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The Glory Years
Kate O’Reilly loves a stroll down memory lane.
Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.
A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.
So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.
But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher…
A laugh-out-loud, relatable read for anyone who wishes they could take a holiday from adulting… fans of Why Mummy Drinks and Jane Fallon will love this!
Previously published as A Mother Dimension, this has been extensively edited and rewritten.
Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.
A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.
So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.
But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher…
A laugh-out-loud, relatable read for anyone who wishes they could take a holiday from adulting… fans of Why Mummy Drinks and Jane Fallon will love this!
Previously published as A Mother Dimension, this has been extensively edited and rewritten.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 27, 2022
2 people are currently reading
37 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
September 23, 2022
My feelings about this book flop around the 2.5-to-3-star range. At its worst, it was an inconsistent, mildly frustrating read. At its best, it was an entertaining, refreshing novel.
Mink Elliott breathes life into the tired time travel trope with originality and flair. It’s not often that women in their fifties are represented in the media, much less within the conventions of this trope. What Elliott has done is introduce a much-needed, novel perspective into the narrative. In doing this, she’s found ways to lure you into the comfort of the trope and catch you off-guard with little twists.
Not in a mind-altering, earth-shattering way, but in the same way you sometimes focus on your surroundings and notice something you hadn’t before. It shifts the way you perceive your environment (if only by a fraction) and makes you think “Huh. That’s nice.”
Although I found the main character, Kate, to be charming, I really couldn’t keep up with her. Her thoughts would fly from one place to another so often they gave Taylor Swift’s carbon emissions a run for their money. I honestly felt a bit exasperated because this back and forth kept me from fully understanding her character.
Additionally, Elliott’s story has some loose ends that left the story feeling incomplete and somewhat unfulfilling.
I guess I leave it up to you to weigh the pros and cons of reading this book.
Side Note
Thank you, Net Galley and Hera Books, for providing me with a copy of “The Glory Years” in exchange for an honest review. As someone who was only recently welcomed into Bookstagram and has never before received an ARC, I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity.
Mink Elliott breathes life into the tired time travel trope with originality and flair. It’s not often that women in their fifties are represented in the media, much less within the conventions of this trope. What Elliott has done is introduce a much-needed, novel perspective into the narrative. In doing this, she’s found ways to lure you into the comfort of the trope and catch you off-guard with little twists.
Not in a mind-altering, earth-shattering way, but in the same way you sometimes focus on your surroundings and notice something you hadn’t before. It shifts the way you perceive your environment (if only by a fraction) and makes you think “Huh. That’s nice.”
Although I found the main character, Kate, to be charming, I really couldn’t keep up with her. Her thoughts would fly from one place to another so often they gave Taylor Swift’s carbon emissions a run for their money. I honestly felt a bit exasperated because this back and forth kept me from fully understanding her character.
Additionally, Elliott’s story has some loose ends that left the story feeling incomplete and somewhat unfulfilling.
I guess I leave it up to you to weigh the pros and cons of reading this book.
Side Note
Thank you, Net Galley and Hera Books, for providing me with a copy of “The Glory Years” in exchange for an honest review. As someone who was only recently welcomed into Bookstagram and has never before received an ARC, I am profoundly grateful for this opportunity.
September 14, 2022
Description from the publisher:
Kate O’Reilly loves a stroll down memory lane.
Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.
A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.
So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.
But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher…
***********************************************************************
My Review:
I really wanted to LOVE this book. Time travel/time warp fiction is my jam! The Glory Years had definite things in the plus column: Kate learned a lot, when revisiting her younger self she was fun but not out of control, she used some of her future knowledge for personal gain, and her 2022 age of 55 years really resonated with me. ;-). I appreciate that the idea that we often romanticize our past was a focus in the story. Kate really thought about this and grew from it.
However, a couple of things really distracted me while reading this book. The first was the constant product placement. If this were a movie, we'd laugh. Booze, stores, snack foods and places were named over and over and over. And being American the UK products really did nothig for me except make me have to stop and Google. ("Is that a cookie? a frozen pizza??") Secondly, the book makes. a few references to Back to the Future and some of the plot lines and outcomes parallell BTTF in an obvious way. This made things predictable, which I wasn't expecting when I picked up the book. I enjoyed that Kate was able to feel more in control of things as the story went on, but you saw that coming with the BTTF mentions. Also, the secondary characters, aside form Seamus, didn't seem to add much to Kate's journey but SHE seemed to realize all of their flaws and needs.
Overall, it was a quick, fun read but I was hoping for more development of the other characters and less predictability. Technically I'd give it 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hera Books for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
Kate O’Reilly loves a stroll down memory lane.
Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.
A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.
So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.
