Lisa Grunwald Time After Time

Last updated: October 21, 2019

Lisa Grunwald Time After Time
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We looked at the top Oprah Book Club Books and dug through the reviews from some of the most popular review sites. Through this analysis, we've determined the best Oprah Book Club Book you should buy.

Overall Take

In our analysis of 63 expert reviews, the Lisa Grunwald Time After Time placed 7th when we looked at the top 7 products in the category. For the full ranking, see below.

From The Manufacturer

A magical love story, inspired by the legend of a woman who vanished from Grand Central Terminal, sweeps readers from the 1920s to World War II and beyond. “Readers who enjoyed The Time Traveler’s Wife will be enchanted.”—Publishers Weekly “I utterly loved this clever, charming, hopeful tale of true love against all odds.”—Ariel Lawhon, New York Times bestselling author of I Was Anastasia On a clear December morning in 1937, at the famous gold clock in Grand Central Terminal, Joe Reynolds, a hardworking railroad man from Queens, meets a vibrant young woman who seems mysteriously out of place. Nora Lansing is a Manhattan socialite whose flapper clothing, pearl earrings, and talk of the Roaring Twenties don’t seem to match the bleak mood of Depression-era New York. Captivated by Nora from her first electric touch, Joe despairs when he tries to walk her home and she disappears. Finding her again—and again—will become the focus of his love and his life. Nora, a fiercely independent aspiring artist, is shocked to find she’s somehow been trapped, her presence in the terminal governed by rules she cannot fathom. It isn’t until she meets Joe that she begins to understand the effect that time is having on her, and the possible connections to the workings of Grand Central and the solar phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the sun rises or sets between the city’s skyscrapers, aligned perfectly with the streets below. As thousands of visitors pass under the famous celestial blue ceiling each day, Joe and Nora create a life unlike any they could have imagined. With infinite love in a finite space, they take full advantage of the “Terminal City” within a city, dining at the Oyster Bar, visiting the Whispering Gallery, and making a home at the Biltmore Hotel. But when the construction of another landmark threatens their future, Nora and Joe are forced to test the limits of freedom and love. Delving into Grand Central Terminal’s rich past, Lisa Grunwald crafts a masterful historical novel about a love affair that defies age, class, place, and even time. Advance praise for Time After Time “I’ll never again set foot in Grand Central Terminal without looking over my shoulder for Nora and Joe, or marveling at the station itself—a backdrop as intriguing as the love story that unfolds beneath its star-studded ceiling.”—Georgia Hunter, New York Times bestselling author of We Were the Lucky Ones “Time After Time doesn’t just re-create the lost New York of the 1920s to 1940s, it inhabits it—and so will the reader, in the company of the book’s wonderful characters.”—Daniel Okrent, author of Last Call and The Guarded Gate

Expert Reviews


What experts liked

This is similar to a time travel romance but has different elements. The history is rich, the description so well done reading it made me believe I had watched a movie. I know Joe and Nora well. I understand a appreciate them and will never forget them.
Grunwald delivers a satisfying supernatural romance about lovers brought together across time.
The characters come alive and make us want them to stay that way. The ending comes as a satisfying surprise.
My favorite part was finding out about the magic and the mystery. Recommended to women’s fiction and adult romance readers that enjoy magical elements in their stories. I don’t think I will be forgetting this one anytime soon.
“Here is a glorious novel to savor and return to again and again. I fell in love with Joe and Nora, star-crossed lovers from a time when women wore gloves, men wore hats and a train ticket could change the course of your life. The spectacular Lisa Grunwald has written a classic story of fate, true love, art, and chance with truth and beauty. You will want to share it with every reader you know.”—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of Tony’s Wife
I thoroughly enjoyed the historical aspect of this story and the chance to learn things about Grand Central Station I didn’t know about prior to reading. I also loved the significance of Manhattanhenge, something else that has somehow escaped my knowledge all of these years as well.
A love story with a unique twist in that Joe and Nora can't go beyond that terminal. Their love is confined to a place and time. This is a sweet story and a book you just can't put down. Highly recommended!
Lisa Grunwald’s supernatural novel Time After Time charts Joe and Nora’s time-defying romance as it unfolds under the arches of New York’s Grand Central Terminal.
- Time
A swoon worthy combination of heartbreak, romance, character study and the indomitable spirit of adventure. Its characters are memorable, their plights inventive, and the romance that centers it all a little bit enviable, a little bit nightmarish.

What experts didn't like

Maybe the premise sounded good but wasn't strong enough to carry a well developed storyline or maybe it was poorly executed, but I found the story and its characters boring and lackluster.
Starts with an interesting premise. Unfortunately, that was pretty much it. I wanted it to be a great book. But it just wasn’t.
The love story at the book’s heart relies too much on magic, and simmering tensions (such as Joe’s controlling nature) remain underdeveloped.
There were too many time jumps, too many insignificant secondary characters, and an overall disjointed feel that kept this book from being everything I needed it to be. I didn’t feel that connection between the characters in the way that was needed, which left me feeling utterly disappointed.
Cool concept, but I just couldn't get into it.
Has its flaws, and if you think a little too hard about some of the bigger picture problems, the story will fall apart.
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