Oona Out of Order ⭐⭐⭐⭐💫

Oona Out of Order by Margarita Montimore


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G👀dreads About Summary

A remarkably inventive novel that explores what it means to live a life fully in the moment, even if those moments are out of order.

It’s New Year’s Eve 1982, and Oona Lockhart has her whole life before her. At the stroke of midnight she will turn nineteen, and the year ahead promises to be one of consequence. Should she go to London to study economics, or remain at home in Brooklyn to pursue her passion for music and be with her boyfriend? As the countdown to the New Year begins, Oona faints and awakens thirty-two years in the future in her fifty-one-year-old body. Greeted by a friendly stranger in a beautiful house she’s told is her own, Oona learns that with each passing year she will leap to another age at random. And so begins Oona Out of Order...

Hopping through decades, pop culture fads, and much-needed stock tips, Oona is still a young woman on the inside but ever changing on the outside. Who will she be next year? Philanthropist? Club Kid? World traveler? Wife to a man she’s never met? Surprising, magical, and heart-wrenching, Margarita Montimore has crafted an unforgettable story about the burdens of time, the endurance of love, and the power of family.

Genre: Fiction, Time Travel, Magical Realism, Fantasy 

The How/Why: 🤷No idea. It's been on my TBR for a long time. I've been putting it off because I'm not the biggest fan of time travel. This is a different kind of time travel so I decided to give it a go since I'm in kind of a magical realism mood.
Added bonus: Narration by Brittany Pressley, always a plus.

⭐⭐⭐⭐💫 I'm going with 4.5. 

🎉🎊 Overall Storytelling? 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 I think she hit all five categories in the storytelling. 

  • Setting the stage. Atmosphere, Vibe 
  • Likeable Characters: Protagonist, Supporting Cast, Extras 
  • Unlikeable Antagonist 
  • Executing the premise
  • Lives up to the promise

🎣🎏 Did it grab and keep my attention? 🎣🎣🎣🎣

🗣️Would I recommend it to anyone? Yes ➕

🕮 Would I want a sequel? No ➖ 

📚 Would I want to read more books by this author? Maybe 🤷 

⚠️💣💥 📢 Content Warnings? SȖbstɐncɇ AbŲsɇ, Infïdɇlïty, Tɇrmïnɐl IllnɇŞŞ

🌶️🫑Spice? Google says 1 🌶️. I'll let you know. 
Update: 🌶️🌶️

🌪 Plot Twist? Yes, if yes, Predictable? Yes

👟 Pace? A little uneven. At one point I was bored with the time hop but then it would pull me back in. 

💻 Tidbits ~ I didn't really know what to expect. It's time travel but it's not your typical time travel. I wouldn't call it Fantasy or Sci Fi. It's a totally different type of time-hop.

We experience Oona being 19, 29, 35, and 51, but completely out of order. Imagine being 19 one night - footloose, fancy free, living life in the fast lane. Then BAM! You wake up 51. Where am I, how did I get in this middle-age body, and who are these people? 
One constant along the way is her Mom. Every time Oona wakes up on New Year's Day, she recognizes her Mom but has no idea what happened in her last loop. Madeleine tries to help her understand what is going on without revealing too much. 

Character Cheat Sheet:

Oona: Living her life out of order. 
Madeleine: Oona's Mother.
Dale: Her musician boyfriend in the 1982 timeline.
Crosby: Boyfriend in the 1991 timeline (where she learns a hard lesson). 
Edward: Partner in her mid-life years (another hard lesson).
Kenzie: Her loyal assistant in her later years, helping her understand family and legacy.

Favorite Character:
Cyn. Her fierce and loyal friend. Helps stop her downward spiral in her 1991 club scene timeline. 
The rest of the book Madeleine and Kenzie stole the show. 

My Takeaway: You can't change your history, but can you make better choices? Stop fighting time and enjoy the moment you're in.  

Half Star Deduction: I deducted half star because the pacing was a little uneven. A couple of times I was getting bored with the back-and-forth, but then it would pull me right back in. 

🎧 Narrator: Brittany Pressley 💗She brought on the whiplash, pulling the rug out from under me with each hop, time after time. 

🎧11.30 hours (Listened on: Libby) 🕮 339 pages

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