But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher…
***********************************************************************
My Review:
I really wanted to LOVE this book. Time travel/time warp fiction is my jam! The Glory Years had definite things in the plus column: Kate learned a lot, when revisiting her younger self she was fun but not out of control, she used some of her future knowledge for personal gain, and her 2022 age of 55 years really resonated with me. ;-). I appreciate that the idea that we often romanticize our past was a focus in the story. Kate really thought about this and grew from it.
However, a couple of things really distracted me while reading this book. The first was the constant product placement. If this were a movie, we'd laugh. Booze, stores, snack foods and places were named over and over and over. And being American the UK products really did nothig for me except make me have to stop and Google. ("Is that a cookie? a frozen pizza??") Secondly, the book makes. a few references to Back to the Future and some of the plot lines and outcomes parallell BTTF in an obvious way. This made things predictable, which I wasn't expecting when I picked up the book. I enjoyed that Kate was able to feel more in control of things as the story went on, but you saw that coming with the BTTF mentions. Also, the secondary characters, aside form Seamus, didn't seem to add much to Kate's journey but SHE seemed to realize all of their flaws and needs.
Overall, it was a quick, fun read but I was hoping for more development of the other characters and less predictability. Technically I'd give it 3.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and Hera Books for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
April 23, 2023
The "About Mink" section at the end of the book summarizes the author's refurbished version of a story she had already published in 2013 (to dismal acclaim): A dissatisfied, frustrated, nostalgia-mad suburban mum who stumbles upon a time portal in her pantry that whisks her back to London at the height of her heyday, 1996, where she gets a once in a wife time second chance to make some tiny tweaks to her relationships and hedonistic outlook so that she can reap the benefits in the present, if she ever gets back to the future... and breathe."
Time travel stories are hit and miss, either they are executed based on an original concept and all characters find their niches or they are just plain flops. This story, while the "back to the future" concept is not that original (but still a good one), fell short.
I personally found the FMC to be vapid and shallow, both in 2022 and 1996 versions; the amount of references to her body shape/size (flabby stomach, chin hairs, hanging jowls in 2022; flat stomach and perky breasts in 1996) were wholly unnecessary and just added to the self-esteem issues that she had (but tried to convince herself that she didn't). Her relationships with her family, boss, boyfriend, best friend, and (ultimately who would become her future husband) co-worker also felt very surface level, and I'm not sure if the lack of emotional attachments were missing due to the time travel element or if that was actually how the characters were supposed to be written.
Finally, and this is coming from someone residing in North America, the amount of slang English phrases didn't help matters to following the storyline and kept interrupting the flow of reading as some parts were written phonetically and others just sounded made up. This could be a case of "it's me, not you," but again, it just took away from being in the zone of the story.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
Time travel stories are hit and miss, either they are executed based on an original concept and all characters find their niches or they are just plain flops. This story, while the "back to the future" concept is not that original (but still a good one), fell short.
I personally found the FMC to be vapid and shallow, both in 2022 and 1996 versions; the amount of references to her body shape/size (flabby stomach, chin hairs, hanging jowls in 2022; flat stomach and perky breasts in 1996) were wholly unnecessary and just added to the self-esteem issues that she had (but tried to convince herself that she didn't). Her relationships with her family, boss, boyfriend, best friend, and (ultimately who would become her future husband) co-worker also felt very surface level, and I'm not sure if the lack of emotional attachments were missing due to the time travel element or if that was actually how the characters were supposed to be written.
Finally, and this is coming from someone residing in North America, the amount of slang English phrases didn't help matters to following the storyline and kept interrupting the flow of reading as some parts were written phonetically and others just sounded made up. This could be a case of "it's me, not you," but again, it just took away from being in the zone of the story.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.
September 23, 2022
Description from the publisher:
Kate O’Reilly loves a stroll down memory lane.
Nowadays she’s a mother to Declan and Phoebe, has the semi-detached in suburbia and the dependable husband, Seamus – but when faced with a never-ending pile of laundry and new chin hairs sprouting overnight, no wonder she daydreams about the past.
A time when the music was better (Girl Power forever!), her social circle was wider, Cool Britannia reigned supreme and only a penalty shootout stood between England reaching the finals of Euro ’96.
So, when a freak electrical storm takes her back in time to 1996, Kate’s elated – this is her chance to discover what might have happened if she’d only done things a little bit differently in the Nineties.
But as she relives her youth again, will Kate realise some things really are best left in the past? And will she ever be able to get back to the family she misses so much? Even if none of them know how to load the sodding dishwasher.
My Review:
I really wanted to love this book, the blurb made it sound like such a fun read, but it ended up lacking for me.
The main character was fun and learned a lot while she was visiting her younger self, she also came to realise that we often have a tainted, romantic view, of our past, and she grew from this knowledge.
There was a LOT of product placement in this book, was it sponsored? Alcohol, food, shops, and places were named again and again and again. The book also references Back To The Future, and has plot lines that obviously mimic that movie. This made the book pretty predictable, and also rather disappointing.
