild West, her train gets pulled over by Neil July and his band of outlaws. Olivia finds herself wanting a wanted man.  Something Like Love  is another riveting installment in legend Beverly Jenkins' oeuvre of romance novels featuring Black leads . 

A Summer for Scandal by Lydia San Andres

Lydia San Andres's banter-heavy romance novels take place on a fictional island in the Spanish Caribbean at the turn-of-the-century. Emilia Cruz of  A Summer for Scandal  supports her family by writing under a pen name. Ruben Torres supports  himself  by writing cutting literary reviews (it's a bygone era). After Ruben sets his sights on discovering the author's identity, his path crosses Emilia's. If only Arroyo Blanco were real. 

Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare

Like many of us, Isolde Ophelia Goodnight expected to one day become the protagonist in her own fairy tale romance. But she's 26 (an old maid, by 19th-century England standards), and left penniless by her father's death. Just as Isolde finds herself having to settle for a life she doesn't want, she meets a man she does. Tessa Dare is an award-winning writer of Regency romances, so there's more where  Romancing the Duke  came from. 

Butterfly Swords by Jeannie Lin

Jeannie Lin writes romances and mysteries that take place during the Tang Dynasty. Set in 8th century AD,  Butterfly Swords  tells the story of Ai Li, the only daughter of the Emperor of China. After running away from her arranged marriage, 19-year-old Ai Li enlists the protection of Ryam, a foreigner trying to navigate China. This romance features something most others don't: Ample sword fighting.

Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas

Ask any romance reader about their favorite historical romances, and odds are a Lisa Kleypas title will come up (her novel  Devil in Winter   is a classic, too). Phoebe, a beautiful widow, hates West Ravenel before she meets him, since his dastardly reputation speaks for itself. And then she meets him—and as anyone who's experienced the jolt of immediate, irrational attraction  can attest, all prior bets are off.

Brothers Of The Wild North Sea by Harper Fox

A Christian monk and a Viking raider walk into a romance novel...and what comes next is unforgettable.  Set in ancient Brittania,  Brothers of the Wild North Sea  shows how love makes a dangerous era hospitable for these two men.

The Lady's Guide to Celestial Mechanics by Olivia Waite

The premise of this book is, quite honestly, the dream: Two smart women, holed up in an English mansion, studying astronomy and perfecting their intricate embroidery. Olivia Waite's lush descriptions and her heroines' deep connection deliver on a sublime premise. In addition to a lovely romance, the acclaimed debut also celebrates the achievements of women artists and scientists. 

Scot Under the Covers by Suzanne Enoch

Claire Fraser of Outlander   gets it—there's just  something  about a Scotsman. In  Scot Under the Covers , English woman Miranda Harris makes a deal with Aden MacTaggart, a hot-blooded Scottish Highlander (and professional gambler), to help them  both  get out of dire straits.  As an added twist,  Scot Under the Covers  has what few romances do: A villain. 

Seduced by Molly O'Keefe

Melody Hurst and Cole Baywood have  been through it . They witnessed the horrors of the Civil War first-hand, and watched as their lives, as they knew them, crumble. Once a Southern belle, Melody is now a widow living in the rough Rockies; Cole is a bounty hunter. Seduced  is a book about the healing powers of love, and the ambiguities of life after the Civil War. 

Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian

Robert Selby is rich, charming, and handsome. Robert Selby is  also  a former housemaid named Charity Church, who has been masquerading for the past six years as a man. In an effort to help marry his friend off, Robert enlists the help of the well-connected Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke. Alistair has feelings for Robert—but he doesn't know the truth about their identity. Cat Sebastian turns a romance's traditional Regency setting into a playground for exploring gender and sexuality. Think  Virginia Woolf's  Orlando , but for romance. Sebastian specializes in queer historical novels, so dive into her oeuvre if this is your jam.  

Born to Be Wilde by Eloisa James

Lavinia Gray needs to get married, and soon. Her family is running out of money. So, she boldly asks her friend, Parth, for  his  hand in marriage—and is turned town.  He  won't marry her, but he'll help her find someone who will. In addition to being a romance writer, Eloisa James is a Shakespeare scholar—and her knowledge of story structure and excellent language shine through in her books.

Venus in Winter by Gillian Bagwell

TV is teeming with romances set in Tudor England (like  The Tudors   and  The Spanish Princess ). Get your literary fix with Gillian Bagwell's thoroughly researched book, set in the court of the notorious King Henry VIII and based on a real woman. Unlike many historical romance protagonists, Bess of Hardwick is  not  a privileged royal, so her concerns about marriage are wrapped up with survival, too. This book follows her—wait for it— four  marriages.

An Extraordinary Union by Alyssa Cole

Elle Burns and Malcolm McCall are not who they appear to be. Elle is a free woman posing as a slave to spy for the Union army during the Civil War. Similarly, Malcolm is not a Confederate soldier, but a spy as well. When Elle and Malcolm connect in Virginia, they face the challenge of pushing past their disguises and society's ingrained racial dynamics to get to know each others'  real  selves.  Blending the high stakes of history with convincing emotional connections, every installment in Cole's Civil War-set trilogy are must-reads.

Angel in a Devil's Arms by Julie Anne Long

Angelique doesn't believe in love—and after the past she had, explored in Julie Anne Long's previous book   Lady Derring Takes a Lover , you wouldn't blame her. Lucien Durand has a troubled past, too: He was almost murdered ten years ago. In coming together, Lucien and Angelique learn to forgive others, and forgive themselves.  RITA award-winning Julie Anne Long has forged a reputation for her well-written, modern regency romances. 

Scandalous Desires by Elizabeth Hoyt

You didn't think we'd leave a pirate book off this list, did you? For all his fearsome reputation, river pirate Mickey O'Connor has been brought to his knees by Silence Hollingbrook, a principled widow. Elizabeth Hoyt skillfully weaves many  decades-long plot-lines together, making the tale of love and redemption feel earned.

Elena Nicolaou is the former culture editor at Oprah Daily. 

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40 Best Time Travel Books To Read Right Now (2024)

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Travel back in time with the best time travel books, including engrossing thrillers, romance, contemporary lit, and mind-bending sci-fi.

Table of Contents

Best Time Travel Books

Books about time travel promise to not only transport you across time periods and space – Doctor Who-style – but also tesser you into new dimensions and around the world. Most readers already know about classics like The Time Traveler’s Wife , A Christmas Carol , and The Time Machine .

For romance time travel, grab In A Holidaze or One Last Stop . For contemporary and new time travel books, Haig’s The Midnight Library and Serle’s In Five Years captivated our hearts and minds.

Recursion re-kindled our love for science fiction, and Ruby Red transported us to 18th-century London. Books like Displacement promise intuitive and raw commentary about generational trauma and racism in graphic novel form.

Below, find the best time travel novels across genres for adults and teens, including history, romance, classics, sci-fi, YA, and thrilling fiction. Get ready to travel in the blink of an eye, and be sure to let us know your favorites in the comments. Let’s get started!

Contemporary & Literary Fiction

If you enjoy contemporary and literary fiction filled with strong main characters, these are some of the best books in the time travel genre. Uncover new releases as well as books on the bestseller lists. Of course, we’ll share a few lesser-known gems too.

In Five Years by Rebecca Serle

Would your life change if you had one seemingly real dream or premonition? What if some key facts were missing but you had no idea? Can we change the future?

