“They were a comfort amid the silent howl of grief.”


Genre: Fantasy Fiction
Pages: 352
Published: July 6, 2017
Rate: 3 ⭐⭐⭐
Goodreads Synopsis
Tom Hazard has just moved back to London, his old home, to settle down and become a high school history teacher. And on his first day at school, he meets a captivating French teacher at his school who seems fascinated by him. But Tom has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he’s been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history–performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.

Unfortunately for Tom, the Albatross Society, the secretive group which protects people like Tom, has one rule: Never fall in love. As painful memories of his past and the erratic behavior of the Society’s watchful leader threaten to derail his new life and romance, the one thing he can’t have just happens to be the one thing that might save him. Tom will have to decide once and for all whether to remain stuck in the past, or finally begin living in the present.

How to Stop Time tells a love story across the ages–and for the ages–about a man lost in time, the woman who could save him, and the lifetimes it can take to learn how to live. It is a bighearted, wildly original novel about losing and finding yourself, the inevitability of change, and how with enough time to learn, we just might find happiness.


My Take
My picking up of How To Stop Time was because I wanted to read The Midnight Library, and I needed to have a feel of Matt Haig’s writing. I would say that he is a good writer. He did manage to have turning the pages so I consider that a win.

The premise of the book is quite interesting and that’s the major attraction to it. Rather, that is what made me continue reading it. I found it unique and liked how Matt Haig tells the story. A good plot altogether.

“I didn’t want to burst her innocence in the name of protecting it, and so I obliged her with lessons.”

What I didn’t like, granted this is a fantasy book, there are certain parts that were quite unbelievable and I struggled looking past it. At some point the story dips and it becomes boring, though it did pick pace. The ending felt rushed as well and it left me unsatisfied.

How To Stop Time is an okay read, it didn’t deter me from picking his other book, but I didn’t like it as much.


Have you read this book? What did you think about it?