A quick, easy read, but I wanted more in terms of plot and predictability.
Thank you to NetGalley for giving me an advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
February 1, 2024
Fifty four year old Kate is married and a mother-of-two, dreaming of her past and wishing she was somewhere else. She’s stuck in the mundane reality of life as a grown up…her marriage is lacklustre and her thoughts often veer to her ex boyfriend Tom.
When Kate finds herself back in her 28 year old self’s body and life, she is elated, and tries to find out what would happen if she had made different decisions back then. But as she relives her youth (and the 1996 Euros), Kate starts to realise that she’s missing her real life and the family that she’s built. Will she manage to get back to 2022? And will anything have changed based on her new actions in 1996?
I normally love this kind of book, I’ve already read a couple like this with the time travelling/what if element already this month and I loved them. So I really did expect to love this but I just didn’t. And I can’t even put my finger on quite what it was that didn’t do it for me. I found it to be very jumpy and hard to follow. The plot was very here there and everywhere and I just couldn’t keep up. I didn’t know if it was just me being tired whilst reading but other readers have said the same. I couldn’t fully warm to Kate either. She seemed very superficial and seemed to care more about what she looked like in 1996 than anything else! I thought there was quite a bit of body shaming which didn’t sit well with me.
Overall, I found the plot and characters quite vacuous, which is a shame as this book had the potential to be so much more. Wouldn’t recommend this one!
When Kate finds herself back in her 28 year old self’s body and life, she is elated, and tries to find out what would happen if she had made different decisions back then. But as she relives her youth (and the 1996 Euros), Kate starts to realise that she’s missing her real life and the family that she’s built. Will she manage to get back to 2022? And will anything have changed based on her new actions in 1996?
I normally love this kind of book, I’ve already read a couple like this with the time travelling/what if element already this month and I loved them. So I really did expect to love this but I just didn’t. And I can’t even put my finger on quite what it was that didn’t do it for me. I found it to be very jumpy and hard to follow. The plot was very here there and everywhere and I just couldn’t keep up. I didn’t know if it was just me being tired whilst reading but other readers have said the same. I couldn’t fully warm to Kate either. She seemed very superficial and seemed to care more about what she looked like in 1996 than anything else! I thought there was quite a bit of body shaming which didn’t sit well with me.
Overall, I found the plot and characters quite vacuous, which is a shame as this book had the potential to be so much more. Wouldn’t recommend this one!
November 2, 2022
I really enjoyed this one! Kate is approaching her fifty-fifth birthday and feeling a bit down. Life hasn't turned out quite as she imagined and she wonders if things would have been better if she had made different choices in her past!
With her relationship with hubby Seamus stagnant (and sex-life non-existent) she starts to fantasise about her ex Tom... and suddenly finds her self transported back to to 1996, when she was a size 8 with a flat stomach and was in PR for a trendy music magazine. Could she distract Tom away from Tamsin, the office tart, who he originally left her for? Perhap she could impress her boss with some new ideas and progress her career in PR? However, ufbshe does this it may mean that she doesnt have her two beautiful (but rather grumpy) teenage children in the future!
A fun read! The author dubs the book a "mom-com" - how many middle aged mums look at the rose-tinted lives of peers portrayed on social media and wonder if life would better if they had done thing differently? Deep down, though, do they really want to change anything?
With her relationship with hubby Seamus stagnant (and sex-life non-existent) she starts to fantasise about her ex Tom... and suddenly finds her self transported back to to 1996, when she was a size 8 with a flat stomach and was in PR for a trendy music magazine. Could she distract Tom away from Tamsin, the office tart, who he originally left her for? Perhap she could impress her boss with some new ideas and progress her career in PR? However, ufbshe does this it may mean that she doesnt have her two beautiful (but rather grumpy) teenage children in the future!
A fun read! The author dubs the book a "mom-com" - how many middle aged mums look at the rose-tinted lives of peers portrayed on social media and wonder if life would better if they had done thing differently? Deep down, though, do they really want to change anything?
November 7, 2022
Thank you NetGalley and Hera Books for providing me with an ARC of The Glory Years!
Synopsis: 55-year-old Kate (who loves to daydream about her past) travels back in time to re-live her 20s! As she relives her youth, Kate reflects if some things really are best left in the past.
Review:
⚡ Perfect for those who romanticize the past
⚡ 90s nostalgia
⚡ UK pop culture (which unfortunately flew over my head haha)
⚡ Back to the Future vibes but add a sprinkle of motherhood
The pop culture references were lost on me, but I still found The Glory Years a relatable, quick read. Overall, highly recommend it to those who love time-travel tropes and those who often wonder if they made the right decision.