One of the best books about time travel and friendship, don’t skip In Five Years . In fact, we read this New York City-based novel in half a day. Have the tissue box ready.

Dannie nails an important job interview and is hoping to get engaged. Of course, this is all a part of her perfect 5-year plan. Dannie has arranged every minute of her life ever since her brother died in a drunk driving accident.

On the night of Dannie’s “scheduled” engagement, she falls asleep only to have a vision of herself 5 years into the future in the arms of another man. Did she just time travel or could this be a dream? When Dannie arrives back in 2020, her life goes back to normal. …That is until she meets the man from her dream.

We were expecting In Five Years to be a time travel romance story; however, this is a different type of love and one of the best books about strong friendships .

Read In Five Years : Amazon | Goodreads

Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot | We just love Japanese literature . One of the most debated time travel books among our readers – you’ll either love it or hate it – Before the coffee gets cold takes place at a cafe in Tokyo, Japan.

Along with coffee, this 140-year-old, back-alley cafe lets visitors travel back in time. Four visitors at the cafe are hoping to time travel to see someone for the last (or first) time. The way each patron views the cafe says a lot about them. The details and repetition are everything.

True to the title, visits may only last as long as it takes for the coffee to grow cold. If they don’t finish their coffee in time, there are ghostly consequences.

Before the coffee gets cold asks, who would you want to see one last time, and what issues you would confront?

Along with the many rules of time travel, these visitors are warned that the present will not change. Would you still travel back knowing this? Can something, anything, still change – even within you?

The story has a drop of humor with a beautiful message. We shed a tear or two. Discover even more terrific and thought-provoking Japanese fantasy novels here .

Read Before the coffee gets cold : Amazon | Goodreads

If you are looking for the most inspiring take on time travel in books, Haig’s The Midnight Library is it. This is one of those profound stories that make you think more deeply . TWs for pet death (early on) and suicide ideation.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Imagine if you could see your other possible lives and fix your regrets. Would that path be better? Would these changes make you happier?

Set in Bedford, England, and at a library , Nora answers these questions as she intentionally overdoses on pills. Caught in the Midnight Library – a purgatory of sorts – Nora explores books filled with the ways her life could have turned out. She tries on these alternative lives, pursuing different dreams, marrying different people, and realizing that some parts of her root life were not as they seemed on the surface.

Find hope and simplicity in one of the most authentic and heaviest time travel novels on this list. Haig addresses mental health through a new lens that is both beautiful and moving.

With a team full of avid readers and librarians, discover our top selections featuring more books about books .

Read The Midnight Library : Amazon | Goodreads

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

Some of the best time travel books are those with alternate realities, including The Two Lives of Lydia Bird . There are content warnings for prescription pill addiction and more.

Set in England, Lydia and Freddie are planning their marriage when the unthinkable happens. Freddie dies in a car accident on the way to Lydia’s birthday dinner. In a matter of seconds, Lydia’s world falls apart. She isn’t sure how she will survive. When Lydia starts taking magical pink sleeping pills, she enters an alternate universe where Freddie is alive and well.

Caught between her dream world and real life, Lydia must decide if she will give in to her addiction – living in a temporary fantasy world – or give it up completely.

While the repetitive and predictable plot drags a bit – slightly hurting the pacing – the overall story shows emotional growth and the nature of healing after loss. And, as Lydia soon learns via her dreams, no love is perfect. Maybe her future was destined to be different anyway, which is reminiscent of Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library .

Read The Two Lives of Lydia Bird Jose Silver : Amazon | Goodreads

The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North

If you are looking for more suspenseful books about time travel and like Groundhog Day , check out The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August. However, this is not just one day on repeat; instead, this is a lifetime.

Harry August is repeatedly reborn into the same life, retaining his memories each time. No matter what Harry does or says, when he lands on his deathbed, he always returns back to his childhood, again and again. On the verge of his eleventh death, though, a girl changes the course of his life. He must use his accumulated wisdom to prevent catastrophe.

Read The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August : Amazon | Goodreads

An Ocean of Minutes by Thea Lim

When it comes to time travel books, An Ocean of Minutes is one of the most original takes about time travel’s effects on alternate history.

Polly and Frank are deeply in love in 1981 when a pandemic devastates the planet. By the end of 1981, time travel (invented in this alternate reality in 1993) has been made available.

Because of this invention, individuals can sign on to work for the TimeRaiser corporation in order to escape or save their loved ones in the present. Due to a flaw in the technology, though, they can only transport people for 12 years. This prevents them from stopping the pandemic by just 6 months.

When Frank gets ill, Polly signs up, both agreeing they will meet back up in 1993. Now alone in the future, Polly has to learn to navigate a world she has less than zero preparation for. In this world, she is a time refugee, bonded to TimeRaiser without a physical cent to her name.

Lim uses the time travel mechanic to cleverly explore the subject of immigration, forcing the reader to follow Polly blindly into a world they should know, but don’t. This is what makes An Ocean of Minutes one of the most unique time travel novels on this reading list.

Read An Ocean of Minutes : Amazon | Goodreads

Time Travel In Science Fiction

For fantasy and sci-fi lovers, take a quantum leap into fictional worlds, quantum physics, possible futures, black holes, and endless possibilities. See if you can tell the difference between the real world and new dimensions.

Recursion by Blake Crouch

Recursion is one of our all-time favorite time travel books to gift to dads who love sci-fi. Can you tell what we gave our dad for Christmas one year?

In Recursion, no one actually physically time travels – well, sort of. Instead, memories become the time-traveling reality.

Detective Barry Sutton is investigating False Memory Syndrome. Neuroscientist Helena Smith might have the answers he needs. The disease drives people crazy – and to their deaths – by causing them to remember entire lives that aren’t theirs. Or are they!?

All goes to heck when the government gets its hands on this mind-blowing technology. Can Barry and Helena stop this endless loop?

Recursion is also a (2019) Goodreads Best Book for Science Fiction.

Read Recursion : Amazon | Goodreads

This Is How You Lose The War by Max Gladstone and Amal El-Mohtar 

A Goodreads runner-up for one of the best science fiction novels (of 2019) – and one of the shortest time travel novels on this list – This Is How You Lose The Time War follows two warring time-traveling agents falling in love through a letter exchange.

Red and Blue have nothing in common except that they travel across time and space and are alone. Their growing and forbidden love is punishable by death and their agencies might be onto them.

In a somewhat beautiful yet bizarre story, we watch as Red and Blue slowly fall for each other and confess their love. They engage in playful banter and nicknames. Every shade of red and blue reminds them of each other.

The first half of the novel is a bit abstract. You might wonder what the heck you’ve gotten yourself into. However, once you get your feet planted firmly on the ground of the plot, the story picks up and starts making more sense.

We can’t promise you’ll love or even understand This Is How You Lose The Time War – we aren’t sure we do. However, this is truly one of the most unique sci-fi and LGBTQ+ time travel romance books on this reading list – written by two authors. Also, maybe crack out the dictionary…

Explore even more of the best LGBTQ+ fantasy books to read next.

Read This Is How You Lose The War : Amazon | Goodreads

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

A debut novel, All Our Wrong Todays is both a humorous and entertaining time travel book that speaks to how we become who we are.

In 2016, technology perfected the world for Tom Barren. However, we all know that perfection doesn’t equate to happiness. Barren has lost his girlfriend, and he just happens to own a time machine… Now, Barren has to decide if he wants to keep his new, manipulated future or if he just wants to go back home to his depressing but normal life.

