72 books like Leaving Time

Is this a cozy mystery? I’m saying yes, but honestly, it’s so good I’d squeeze it into any genre just so I can talk about it. It has a crime, a small community, a couple of bumbling policemen, a locked room, a bunch of people trying, amateurishly, to solve a crime, and a lot of ‘keep the reader guessing’ elements.

So far, so cozy. It also has a lot of anxious people and explores their unhappy and complicated lives in a hilarious, satirical tone. It is also just a little bit sad, as well as funny and happy, so, all right, it probably isn’t really a cozy mystery, but it’s been one of the best listens on my audiobook library so far this year–I’ve already listened to it twice in 2024, and it’s only July.

I love this book because of Enzo, the canine narrator. In fact, he may be my favorite narrator of all time. He is one of those narrators I would love to be friends with or who I would love to have as a professor or a spiritual guide. 

The first time I tried reading it I put it down because I ugly-cried in the first chapter when Enzo recounted the story of how he planned to simplify his beloved human’s life. Thankfully, a trusted friend convinced me to give it another try because it’s now one of my all-time favorite books. Coming from an English teacher of twenty plus years, who reads a lot of good books, I think that's pretty high praise.

Yes, I cried a lot in this one, too, but I also laughed and did not want to leave Enzo or the humans he loved so dearly… show more.

While not perhaps a “romance” novel in the established-formula sense, this book is achingly romantic. This epic story truly focuses on the gradual development of the two protagonists’ relationship and how time travel both created and challenged their love. This book ignited my passion for magic-realism romantic novels and remains one of my top books of all time.

I adore the contrast of romantic love between two seemingly destined souls and the brutality of some events caused by Henry’s uncontrolled time travel. There’s also the tricky angle of the age gap (only sometimes, depending on where Henry and Clare are in their lives, but it is occasionally extreme), which the author doesn’t shy away from. And I confess this is probably the book that made me sob the most!

I loved this book because Kathleen Woodiwiss’s ability to stir emotion from the very first page is impressive. I’m also drawn to the conflict between actual enemies on the battlefield.

The Civil War is always a perfect setting for enemies-to-lovers because the emotions are high and the conflict deep. Also, I love plots with the heroine dressing as a boy and being discovered.

This has such a clever premise – a man who can’t let himself get close to anyone because every time he does, he dreams about how they’re going to die and when.

And then he meets Callie, and he does everything he can not to fall in love with her... except he can’t help himself. And then he dreams about her death...

Honestly, what's not to love?!

I was a teenager the first time I picked up this book. Romance novels weren’t my thing, and considering this one was heavily marketed as such, I nearly overlooked it. But once I got past the swooning, steamy promotional packaging, I realized there was quite more to it. In some ways it planted the seed in my younger self for the storyteller I would eventually become. It tells the story of a woman who has lost hope for her mess of a life, only to be given the rare opportunity to experience past-life-regression and alternate versions of herself in several previous lifetimes. Readers are swept through the centuries in richly told settings as we watch her experience the loves, losses, and lessons that have all led to the circumstances of her current, present-day life. 

I fell in love with Jennifer Donelly’s writing when I discovered her historical romance trilogy The Tea Rose, and then devoured her YA novel A Northern Light. So when I found out she had published a YA book with history, young love, and a ghost mystery, I was all in!

In this story, the past and the present are once again woven together, adding fascinating and horrific details of the French Revolution as the main character navigates her new and strange life in Paris. The Catacombs beneath the city play a role in the plot, and it was this setting that made me determined to visit this creepy location myself one day—which I did!

The labyrinth of man-made tunnels wind their way into an underground maze that is filled with the relocated human bones of over 6 million bodies, which line the walls in macabre designs. Exploring the “Land of… show more.

This book has so much to discuss, the old west, history, fun characters, family dynamics, and romance.

The opening scene puts the reader in the midst of cowboy country with laugh out loud action. The action and adventures that continue all the way to the end makes the reader ready to relive it by talking about it to others! 

The author does a fabulous job providing well-rounded characters with goals, ambitions, and faults, prompting discussions about who might be the favorite. Jeb, who can’t stay out of trouble, or Chloe who is not afraid to stand up to the wild cowboy.  

I’ve read this entire series, but each book, including this one, can be read as a stand-alone without having read any of the others. 

When a horror thriller can straddle mystery and true crime and stick the landing like this book does, I’m in.

I was immediately invested in Liz’s journey back to her hometown. I love the reunion trope, but what Liz comes up against is so strange and intriguing that I knew after the opening I wasn’t putting this one down until I devoured this book. Her inner strength and determination to solve the town’s big mystery had me cheering for her every step of the way.

Oh, and I did not see that ending coming, OMG.

John Green’s description of Aza’s obsessive-compulsive disorder was so vivid, so real, I felt as though I was living Aza’s torment.

Many people might find this type of immersive experience off-putting and think, “Why would I want to feel such an extreme, when all I really want is an escape?”

I love nothing more than a story that takes me deep inside a character, and makes me “feel-the-feels” so to speak.

Plus, John Green’s eloquence with prose and dialog is unmatched. His writing stands in a league of its own.