In BBroken Rival by Tessa Bailey, Magnolia Brown’s parents, scientists who created suits that allow people to time travel, brought her fifty-two years in the past with a 
clear purpose: to warn against the use of the suits and about the upcoming drought and famine they need to prepare for in advance. It was good in theory. But in actuality, Magnolia’s parents were being a bit naive to think they wouldn’t be jailed or worse when found in that timeline. Unfortunately, her parents only had time to tell her to run just before they were taken to D.C. and executed for time traveling, which has been outlawed due to people using it for their own personal gain. Somehow Magnolia found her way to Aubrey, Kansas, into the arms of a family that stood up for her when no one else was willing to do so. And that gains them her loyalty right from the beginning.
‘No citizen of the Earth will commit the act of time travel, nor aid and abet others in the act of time travel.’
While the Willoughby family could see the goodness in Magnolia and believed that she and her parents were only trying to help humankind, not everyone in the small town of Aubrey felt the same way. Most locals either stayed out of her way or only let their true feelings be known when the Willoughby’s weren’t around. So, when a devastating event occurs in town, sending Magnolia on the run, it doesn’t honestly surprise her when Ramsey–one of the soldiers who hunts down time travelers, but who is also part of her found family–comes to her rescue. They’ve always had a tumultuous relationship. She’s been much closer to Ramsey’s brother Fallon since finding her way to Aubrey. But as things get more dangerous, Magnolia finds safety and a teensy bit of comfort in the soldier’s company. Something that only makes things between them more complicated as lies, double-crossing, and bits of the truth begin coming out about everything happening around them.
“Goodbye sweetheart. I’ll think of you until the last second.”
When I read the synopsis for BROKEN RIVAL, it said that this was “Tessa Bailey as you’ve never seen her before”. I wanted to scoff. I’ve read several of her books over the years and each one has been wholly its own story with unique characters and plots. But I have to admit they weren’t kidding. Part science fiction, part new adult romance, with suspense, small town deceit, and uber complicated relationships, this truly was a novel that had it all. And while the main character, Magnolia Brown, was on the younger side at eighteen, there was nothing overly naive or teenagerish about what she endured.
‘If my parents taught me anything, it’s defiance.’
What impressed me most about Magnolia was that she was determined. In everything she did. It’s not that she was a Type-A personality. She was thrown into every dangerous, life-altering situation you can think of, but Magnolia never failed to keep trying. To keep pushing forward. She had grit and spunk in spades. But she also spent a good chunk of the book grieving the loss of far too many loved ones. And that was when Magnolia’s true feelings came out in her inner thoughts, showing her in a way that felt more realistic than maybe her people pleasing tendencies did before everything went even more sideways in her life.
Then there was the romantic thread. Without giving too many hints away, I will say that this wasn’t a true love triangle, but it had…whispers of it, for lack of a better term. It was a complex mess. And there was a lot of page time between Magnolia and Ramsey due to circumstances that threw me for a loop initially. I’m always interested in morally gray heroes. And wow did Ramsey fit that bill. But there were so many layers in not only their possibly burgeoning relationship but also in his role in her life, being a fairly high-level soldier meant to find and execute time travelers (sort of) like Magnolia.
TROPES/VIBES:
*Time Travel/Sci Fi
*Dystopian
*Morally gray antihero
*Heroine left 50 years in the past
*Found family
CW: Parental and prominent character death
Now as to the science fiction and time travel part of the story, I think Bailey did a fantastic job. Readers will likely be pretty fascinated with the idea of Magnolia being left fifty-two years in the past–alone–to find her way home while not being very scientific unlike her parents were. So many emotions were wrapped up in it: guilt, grief, anger, frustration, disbelief, love. But the bigger elements at play were what toyed with me. Trying to figure out the ripple effect of time travel. The moral and ethical dilemma of changing history or the future as well as what to do after the fact with those who actually travel and influence time. It was a lot to ponder. And I can’t wait to see where Tessa Bailey takes us as we go further into this incredible world she’s created.
Different, dramatic, spicy, and completely entertaining—BROKEN RIVAL was Tessa Bailey taking a big swing, and I was here for it.
QOTD: Have you read any books, or watched movies/TV shows about time travel that you enjoyed?
Book Info:
Publication: Published: October 6th, 2026 | Avon |
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Tessa Bailey comes a gripping, heated romance about a girl trapped in a new reality, forced to make a choice between two brothers—one who is the high school golden boy, the other sworn to hunt down her kind—time travelers. This is Tessa Bailey as you’ve never seen her before.
Magnolia Brown loves Friday night football games, volunteering and dominating at high school swim meets. Just your average everyday eighteen-year-old. Except for one thing:
She’s from fifty years in the future.
Magnolia’s parents, two brilliant scientists, are the inventors of time travel, but due to widespread destruction and rampant abuse of the technology from a corrupt few, time travel is outlawed and punishable by death. When Magnolia’s parents are seized and executed for illegally traveling to the past, they leave Magnolia stranded in 2026 without a way to get home.
Now Magnolia has nowhere to turn but a complicated Kansas family with two sons—Fallon, her high school sweetheart with secrets of his own, and Ramsey, the brooding militia commander who hunts and kills criminals like her. Magnolia knows Ramsey resents and hates her, but how can he be her true enemy when he looks at her with such hunger, despite his callousness, and guards her with his very life? Which brother can she trust and is the real danger coming from inside the house?
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