Read All Our Wrong Todays : Amazon | Goodreads

Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen

Imagine getting trapped in time and starting over. That’s exactly what happens to IT worker, Kin Stewart, in one of the bestselling science fiction time travel books, Here And Now And Then .

Stewart has two lives since he is a displaced time-traveling agent stuck in San Francisco in the 1990s. He has a family that knows nothing about his past; or, should we say future. When a rescue team arrives to take him back, Stewart has to decide what he is willing to risk for his new family.

Here And Now And Then is a time travel book filled with emotional depth surrounding themes of bonds, identity, and sacrifice. Find even more books set in San Francisco, California (and more!).

Read Here And Now And Then : Amazon | Goodreads

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe by Charles Yu

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe is one of the most unusual books about time travel out there.

Our protagonist Charles Yu lives in a world where time travel exists and is readily available to the average person. And yes, he is named after the author, and yes, it is as meta as it sounds; and yes, this is just the beginning of this speculative fiction time travel book.

Charles Yu’s day job is spent repairing time machines for Time Warner Time. But in his free time, he tries to help the people who use time travel to do so safely and to counsel them if things have gone wrong.

It’s no surprise that Charles’ entire life revolves around time travel since his father invented the technology many years ago. And then he disappeared. In fact, Charles is also trying to find out just what happened to his dad, and where – or when – he’s gone.

How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe won’t be for everyone, but it’s one of the best time travel books if you want delightfully meta, fantastically non-linear, and very very weird.

Read How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe : Amazon | Goodreads

The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez

For beautiful, lyrical time travel novels about found family and love, The Vanished Birds is a must-read.

Nia Imani exists outside of time and space. She travels in and out of the world through a pocket of time with her space crew. They emerge to trade or sell goods every eight months. But eight months for them is 15 years for everyone else.

She has lived this way for hundreds of years. Though she has her crew, and there are people she shares connections with sporadically throughout their lives, she is lonely. And although she barely ages, she watches friends and lovers grow old and die.

One such person is Kaeda, who meets Nia for the first time when he is 7. The next time he sees her, he has aged 15 years, while she is only months older. She continues to come every 15 years of his life, always looking the same.

Then one day a mysterious, mute boy falls from the sky into Nia’s life. His name is Ahro, and there’s something extra special about him. Something that could revolutionize space travel forever. And now there might be people after Ahro who won’t love him the way Nia does.

If you love a character-driven book with exquisite prose – and a few time warps – this is one of the best time travel books for you.

Read The Vanished Birds : Amazon | Goodreads

Night Watch by Terry Pratchett

Night Watch is one of the most fun and thrilling books about time travel. It’s also a bit ridiculous and very very British.

Why can’t policing just be simple? All Sam Vimes wanted to do was capture and arrest a dangerous murderer. But thanks to those damned wizards and their experiments, he and the killer have both been accidentally thrown back in time thirty years.

And to top it off, the man who would have become a mentor to young Sam Vimes in the past has been killed in the process! How’s Vimes going to get this all sorted out?

The City Watch he’s spent years improving is just a bunch of semi-competent volunteers at this point. He’s got no money, no clothes, and no friends. But at least he’s making enemies fast. Can he catch the killer, stop history from not repeating itself, and get home to his family? Oh, and the city’s about to dissolve into civil war. Typical.

Night Watch is perfect if you prefer your time travel books to be fantasy-based.

P.S. There may be mild spoilers for previous books in the Discworld series, but this can be read as a standalone. And if you only ever read one Discworld novel, this is one of the best there is – and so far the only one of the Discworld books with time travel!

Read Night Watch : Amazon | Goodreads

The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz

The Future of Another Timeline is one of the few time travel books to explore history through a feminist lens.

In 1992, Beth – a high school senior – and her friends Heather, Lizzy, and Soojin attend a riot grrl concert with Heather’s boyfriend Scott. But afterward, one of Scott’s not-so-funny sexist jokes gets out of hand and Lizzy accidentally kills him. Now they’re on the run, and the bodies just keep piling up.

Meanwhile, in 2022, Tess is part of a group of women and non-binary people working together to change history. They have the use of five time devices which only allow them to travel backward and back to the present day – but never forwards.

Beth and Tess come from two wildly different times (1992, and 2022, respectively). But, while Beth is busy making history, Tess is quite literally trying to change it. However, both of them want the same thing: a better world. When their worlds collide, will they be able to save each other – and the world?

The Future of Another Timeline is a time travel fiction celebration of feminism and queerness with lots of sci-fi and punk rock thrown in. This is one of the best time travel novels for those who enjoy stellar women making history .

Read The Future of Another Timeline : Amazon | Goodreads

The Kingdoms by Natasha Pulley

The Kingdoms is wildly imaginative and sure to enchant fans of time travel books, alternative history stories, and tales about parallel universes.

In 1898 Joe Tournier steps off a train and suddenly can’t remember anything that comes before that moment. The world he now finds himself in is as foreign to him as it is to us: an alternate history/reality where the UK lost the Battle of Trafalgar and is now a French colony.

In this world, the British are kept as slaves. Napoleon is a popular name for pets, and tartan is outlawed. Since Joe arrives on a train from Glasgow speaking English and wearing tartan, there is some speculation he might be from The Saints, a terrorist group based in Edinburgh fighting for freedom.

But all Joe remembers is the fading image of a woman and the name Madeline. Although he is identified by his owner and brought “home,” Joe is determined to find this Madeline. And his resolve is only strengthened when he receives a postcard signed ‘– M’ and dated 90 years in the past.

Discover even more books about Scottish culture, history, and everyday life.

Read The Kingdoms : Amazon | Goodreads

The Light Brigade by Kameron Hurley

The Light Brigade is one of the best time travel stories for anyone who loves character-driven tales or books about war and conflict.

As war wages on Mars, the military has devised the perfect soldier to fight on the frontlines: being made of light. The Light Brigade, as they’re called back home, is made up of soldiers who have undergone a procedure that breaks them down into atoms capable of traveling at the speed of light. They are the perfect soldiers, but broken people.

The book follows one such soldier, Dietz, an eager new recruit who is experiencing battle out of sync with everyone else. Because of this, she – and we – see a different reality of the war than the one presented by the Corporate Corps. As Dietz becomes more and more unstuck in time, she becomes more and more unsure of her own sanity and the role she is playing in this war.

Read The Light Brigade : Amazon | Goodreads

The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way

You Look Like Death Volume 1 | Now a popular (and excellent) Netflix TV show, The Umbrella Academy is one of the best time travel books of all time.

One day, forty-seven children are suddenly and inexplicably born to women who were not previously pregnant. Eccentric millionaire Reginald Hargreeves goes around the world buying as many of the surviving children as he possibly can. He is able to get seven.

These children, it turns out, all have superpowers (except, it seems, for the unremarkable Number Seven aka Vanya). They become the crime-fighting group: The Umbrella Academy.

Fast forward several years, and Number Five, whose special power is that he can travel in time a few seconds or minutes per go, has mysteriously appeared after Hargreeves dies. And now he brings warning of an apocalypse – one which he insists none of his siblings will survive.

The Umbrella Academy series currently has three volumes, all packed with tales of time travel, parallel worlds, family drama, and lots of epic battles. We’ve absolutely loved this time travel book series so far; we can’t wait to see what Gerard Way does with future installments.

Discover even more great books with music, musicians, and bands.

Read The Umbrella Academy : Amazon | Goodreads

Historical Fiction

Travel back in time to witness wars and history. See what happens if you try to rewrite the future. Many of these historical fiction books with time travel promise to teach you more.

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton

We have a plethora of Agatha Christie fans amongst our Uncorked Readers , and Turton’s The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evenlyn Hardcastle is inspired by Christie.

Similar to Levithan’s Every Day , each day, Aiden wakes up in a different body from the guests of the Blackheath Manor. Trapped in a time loop, Aiden must solve Evelyn Hardcastle’s murder to escape. In the process, he navigates the tangled web of secrets, lies, and interconnected lives of the guests. Can he identify the killer and break the cycle?

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is an award-winning historical thriller and one of the best time travel novels if you enjoy Downton Abbey and Groundhog’s Day . Discover even more great books set at hotels, mansions, and more.

Read The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle : Amazon | Goodreads

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Travel back in time to Scotland in one of the most well-known time travel book series (and now TV series) of all time. Outlander is a part of pop culture. A New York Times bestseller and one of the top 10 most loved books according to The Great America Read, get ready to enter Scotland in 1743.

Claire Randall, a former British combat nurse, walks through an ancient circle of stones and is transported into a world of love, death, and war. This is a place of political intrigue, clan conflicts, and romantic entanglements. Claire must navigate the unfamiliar landscape while grappling with her feelings for the dashing Jamie Fraser.

Encounter even more cult-classic books from the ’90s like A Game Of Thrones , which is perfect for fantasy map lovers .

Read Outlander : Amazon | Goodreads

11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King

Written by bestselling author, Stephen King, 11/22/63 is one of the best award-winning time travel books for historical fiction lovers. Set in 1963 when President Kennedy is shot, 11/22/63 begs the question: what if you could go back in time and change history?

Enter Jake Epping in Lisbon Falls, Maine.  Epping asks his students to write about a time that altered the course of their lives. Inspired by one of those haunting essays, Epping enlists to prevent Kennedy’s assassination.  How is this time travel possible? With the discovery of a time portal in a local diner’s storeroom…

11/22/63 is one of the most thrilling and realistic books about time travel, according to both critics and readers.

Read 11/22/63 : Amazon | Goodreads

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

If you are looking for historical fiction novels about time travel that address slavery and racism, be sure to check out Butler’s Kindred. This is also one of the best books published in the 1970s .

One minute Dana is celebrating her birthday in modern-day California. The next, she finds herself in the Antebellum South on a Pre-Civil War Maryland plantation. Dana is expected to save the plantation owner’s son from drowning. Each time Dana finds herself back in this time period as well as the slave quarters, her stays grow longer and longer as well as more dangerous.

Examine the haunting legacy and trauma of slavery across time. For younger readers, there is also a graphic novel adaptation . Discover more books that will transport you to the South .

Read Kindred : Amazon | Goodreads

What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

A bestseller and Goodreads top choice book, if you devour historical Irish fiction, What The Wind Knows will transport you to Ireland in the 1920s.

Anne Gallagher heads to Ireland to spread her grandfather’s ashes. Devastated, her grief pulls her into another time. Ireland is on the verge of entering a war, and Anne embraces a case of mistaken identity. She finds herself pulled into Ireland’s fight for Independence at the risk of losing her future life. She also falls for another main character and doctor, Thomas Smith.

What The Wind Knows is one of the best time travel novels that both romance and fantasy readers can appreciate. Witness connections that transcend time.

Read What The Wind Knows : Amazon | Goodreads

The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes

Known for being one of the best time travel books for thriller lovers, The Shining Girls also has the reputation as the spookiest novel on this reading list.

Kirby Mazrachi is the last shining girl – a girl with a future and so much potential. Harper Curtis is a murderer from the past meant to kill Mazrachi. However, Kirby is not about to easily go out without a fight, leading her on one violent quantum leap through multiple decades.

As Kirby races against time to track down a serial killer and unravel the mysteries of the House, encounter themes of resilience, fate, and the shining spirit that can transcend even the darkest forces.

Read The Shining Girls : Amazon | Goodreads

Time Travel Romance Books

We love a good time-travel romance novel, but we also understand how hard it can be to hold onto love when time is so unstable. From queer love stories set on trains to holiday celebrations, fall in love across time with these books.

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

From bestselling author, Casey McQuiston of Red, White, & Royal Blue – one of our favorite LGBTQ+ books for new adults – don’t miss the most-talked-about book (from 2021), One Last Stop.

Twenty-three-year-old August is quite the cynic and living in New York City. Up until now, August has jumped schools and towns as often as you change a pair of socks. August has also never been in a serious relationship and wants to find “her person.” August’s life suddenly changes, though, when she meets a beautiful and mysterious woman on the train.

Jane looks a little…out of date… and for good reason; she’s from the 1970s and trapped in the train’s energy. August wants nothing more than to help Jane leave the train, but does that mean leaving her too?

A feel-good, older coming-of-age story, laugh out loud and be utterly dazzled as you follow love across time and space. You’ll cozy (and drink) up in the parties and community surrounding August. One Last Stop is one of the all-time best LGBTQ+ time travel books – and perfect if you enjoy books that take place on trains .

Read One Last Stop : Amazon | Goodreads

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler’s Wife is one the top time travel romance novels – and not just because the story features a librarian . We are so biased.

Henry and Clare have loved each other pretty much forever. Unfortunately, Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, sporadically misplacing him in time. Of course, this time-traveling dilemma makes Clare’s and Henry’s marriage and future together pretty darn interesting.

Grab some Kleenex as they attempt to live normal lives and survive impending devastation. The Time Traveler’s Wife has also been made into a romantic movie classic . Watch even more fantasy movies with romance .

Read The Time Traveler’s Wife : Amazon | Goodreads

In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren

If you are looking for a sweet and sexy holiday rom-com set in Utah, grab In A Holidaze by Christina Lauren.

Mae leaves her family and friend’s Christmas vacation home after drunkenly making out with an old childhood friend. Blame the spiked eggnog. Unfortunately, Mae’s secretly in love with her best friend’s brother, Andrew. On the ride to the airport, Mae wishes for happiness just as a truck hits her parent’s car. 

Mae lands in a time-travel loop where her dreams start coming true.  Is it too good to last?   What happens when she isn’t happy once again? Is she trapped?

For holiday books about time travel, this one is sure to put you in the Christmas spirit if you enjoy movies like Holidates  or  Groundhog’s Day . It’s light with a happy ending – typical of this author duo. We also recommend In A Holidaze if you are looking for Christmas family gathering books – a big request we see here at TUL.

P.S. Did you know that Christina Lauren is a pen name for a writing duo, Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billings? Christina Lauren also wrote The Unhoneymooners , which was also hilariously enjoyable and set on an island .

Read In A Holidaze : Amazon | Goodreads

A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

For cozy time travel romance books and a feminist tale set abroad, try A Knight In Shining Armor .

Dougless Montgomery is weeping on top of a tombstone when Nicholas Stafford, Earl of Thornwyck, appears. Although this armor-clad hunk allegedly died in 1564, he stands before her about to embark on a journey to clear his name. Convicted of treason, Montgomery vows to help her soon-to-be lover find his accuser and set the record straight.

Read A Knight In Shining Armor : Amazon | Goodreads

The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz

Set in South Carolina, if you love lighthouses and beach vibes, you’ll find something enjoyable in the time travel romance, The Night Mark .

After Faye’s husband dies, she cannot move on and recover. Accepting a photographer job in SC, Faye becomes obsessed with the local lighthouse’s myth, The Lady of the Light.

Back in 1921, the lighthouse keeper’s daughter mysteriously drowned. Faye is drawn into a love story that isn’t hers and becomes entangled in a passionate and forbidden love affair.

Read The Night Mark : Amazon | Goodreads

The Seven Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Anyone who likes their time travel books to have a magical love story should pick up The Seven Year Slip for their next read. It’s one of our favorite magical realism novels .

When Clementine’s aunt dies, she inherits her fancy New York apartment on the Upper East Side. Although Clementine would really rather have her aunt back and can’t imagine living in her home, she eventually forces herself to move in and inhabit her aunt’s space.

And not long after, she wakes up to discover a strange man in her living room… except it’s not her living room, it’s her aunt’s… from seven years ago. Clementine’s aunt always said her apartment held a touch of magic; sometimes it created time slips that brought two people together when they were at a crossroads.

But what happens when you start to fall for someone stuck seven years in the past? Clementine knows there’s no future together, but she also can’t let go of this link to her aunt.

Like her previous speculative fiction romance, The Dead Romantics , Ashely Poston’s unique time travel tale is full of heartache and grief. However, it will also make you swoon. Basically, this one is a must if you are a fan of time travel romance books.

Read The Seven Year Slip : Amazon | Goodreads

Classic Books

No time travel reading list would be complete without the classics. Below, uncover just a few great time travel novels that started it all.

The End of Eternity by Issac Asimov

The End of Eternity is said to be one of Asimov’s science fiction masterpieces. This is also one of the most spellbinding books about time travel – although some criticize the story for its loopholes.

Harlan is a member of the elite future known as an Eternal. He lives and works in Eternity, which like any good time travel novel, is located separately from time and space.

Harlan makes small changes in the timeline in order to better history. Of course, altering the course of the world is dangerous and comes with repercussions, especially when Harlan falls in love.

Read The End of Eternity : Amazon | Goodreads

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

It goes without saying that Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the most famous and best time travel books for classic lovers – and a literary canon-worthy Christmas novel.

Ebenezer Scrooge is a greedy, lonely, and cruel man who truly has no Christmas spirit. Haunted by the ghosts of the past, present, and future, Scrooge must find the ultimate redemption before it’s too late. Does he have a heart?

Find even more classic and contemporary ghost books , including a few unique takes on ghosts.

Read A Christmas Carol : Amazon | Goodreads

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five is a somewhat bizarre time travel book about finding meaning in our sometimes fractured and broken lives. It’s also one of the most popular books published in the ’60s .

Similar to The Time Traveler’s Wife, Billy Pilgrim is “unstuck” in time in Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five. Drafted into World War II, Pilgrim serves as a Chaplain’s assistant until he is captured by the Germans. He survives the bombing at Dresden and ultimately becomes a married optometrist. Things get a little wild…

Suffering from PTSD, Billy claims that he is kidnapped by aliens in a different dimension. Like most time travel novels, the story is out of order and Billy travels to different parts of his life.

Aliens come in all shapes and sizes; have more alien encounters with this reading list .

Read Slaughterhouse-Five : Amazon | Goodreads

A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain

First published in 1889, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court is one of the most popular classic and satirical time travel novels that’s set close to our childhood home. Having grown up in CT close to the old Colt factory, this story makes us smile.

Hank Morgan supervises the gun factory and is knocked unconscious. Upon waking, he finds himself in Britain about to be executed by the Knights of King Arthur’s Round Table in Camelot.

Morgan uses his future knowledge to his advantage, making him a powerful and revered wizard, which unfortunately doesn’t quite save him as he hopes. Not to mention that Morgan tries to introduce modern-day conveniences and luxuries to a time period that isn’t quite ready for them.

Read A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court : Amazon | Goodreads

The Time Machine by H.G. Wells

The Time Machine is one of the best frontrunner time travel books of all time. Published in 1895, the Time Traveler recalls his exhausting time travel adventures to incredulous believers. He even disappears in front of them.

Blended with fantasy and science fiction over the course of 800,000 years, the Time Traveler battles “bad guys.” He also loses his time machine, debatably falls in love, and meets the underground dwelling Morlocks.

Read The Time Machine : Amazon | Goodreads

Young Adults Books

For young adults and teens – plus adults who appreciate YA – read the best middle-grade and high school time travel books. We’ve included more time travel graphic novels and manga here too.

Displacement by Kiku Hughes

For historical YA graphic novels , Displacement is one of the must-read books about time travel that will teach young readers about generational trauma, racism, politics, and war.

Follow Kiku, who is displaced in time, back to the period of U.S. Japanese incarceration [internment] camps – essentially glorified prisons – during WW2. Kiku begins learning more about her deceased grandmother’s history, which mirrors the horrid actions under former President Donald Trump. How can Kiku help stop the past from repeating itself, and more so, how can we?

In a simplistic but powerful style of storytelling, Hughes’s emotional YA WW2 book is accessible to young readers. Displacement is also one of the shorter and quicker books with time travel on this list. Find even more LGBT+ graphic novels to read – one of our favorite genres.

Read Displacement : Amazon | Goodreads

The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig

Changing the past can be pretty tempting. We’ve even seen that The Flash cannot resist. However, altering the course of history can be dangerous…

The first of two YA time travel books, Nix is the daughter of a time traveler. Her dad can sail anywhere on his ship, The Temptation. Her dad has his own temptation, though: to travel back to Honolulu in 1868, the year before her mom dies in childbirth. Nix’s father threatens to possibly erase her life and destroy a relationship with her only friend.

Discover even more great books about maps. Or, travel via armchair with these ship books.

Read The Girl From Everywhere : Amazon | Goodreads

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Translated by Anthea Bell | If you are looking for time travel in books and enjoy YA historical fiction, try Ruby Red , which is the first in the Ruby Red Trilogy.

Gwyneth Shepherd quickly learns that she can easily time travel, unlike her cousin who has been preparing her entire life for the feat. Gwyneth wants to know why such a secret was kept from her. There are so many lies. Gwyneth time travels with the handsome Gideon back and forth between modern-day and 18th-century London to uncover secrets from the past.

Back in our MLIS and library days, Ruby Red was one of our favorite YA time travel books to recommend since so few knew about the series. Just a small warning that this enemies-to-lovers trope is a tad sexist, though. Find books like Ruby Red on our books with red (and more colors) in the title reading list .

Read Ruby Red : Amazon | Goodreads

Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

A little creepier for young adult time travel novels, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is all about time loops. We’ve only read the first in this eerie series that mixes manipulated vintage photography with a suspenseful and chilling story.

Jacob discovers a decaying orphanage on a mysterious island off the coast of Wales. Known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, the building isn’t exactly abandoned… Jacob runs into peculiar children who might be more than just ghosts.

If you are looking for Kurt Vonnegut-esque time travel books for teenagers, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is for you. Find even more great adult and YA haunted house books to add to your reading list .

Read Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children : Amazon | Goodreads

A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L’Engle

One of the most well-known books about time travel for families – made even more popular by Oprah and Mindy Kaling, A Wrinkle In Time , is the first book in The Time Quintet .

Although a time travel book series for elementary and middle-grade students – and also a 1963 Newbery Medal winner – adults will love the lessons and whimsical sci-fi quality of A Wrinkle In Time.

Meg Murray and her brother, Charles Wallace, go on an adventure in time to find and rescue their father. Their dad disappeared while working for the government on a mysterious tesseract project.

Watch this thrilling time travel adventure mixed with a coming-of-age story and a little girl power, too.

Read A Wrinkle in Time : Amazon | Goodreads

Orange by Ichigo Takano

Translated by Lasse Christian Christiansen and Amber Tamosaitis | This YA sci-fi romance manga is one of the most endearing time travel books you’ll ever read.

On the first day of 11th grade, Naho oversleeps for the first time ever. She also receives a letter that claims to be sent from herself 10 years in the future. The letter tells her both of the two big things that will happen to her that day as proof of sender: she will be late, and there will be a new kid in class named Naruse Kakeru from Tokyo who will sit next to her.

Naho is unsure if she trusts the letter, or whether or not she should heed its warnings – especially since it talks about past regrets and trying to undo them.

Orange is an adorable, but heartbreaking time travel manga that teaches us the meaning of friendship, love, regret, and so much more. If you’re looking for the best books about time travel for teens, Orange is the perfect option (and adults will love it too).

Read Orange : Amazon | Goodreads

If you devour the time travel genre, don’t miss these great movies…

If you enjoy books that take you back in time, you might also appreciate these top movies with time loops . Would you be able to fix past mistakes, fall in love, and you know, maybe not die this time? Find out if these protagonists succeed.

Travel Back In Time With These Reading Lists:

• Best ’90s Books
• Iconic ’80s Books
• Best WWII Historical Fiction

Christine Frascarelli

Dagney McKinney

45 Comments

Hi, nice list but just FYI you have one of the novels named incorrectly: it should be All Our Wrong Todays, not All Our Wrongs Today.

Thanks for letting us know! Every year, this list grows, and sometimes we miss a few mistakes.

The Things Are Bad Series by Paul L Giles is the funniest, most insightful time travel books I’ve ever read. It has everything!

Thanks so much for the review and rec!

Dream Daughter by Diane Chamberlain is an engrossing time travel book that I enjoyed immensely.

Our readers and contributors are big Diane Chamberlain fans. Thanks!

A huge time travel fan. A great list. Another time travel book recommendation: Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montemore. Wonderful story.

Thank you so much for the kind words and recommendation! We’ll have to check it out.

Great list, thanks. I also love seeing all the recommendations in the comments. I would add the Chronos Files series to your list. And, of course, the film ABOUT TIME, which is fantastic!

Thanks so much for the recommendations. We appreciate it!

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Beyond the Bookends

A Book Blog for Women and Moms who Love to Read

8 Tantalizing Time Travel Romance Books

Star-crossed lovers have nothing on these couples who are separated by time. Time travel romance books are really the epitome of fighting for the one you love. There is nothing more romantic than crossing the boundaries of time to find a way to be with the one you love.

These tantalizing love stories will make you swoon or at least they will make you look at love in a whole new way.

*Time Travel Romance books Post contains affiliate links. Purchases made through links result in a small commission to us at no cost to you. Some Books have been gifted. All opinions are our own

Table of Contents

Best Time Travel Romance Books of 2023

The Seven-Year Slip by Ashley Poston

Clementine has had her heart broken one too many times. She has inherited her beloved aunt’s apartment and is constantly mourning her loss. When she comes home one day and finds a man sitting there, she realizes that he exists seven years in the past.

And, the more time they spend together, the more she realizes she is falling for him. But she can never figure out when their paths will collide! This is a fantastic pick if you are looking for romantic comedy books.

Dead Romantics ( GMA Book Club Pick July 2022 ) was one of my favorite books last year and this book did not disappoint! This is such an adorable time travel romance book and is perfect for our ultimate beach reads 2023. I needed to include it in our list of adult fantasy novels as well! And if you are not a fantasy lover, you can definitely call this a magical realism book!

The Deja Glitch by Holly James

Jack has been reliving the same day for months and believes the only way out of this circle is to get Gemma Peters to fall in love with him. The Problem? Gemma has a feeling of deja vu, but she cannot remember Jack and has made a vow not to date musicians again (after her last boyfriend used her).

I had high hopes for this time travel romance and it did not let me down. Do not be worried that you will have to read the same things over and over. This book has a refreshing spin that was utterly enjoyable. Thank you for my gifted copy of this book.

The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman

Alice Hoffman has a place in our hearts with all of her books, including Practical Magic (one of our favorite series). So it is no surprise that her newest book is on our list of time travel romance books. This is the newest Alice Hoffman book and it is a book lover’s dream come true.

This fantasy is a story of love, heartbreak, and the magic of books. Mia Jacob is on the verge of sinking herself into a river when the book The Scarlet Letter saves her. The words seem to tell her story of growing up in an oppressive cult where contact with the outside world is forbidden and reading books is a heinous crime.

Even more daunting is the inscription on the inside of the book that is inscribed to her. This is a time travel romance book as only Hoffman could do it. I loved the audio version of the book- it brought life and depth to this story.

Best Time Travel Romance Books

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #1)

How do we love Outlander? We cannot count the ways. There is a reason this is one of my favorite books of all time .

This epic story begins in 1945 when Claire Randall and her husband take a second honeymoon to the Scottish Highlands to celebrate being reunited after the war. When Claire touches one of the standing stones, she is transported to 1743.

This is when the real story begins. In order to stay safe as an English woman in Scotland, she must depend on Jamie Frasier for protection. This book is definitely at the top of our list of best romance novels of all time but you will love it equally if you love historical fiction , magical realism , romance , or witches . This is one of the iconic and epic time travel romance books that has it all and is perfect for a list of books like A Discovery of Witches . It was easy to include this on the best fantasy books for adults as well.

The Time Traveler’s Wife By Audrey Niffenegger

Clare and Henry have an unusual love story. They’ve known each other since Clare was six and Henry was thirty-six, but got married when Clare was twenty-three and Henry was thirty-one. You see, Henry is an adventurous librarian who inadvertently travels through time.  

Why We Love This Book : I adore how this story explores very real challenges that any couple faces. With the added time travel element, it becomes an unforgettable pick from our list of romance books. The way that they fight for their love gives this book its clear spot on our list of best romance novels of all time. But be warned, this book may emotionally wreck you. Find This Book in Best Time Travel Books Like the Time Traveler’s Wife / Time Travel Books /

One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

I absolutely loved Casey’s first book and had very high hopes for this one.

August moves to NYC and into a house filled with weird roommates. When she meets Jane on the subway, sparks fly immediately, and riding the subway becomes the best part of her day. The twist? Jane is displaced from the 1970s and cannot get off the train. As paranormal romance books go, this one is not to be missed.

I enjoyed this book but, I felt that there were some parts that dragged on a bit. It is very hard to find new ways to talk about a relationship that can only take place on the train. I loved the premise of this time travel romance book.

