Review: “When the Day Comes” by Gabrielle Meyer

Welcome to my blog post and review of Gabrielle Meyer’s debut novel with Bethany House Publishers: When the Day Comes. It’s a historical romance which has elements of a split time novel with the same heroine crossing time to be in both timelines — a completely unique concept I found fascinating.

How will she choose, knowing all she must sacrifice?

Libby has been given a powerful gift: to live one life in 1774 Colonial Williamsburg and the other in 1914 Gilded Age New York City. When she falls asleep in one life, she wakes up in the other. While she’s the same person at her core in both times, she’s leading two vastly different lives.

In Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and support the Patriot cause. The man she loves, Henry Montgomery, has his own secrets. As the revolution draws near, both their lives–and any hope of love–are put in jeopardy.

Libby’s life in 1914 New York is filled with wealth, drawing room conversations, and bachelors. But the only work she cares about–women’s suffrage–is discouraged, and her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess. The growing talk of war in Europe only complicates matters.

But Libby knows she’s not destined to live two lives forever. On her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other–but how can she choose when she has so much to lose in each life?

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When the Day Comes has a fantastic concept that plays out in a story of trust, sacrifice, and romance with some great twists and surprises! This novel’s unique setup allows the reader who has always dreamed of living in a different time period to see what it might be like for one person to experience two at once, and to consider the repercussions of choice and the importance of trust in (God’s) bigger plan for all time.

As the heroine also prefers, the 1774 timeline with the impending Revolution, spies, and a sweet (sometimes sad) romance was often my favorite point of view. Libby, thanks to her dual times and her mother’s input, has foreknowledge of the basics of what’s to come, which makes her choices and her part even more interesting as the contrasts between her 1774 and 1914 life continue. Her path in 1914 is more tumultuous but just as riveting, as the different setting (England, mostly) on the cusp of war has its own surprises.

It is a minor part of the story, but Libby’s role in each era explores the traditional role of females in each time — both of which contrast with today’s culture, which I think is neat.

There were a a few things I did suspect about the story’s direction and how Libby’s life would play out, but several, especially near the last quarter of the story, were a bittersweet and pleasant surprise. I’m looking forward to more novels in the “Timeless” series by Gabrielle Meyer — I’m especially excited to learn if future characters will be connected across time with Libby and her family.

Thank you to the publisher for the review copy. This is my honest review.