Synopsis: 55-year-old Kate (who loves to daydream about her past) travels back in time to re-live her 20s! As she relives her youth, Kate reflects if some things really are best left in the past.
Review:
⚡ Perfect for those who romanticize the past
⚡ 90s nostalgia
⚡ UK pop culture (which unfortunately flew over my head haha)
⚡ Back to the Future vibes but add a sprinkle of motherhood
The pop culture references were lost on me, but I still found The Glory Years a relatable, quick read. Overall, highly recommend it to those who love time-travel tropes and those who often wonder if they made the right decision.
September 22, 2022
⭐️⭐️⭐️
Read if you like:
- sexual humour
- snarky, sarcastic narrator
- the 90s
I think pretty much everyone can relate to this book, like the feeling of wishing you could go back in time and do things differently.
This book was a super quick read for me, and I really enjoyed it. The humour was exactly my humour, and I laughed out loud several times!
The main character was very likeable to me, I liked her snark.
The message in the end was absolutely perfect for today; everything always ends up exactly how it’s supposed to.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Herabooks for my ARC in exchange for an honest review 💕
Read if you like:
- sexual humour
- snarky, sarcastic narrator
- the 90s
I think pretty much everyone can relate to this book, like the feeling of wishing you could go back in time and do things differently.
This book was a super quick read for me, and I really enjoyed it. The humour was exactly my humour, and I laughed out loud several times!
The main character was very likeable to me, I liked her snark.
The message in the end was absolutely perfect for today; everything always ends up exactly how it’s supposed to.
Thank you so much to Netgalley and Herabooks for my ARC in exchange for an honest review 💕
October 3, 2022
Thank you #Netgalley for the advanced copy!
In this quick read we are introduced to Kate. Kate lives a hectic life, raising two kids, with her husband, still super close to her college best friend. But she can't help but imagine how her life could be different. She tends to day dream about her 20's and recalls them being the best times of her life, before she had children keeping her up and busy. Then one morning when Kate wakes up she is back in her twenties. She relives the time in her life that she envisioned as her "glory years" however; things may not have been as amazing as she remembered.
In this quick read we are introduced to Kate. Kate lives a hectic life, raising two kids, with her husband, still super close to her college best friend. But she can't help but imagine how her life could be different. She tends to day dream about her 20's and recalls them being the best times of her life, before she had children keeping her up and busy. Then one morning when Kate wakes up she is back in her twenties. She relives the time in her life that she envisioned as her "glory years" however; things may not have been as amazing as she remembered.
November 2, 2022
This was a 2.5 star read for me.
I went into this book excited it was going to be kind of like Freaky Friday, but only focus on the mother’s perspective. While I got what I wanted, nothing special was really added to the plot to make it stand out or feel new.
I cannot say anything was wrong with this book. It just didn’t resonate with me. I was hoping for a light, funny read. However, my lack of knowledge when it came to English and early 90s references could have contributed to my feelings.
Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Hera for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feelings.
I went into this book excited it was going to be kind of like Freaky Friday, but only focus on the mother’s perspective. While I got what I wanted, nothing special was really added to the plot to make it stand out or feel new.
I cannot say anything was wrong with this book. It just didn’t resonate with me. I was hoping for a light, funny read. However, my lack of knowledge when it came to English and early 90s references could have contributed to my feelings.
Special thanks to NetGalley.com and Hera for allowing me to read this book in exchange for my honest feelings.
April 18, 2023
I’m not really the target audience, not being a mum or even a parent, but I found this book really sweet and touching for all its lighthearted ladette humour and Back to the Future/Freaky Friday plot. Elliot knows her 90s and knows about life. Good character and dialogue and double entendres a plenty. Made me think a lot about my life and ask myself the questions it asks. And I love any book that mentions Catweazle, Bewitched and The Sound of Music.
September 17, 2022
I very much enjoyed the glory years and read it in a week! Which for a someone with dyslexia shows how enthralling it is! The time travel aspect was surprising and really added to the story. Its such a jovial, humorous and light hearted book that read so smoothly. The character development was great you felt like you grew with all of them! Overall a fantastic read
February 4, 2024
This was a cute story. I love stories where someone gets to see what their life could've been like or a glimpse into the future. Thank you to NetGalley for sharing this book with me in exchange for my review!
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October 7, 2022
I loved the 90’s nostalgia, it was such a fun read and Kate’s character was a great person to follow.
Will add as a little disclaimer that there should be trigger warnings for the way bodies are spoken about/perceived as this might be uncomfortable for those who struggle.
Will add as a little disclaimer that there should be trigger warnings for the way bodies are spoken about/perceived as this might be uncomfortable for those who struggle.
September 29, 2022
i loved this book! how fun would it be to go back to our younger years and relive them or how scary would it be!!
fab fun read
fab fun read
May 14, 2025
Different and daft
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews