Heads are conscientiously turned away from me, as if I’m a sudden bright light. There’s a light patter of keyboards like pi­geons walking on a roof (punctuated by the violent death stabs of Sophie), the radiator by the window is gurgling, the recep­tion is blindingly gold-leafed and the watercooler drips. If I’m looking for something good to come out of today—and I think I probably should—it’s that I won’t have to hear that every sec­ond for the rest of my working life.

Earnest portrayals of neurodivergent protagonists are few and far between, and I appreciated that the story honestly depicted Cassie's challenges. Overwhelmed by sounds; befuddled by unwritten social rules; beholden to strict routines of food and clothing; driven mad by pointless work meetings—Cassie sees and experiences the world differently from those around her. Her struggles to fit in have resonated not only with other autistics, but also more broadly across the neurodivergent community. It's important to note, however, that these experiences are not universal. As Smale herself points out: "This book does not represent autism, and neither I nor Cassie represent autistic people. We are simply individual voices in a choir of millions of amazing neurodivergent people, all with our own experiences, our own ways of seeing the world, our own ways of existing." Greek mythology is woven throughout the book as one of Cassandra’s great passions. Outside of her mother being a world-renowned Classics professor at Cambridge, what do you think it is about these tales that draws her to them? But overall, I'm still rounding up my 3.5 stars to 4 for its interesting concept and likable character.Premise: Cassandra is neurodivergent. The author portrays her as an annoying and anal character. She is dumped by her boyfriend and her job in the same day. Also, her flat mate situation has become untenable. So, let’s just say it is a very bad day for her. If you give the power of time travel to a woman who eats banana muffins ever day, for three decades, you can’t go expecting her to be someone else with it” But I wished that the character was not so obsessed in saving a job that she hated or a relationship that wasn’t older than 4 months. I absolutely ADORED Cassandra. With her passion for Greek mythology threaded throughout, she was such a delight. I loved being in her wonderfully quirky head and genuinely laughed out loud multiple times! I love that Cassie doesn't immediately use this power for any of the stereotypical time travel things like getting rich or averting catastrophes. No, she uses it in hilariously mundane ways: I fall asleep on the tube and end up in Walthamstow. Undo .

I liked the family/sister/parents storyline (however overdramatic it was) and all of the Greek mythology references, in the names and in Cassandra’s thoughts and its importance to her.I ended up liking the female roommate. Yes, the “message” of accepting yourself as you are and expecting that also from others is a good one as is being fine not being neurotypical. There are some quotes that I loved! We are delighted to share the first chapter of Holly Smale’s latest book Cassandra In Reverse, which releases on June 6th! How does Cassandra’s obsession with routine and dislike of change contribute to the events that unfold in the story? Explore the theme of acceptance and self-acceptance in the novel. How does Cassandra’s journey through time teach her to embrace herself and her flaws? It’s revealed near the end of the book that Cassandra, like her mother, has autism. While this might not have been as surprising to you as it was for her, how did experiencing life through her eyes affect your understanding of autistic people?

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I enjoy speculative fiction and time travel. I loved the movie Groundhog Day and loved the premise of this book. By the end, I was left floundering. I wondered what the lesson was. What was the message, the timeline of anything, the takeaway from everything I just read...? It's so unfortunate, but the promising beginning fizzled out to confusion in the final chapters. Everything I thought the book was about changed to something else, then left completely unresolved and undone. I decided on three stars, but this really was a tough one to rate. I enjoyed the author's writing style a lot, unfortunately the execution left something to be desired. Also, a minor complaint I have is the excessive references/comparisons to ancient Greek Gods. I understand that it was Cassandra's obsession, but there were so many insertions into the story that it became boring and I started skimming over them.

I definitely likes things a certain way myself, but I always wonder if authors who write from the POV of an individual like Cassandra is generalizing people with autism or truly knows someone with her attributes? I’m not a big fan of ‘groundhog day’ types of repetitive scenarios, especially when they repeat someone’s worst day of terrible encounters over and over again. So much awkwardness and pain. Ugh! The repetitiveness went on too long and just wasn’t enjoyable to read. I wanted to stop. But I persevered and did find redeemable aspects to the story. After she’s dealt a one-two punch of losing her boyfriend and her job in the span of a single morning, her fervent desire for a redo bizarrely comes true. Hoping to change the outcomes, Cassandra tries to do it all “right,” over and over. But what she discovers, and so do we, is that maybe we don’t need fixing. Full of heart, humor, and Greek mythology, Cassandra In Reverse made me laugh out loud and touched my heart in unexpected ways. — Seira Wilson Like me, she would struggle with human connection and communication; she would find relationships difficult, emotions confusing and her environment sensorily overwhelming,” the author continued. “Like me, she would be considered ‘weird’ and frequently ‘unlikeable’ and would struggle to find her place in a world that held her permanently at arms’ length.”Self discovery and awareness become the byproduct for Cassandra as she tries to fix her responses to Will in their dating events. It’s half way through that she looks outside herself to discover the other side and it’s not just about her and Will anymore. Other relationships must come into play. She also tries to do her job better but I like that her view of the job doesn't change. She still hates it but learns to deal with her boss and also fix her workplace relationships. She's resilient but also learns where to be flexible. She just grows SO MUCH and I was supporting her the whole way through. I loved Sophie and how we misread her at the start. She ended up being by favourite character in the end (along with Art and Sal).