3.5 stars

A shallow, but entertaining time travel romance, one cannot fault Phantom in Time for its extreme readability; the description for New Orleans in the 1890s was lively and immersive, the countdown mechanism featuring a murder mystery had me hooked, and I appreciated the various callbacks to Phantom of the Opera, but still very much maintaining its own unique narrative.

It was not a new favorite historical romance primarily due to its lack of depth, both in its plot as well as character. I found the romance rather one-dimensional, the couple's dynamic static without any meaningful growth (the hero sweet-talking his way to get what he wants, the heroine rejecting until she's worn down). Being a time travel plot, it also missed the intricacy of cause/effect, which was what made this type of sci-fi fiction exciting to consume in the first place (the heroine interacted carelessly with anyone/anything in the past yet nothing was altered to the timeline). The resolution to the mystery was also a slight letdown, with the culprit being an individual who was barely mentioned in the story.

Still, a lot of these criticism came post-reading, and the actual experience during Phantom in Time was rather pleasant—it is definitely one of those novels where it is best enjoyed without over-analyzing its characters and logic.

***Historical Hellions Book Club | September 2023 Selection***