14 Time Travel Books I Absolutely Loved Across Genres

Explore new worlds with the best time travel books, including thrillers, romance, contemporary lit, classics, and mind-bending sci-fi.

As an avid reader and MLIS-degreed, rogue librarian, discover my top time travel novels of all time with brief reviews. Then, keep reading for more recommendations from The Uncorked Librarian reading community. I frequently change and update this reading list. Lately, I’m a basic b’ mood reader.

Looking for even more? You might also enjoy these incredibly unique books about time travel. Let me know your favorites in the comments. 💜 Christine

P.S. To save money on ebooks, along with your local library and indie bookstores, try Amazon Prime or Audible.

Contemporary & Literary Fiction Time Travel Books

From new releases to contemporary fiction, these are just a few books I enjoyed and recommend, with a few gentle critiques, too. Many of these are great for a book club!

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, I 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.

I was 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. I will say, not all of our Uncorked Readers loved this one as much as I did.

Before the coffee gets cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi

Translated by Geoffrey Trousselot | I just love translated Japanese literature. One of the most debated time travel books among my Uncorked 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 would you 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. I shed a tear or two. Discover even more terrific and thought-provoking Japanese fantasy novels here.

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, in The Midnight 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.

The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver

If you enjoy alternate realities, try 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 dragged for me pacing-wise, the overall story won me over with its emotional growth, demonstrating 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.

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 my all-time favorite time travel book recommendations to get readers more into sci-fi (just like Fourth Wing is to romantasy). While no one physically time travels – well, sort of – 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 affects mental health and can be fatal, causing people 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?

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… OK, very 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.

I can’t promise you’ll love or even understand This Is How You Lose The Time War – I’m not sure I 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…

Historical Fiction

Kindred by Octavia E. Butler

With themes of slavery and racism, Butler’s Kindred is a must-read. 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 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.

Time Travel Romance Books

I love a good time-travel romance novel. 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 my 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 lives 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 at 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.

The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

The Time Traveler’s Wife is one of the most well-known time travel romance novels and features a librarian: Henry and Clare have loved each other since, well, pretty much forever. Unfortunately, Henry has Chrono-Displacement Disorder, sporadically misplacing him in time. Of course, this time-traveling dilemma makes Clare 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.

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 friends’ 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 parents’ 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 Holidate or Groundhog’s Day. It’s light with a happy ending – typical of this author duo. I also recommend In A Holidaze if you are looking for Christmas family gathering books – a big request we see here at TUL.

Young Adult/Teen/Tween

For young adults and teens – plus adults who appreciate YA – read the best middle-grade and high school time travel books and graphic novels.

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 the U.S. Japanese incarceration [internment] camps – essentially glorified prisons – during WW2. Kiku begins learning more about her deceased grandmother’s history. 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 my favorite genres.

Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier

Translated by Anthea Bell | For YA historical fiction time travel books, 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. 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 my MLIS and public library days, Ruby Red was one of my 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 The Uncorked Librarian’s books with red (and more colors) in the title reading list.

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. I’ve only read the first in this eerie series, which 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.

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. This is a coming-of-age story with a little girl power.

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

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.

Time Travel Classics Everyone Should Read At Least Once

It’s no secret that I’m not the biggest classic lover, and many of these were taught in my high school, but just a few popular classic time travel books to read:

• The Time Machine by H.G. Wells
• A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain
• The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov
• Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut
• A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

More Time Travel Books Our Uncorked Readers Love

Our reading lists are constantly growing, especially with our Uncorked Readers Facebook group and annual reading challenge. These are just a few more books about time travel that our bookish community loves:

• The First Fifteen Lives Of Harry August by Claire North
• All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai
• Here And Now And Then by Mike Chen
• The Girl From Everywhere by Heidi Heilig
• The Night Mark by Tiffany Reisz
• A Knight In Shining Armor by Jude Deveraux
• The Shining Girls by Lauren Beukes
• The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton
• Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
• 11/22/63: A Novel by Stephen King
• What The Wind Knows by Amy Harmon

Before you go, you might also enjoy these movies with time loops.