When the Day Comes by Gabrielle Meyer

When the Day Comes
by Gabrielle Meyer

ISBN-13: 9780764239748
Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Bethany House
Released: May 3rd 2022

Source: ebook review copy from the publisher through NetGalley.

Book Description, Modified from Goodreads:
Libby has been given a 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. On her twenty-first birthday, she must choose one path and forfeit the other.

In Colonial Williamsburg, Libby is a public printer for the House of Burgesses and the Royal Governor, trying to provide for her family and quietly 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. Her mother is intent on marrying her off to an English marquess in hopes that she'll gain in her own social status. The possibility of war in Europe only complicates matters.


My Review:
When the Day Comes is a historical set in 1774 in Williamsburg, Virginia and 1914 in New York City. It was extremely predictable. At about a third of the way into the story, I told someone the setup and predicted "I bet these people die, this happens, she has to choose this way, but this happy ending is highly hinted at." Yup, it all happened. What I didn't predict was that the 1914 timeline went from her self-centered mother verbally abusing and emotionally manipulating her to, worse, a stranger husband that got drunk and raped her more than once. While the actual rapes were not a detailed scene, we're shown how Libby was emotionally devastated.

Male time-crossers are apparently told this gift allows them to be heroes in one timeline with the knowledge that, if they die, they'll still have a second life to live. They're encouraged to make history (and, I assume, stand against evil). The women are told to be very careful not to change history to the point they just kind of observe it. We're told that this important event or that one happened, but we mainly got scenes of Libby longing miserably for Henry, trying to financially support her indebted 1774 family, and a few social events. She was a part of one major historical event, yet I never felt immersed in the history. Libby was also told that if women time-crossers got pregnant, they must give up their choice of paths in order to sacrificially have and raise their children.

Libby believes that God placed her to be born to this cruel mother, and she must honor her mother. Libby's even told that, if she acts to change her circumstances, she will be playing God and going against God's plan for her. The message seemed to be that she should submit in abusive relationships to prove that she trusted God over wanting her own way. Well, I don't agree that it's wrong to try to get away from abusive relationships. And while I'd say that sinful people do harmful things and God can bring good even from things that happen due to living in an evil, fallen world, that's not really the message here. // There was no bad language.


If you've read this book, what do you think about it? I'd be honored if you wrote your own opinion of the book in the comments.


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