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

Do you love Christmas movies? Are you obsessed with Christmas Romance books? Do you need to swoon? ⁣ If you answered yes to any of those questions, stop everything and order In a Holidaze. This is possibly my favorite Christmas novel of all time and was a must for best holiday books. ⁣

I adored Mae and Andrew’s love story. It’s set up like Groundhog’s Day with Mae repeating the same Christmas vacation until she gets it right. Time travel romance at its best. And man… does she get it right.⁣ Peppermint kisses, sexy sledding, snowball fights, Christmas Tree trimming… this book oozes cheer-filled holiday goodness with a few scenes that are steamier than a cup of cocoa.⁣

There is a reason this time travel book made our Best Books of 2020 list! This is an adorable magical realism book and a real must-read.

Some Like It Plaid by Angela Quarles

In this story, our hunky future chieftain leaves 1st century Scotland for 2019 San Francisco to catch himself a wifey, whom he promptly teleports back to Scotland (Druid magic IDK) and shenanigans ensue.

This book set in Scotland is funny, romantic, and totally cute. I loved it! This is one of the time travel romance novels you will want to read again and again.

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

I read this book set in Cornwall in only a few days because I loved it so much.  This is another book that I read this month that is the perfect pick for books like Outlander .

After Eva’s sister dies, she heads back to Cornwall England to find peace and rest.  What she discovers is more than she expects when she finds herself inexplicably back in time.  As her heart begins to feel again, can she find a way to heal her broken heart and find love? This is a wonderful time travel romance book that you will want to read again and again.

A Knight in Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux

This setup of this time travel romance is the same as Outlander but in reverse! In the first part of the book, Douglass accidentally summons an Earl from the 16th century to modern England!

Dougless vowels to help return Nicholas to his own time, but not before trying to help him figure out who framed him for treason in his own era. But when he’s sent back and nothing changes, Dougless needs to head back to his time and try to save his life.

The attention to detail in the 16th century was reminiscent of Diana Gabaldon’s work. It’s a total must-read for fans of Jamie and Claire’s love story. You can find this one on our list of Time Travel Romance Books as well as 29 Books like Outlander for Fans of the Hit Series .

A love story that spans time is an easy pick for the best romance novels of all time

What are your favorite Time Travel Romance Books?

For more books like these, check out our complete list of time travel books.

Ultimate List of Romances

If you love time travel romance books, then this is the list for you! We have this list carefully divided by sub-genre.

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Jackie is the mother of three children and a Speech-Language Pathologist who uses her love of books to create language-based learning opportunities in her speech therapy practice and with her own children. Her 20+ years of experience in regular and special education classrooms ensures the website content is relevant and informative. She started this website with Kirsten to share their passion for literacy with other moms and kids.

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Best Historical Anime Like The Apothecary Diaries

The Apothecary Diaries is a wholly unique anime . Not only is it a romance and a mystery series, but it also takes place in a historical setting. All of these aspects come together to make a singularly entertaining show. Though there’s nothing else quite like it anywhere else in anime, there are some historical anime that come close.

The best historical anime, like The Apothecary Diaries, can be rooted in realism or soar to fantastical heights. Yet, each of them possesses several elements that make them similar to The Apothecary Diaries . They also happen to be some of the best historical anime out there for people looking for even more anime set in the past.

10 Biggest Reveals in The Apothecary Diaries Season 1 Finale, Ranked

Violet evergarden focuses on different types of love, genre: fantasy, drama.

Violet Evergarden is a historical anime set in a more recent past than The Apothecary Diaries , but they still have many things in common. Both anime have themes of various types of love, and both highlight the importance of community - especially in dire times. Each anime also has a steadfast female protagonist who seems immune to others’ advances.

Violet and Maomao have been hardened by their unconventional upbringings. This makes them wary of love, and both young women yearn to live peaceful lives with their loved ones. There isn’t a specific mystery in Violet Evergarden , but her quest to discover the meaning of love is as much a mystery to her as any. Any viewer looking for an interesting female protagonist and a historical setting should check out Violet Evergarden .

Violet Evergarden

In the aftermath of a great war, Violet Evergarden, a young female ex-soldier, gets a job at a writers' agency and goes on assignments to create letters that can connect people.

Release Date August 22, 2022

Cast Yui Ishikawa

Main Genre Anime

Genres Drama

Rating TV-14

Studio Kyoto Animation

Franchise Violet Evergarden

Creator Kana Akatsuki

Number of Episodes 13 + 1 OVA

Streaming Service(s) Netflix

Heaven Official’s Blessing Highlights Long-Harbored Feelings

Genre: historical, mythology, drama, heaven official's blessing: xie lien's dark backstory is not so different from this naruto antagonist.

Heaven Official’s Blessing is a sweeping romance anime set in a fantastical past. The main couple, Xie Lian and Hua Cheng are much like Maomao and Jinshi, where one character pines for an extremely oblivious crush. Thankfully, though, Xie Lian isn't as indifferent toward Hua Cheng as Maomao is to Jinshi. With Heaven Official's Blessing , fans don’t have to sit on pins and needles wondering if the couple will ever get together, unlike The Apothecary Diaries.

Yet, along with a similar romance dynamic, both The Apothecary Diaries and Heaven Official’s Blessing take place in what seems to be a centuries-old China. There are also elements of mystery to both shows that make them even more alike. The Apothecary Diaries fans can’t go wrong with a Boys Love romance between a god and a king of ghosts.

Heaven Official's Blessing

Banished to the mortal realm to exorcise ghosts, a deity must reckon with a demon and soon uncovers a dark secret behind the heavenly gods.

Release Date October 30, 2020

Main Genre Donghua

Genres Romance, Adventure

Creator Mo Xiang Tong Xiu

Number of Episodes 24

Streaming Service(s) Netflix, Crunchyroll

Main Cast Zhengyang Ma, Youxi Deng, Hiroshi Kamiya, Guangtao Jiang, Non Sepho, Howard Wang, James Cheek

Ooku: The Inner Chambers Features Similarities To MaoMao's Working Life

Genre: historical fiction, drama.

Like The Apothecary Diaries , Ooku: The Inner Chambers has a heavy emphasis on concubines and their stories. However, Ooku focuses on an alternate timeline where most of the men perished. As such, many men work as prostitutes and concubines for female leaders. Despite this premise, the show has a romantic tale at its core, much like The Apothecary Diaries .

The Apothecary Diaries and Ooku: The Inner Chambers take place in different countries at vastly different times. Yet, they still have the same overall feeling of centuries-old period pieces that highlight the dichotomy of lust and love. The Apothecary Diaries has more humor than Ooku: The Inner Chambers , but Ooku is still perfect for fans looking for a similar The Apothecary Diaries vibe.

Inuyasha Has A Romantic Premise Set In The Past

Genre: fantasy, historical, mythology, time-travel.

Inuyasha is a classic shonen isekai set in the Sengoku Period of Japan. Much like The Apothecary Diaries , most people wear robes and a feudal hierarchy rules the land. Inuyasha also has dramatic elements that mirror The Apothecary Diaries’ most challenging mysteries. The biggest similarity between Inuyasha and The Apothecary Diaries is their core romance.

Both Jinshi and MaoMao and Kagome and Inuyasha butt heads as their romances blossom. The young women also typically have more influence on the young men than vice versa. Inuyasha is a great anime that highlights its shonen roots. It’s one of the best anime to watch after The Apothecary Diaries due to its similarities, and the fact that it has infinitely more episodes. Fans won't have to go searching for another show for a while if they start this classic beast.

Inuyasha (2000)

A teenage girl periodically travels back in time to feudal Japan to help a young half-demon recover the shards of a jewel of great power.

Release Date October 16, 2000

Genres Action-Adventure

Studio Sunrise

Franchise Inuyasha

Creator Rumiko Takahashi

The Ancient Magus' Bride Is Dark And Romantic

Genre: romance, fantasy, drama, who is the ancient magus bride.

The Ancient Magus' Bride is a little darker than The Apothecary Diaries , but it still has an interesting historical setting that gives it a similar, if otherworldly, charm. Both shows are also unlikely romances that slowly unfold. The Ancient Magus' Bride is an all-out fantasy, but it still has similarities to The Apothecary Diaries .

They both feature mostly unaffected female protagonists, and both women have talents that are unique to them. Chise takes on more of an audience role as she learns about magic, but she is just as intelligent as Maomao. The Ancient Magus' Brid e is a wonderful follow-up to The Apothecary Diaries because it isn’t an overly flowery romance, and it has all the characteristic charm of any historical anime.

The Ancient Magus' Bride

Hatori Chise, 15 years old. Lost, without hope and without family - she sells herself to a non-human mage known as Elias Ainsworth. Hesitant, she starts a new life with him as his new apprentice.

Release Date October 8, 2017

Genres Drama, Romance, Fantasy

Studio Wit Studio

Streaming Service(s) Crunchyroll

Main Cast Atsumi Tanezaki and Ryouta Takeuchi

Taisho Otome Fairy Tale Features Sunshine & Gloomy Characters

Genre: comedy, drama, romance.

Taisho Otome Fairy Tale is a period anime set in past Japan. It follows two characters - one with a sunny disposition and another who is more cynical - just like Jinshi and MaoMao in The Apothecary Diaries . Tamahiko Shima and Yuzuki Tachibana meet when they are both ousted by their families. This mimics how Jinshi and Maomao meet. Jinshi (like Tamahiko) appears to be a wealthy young man who is hidden away from society. Both Yuzuki and Maomao were sold by their families or enslaved. They are then forced to work for their respective rich young men.

Taisho Otome Fairy Tale is more blatant with its romance, but the situations between Jinshi and Maomao and Tamahiko and Yuzuki are too similar to gloss over. Both shows also have their share of darkness. Although the setting and time period are different, Taisho Otome Fairy Tale is still a great alternative while waiting for more episodes of The Apothecary Diaries .

Fena: Pirate Princess Follows An Independent Female Protagonist

Genre: action, adventure, fantasy.

Fena: Pirate Princess is an adventure anime at its core, but that doesn’t mean it’s devoid of a likeness to The Apothecary Diarie s. MaoMao and Fena are both independent female protagonists whose male companions harbor all-encompassing feelings for them. They also both highlight the struggles that women had to fight through in the past.

Fena: Pirate Princess and The Apothecary Diarie s both have fantastic, eclectic characters that help elevate each story. Both shows also center around mysteries, though The Apothecary Diaries takes a more scientific approach, whereas Fena is adventurous. Fena is a great choice for anyone looking to watch another anime, like The Apothecary Diaries , which has a mixture of genres.

Fena: Pirate Princess

Fena Houtman, a young orphan girl, has been raised on an island where there is no hope of becoming anything more than chattel, to be used and discarded by soldiers of the British Empire. But Fena is more than just another powerless orphan. When her mysterious past comes knocking, Fena will break the chains of her oppressors.

Release Date August 15, 2021

Cast Ryta Suzuki, Takahiro Sakurai, Asami Seto, Michael Sinterniklaas

Genres Adventure, Fantasy

Creator Kazuto Nakazawa

Number of Episodes 12

Network Crunchyroll, Adult Swim

My Happy Marriage Adds Supernatural Powers To A Touching Romance

Genre: drama, fantasy, romance.

My Happy Marriage is a much more modern anime in terms of setting than The Apothecary Diaries , but they both highlight mystery and romance. My Happy Marriage is akin to a Grimm Fairy tale, seemingly taking a more supernatural approach to the stories of Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast . However, there is still the mystery surrounding the protagonist, Miyo Saimori, and her enigmatic family history as well.

My Happy Marriage shines most with its central romance. Miyo and Kiyoka Kudo seem to be tailor-made for one another. Their budding romance is so tender that it would make any fan melt. The Apothecary Diaries has similar passionate scenes woven throughout its episodes. Fans looking for a more recent historical drama that is full of romance and suspense will love My Happy Marriage .

My Happy Marriage

An unhappy young woman from an abusive family is married off to a fearsome and chilly army commander. But the two learn more about each other, love may have a chance.

Release Date July 5, 2023

Main Genre Animation

Genres Drama, Fantasy

Seasons 1 Season

Studio Kinema Citrus

Characters By Reina Ueda, Kaito Ishikawa, Houko Kuwashima

Creator Akumi Agitogi

Production Company Kinema Citrus

Number of Episodes 12 Episodes

Snow White With The Red Hair Perfectly Combines Botany, Romance, & Comedy

Why are so many anime characters kuudere.

Snow White with the Red Hair is perfect for viewers who adored the botany portions of The Apothecary Diaries . Although the latter delves deeper into science than the former, there is still an element of using plants to help in everyday situations.

Like Maomao, Shirayuki becomes close with higher ranking officials and eventually aids them using her poultices, herbs, and other plants. Snow White with the Red Hair also features a young man who falls hard for the female protagonist. Shirayuki is more open to romance than Maomao is, but they both involve similar themes of class responsibilities. Fans of romantic comedy anime are sure to love this reimagining of a classic Grimm Fairy Tale.

Snow White With The Red Hair

Shirayuki was a young girl born with unique apple-red hair. She meets a famous but foolish Prince Raji, who falls in love with her at first sight and orders her to become his concubine.

Release Date July 6, 2015

Cast Yichir Umehara, Saori Hayami, Ryta saka

Seasons 2 Seasons

Creator Deko Akao

Production Company Bones, Warner Bros.

Number of Episodes 25 Episodes

Yona Of The Dawn Shows A Woman Reclaiming Her Place In Life

Genre: adventure, fantasy, romance.

Yona of the Dawn and The Apothecary Diaries have one very important thing in common: a plucky, capable female protagonist. Yona takes a while to truly be useful in her own show. Once she does, however, Yona becomes unstoppable , much like MaoMao when she’s on a particularly interesting quest. Both young women also have somewhat secret identities that they hide from the world.

Both anime seem to be set in a similar past, but Yona of the Dawn is purely fictional. Yona of the Dawn also includes a “Chosen One” prophecy as well as warriors with magical powers. It may seem like Maomao’s scientific brain and Jinshi’s looks are superpowers at times, but everyone in The Apothecary Diaries is strictly human. Despite this difference, Yona of the Dawn is the perfect follow-up to The Apothecary Diaries for romance and historical anime fans alike.

Yona of the Dawn

After being betrayed and run out of her home, the red-haired Princess Yona searches for four legendary dragons to take back her stolen kingdom.

Release Date October 7, 2014

Cast Chiwa Sait, Nobuhiko Okamoto, Masakazu Morita, Junichi Suwabe

Rating T - Teen (Some violence and thematic elements)

Studio Pierrot

Creator Mizuho Kusanagi

Main Characters Yona,hak,son hak,kija,shin-ah,yoon

Streaming Service(s) Hulu, Crunchyroll