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Lily Tripp: Diary of an Accidental Time Traveler
Lily Tripp
by Amelia Tait
Thirteen year old Lily Tripp never planned on being a time traveler. It just happens. One minute she’s in the twenty-first century, and then with the New Year’s countdown she finds herself in an entirely different era. Each year has new challenges and she has to learn about the customs and technology of each age from Victorian England to Ancient Rome to America in the 1970’s. Lily’s best friend Poppy, her nemesis Georgia, and her special friend Ollie appear wherever Lily “lands.” Her family and pets are there too, but everyone takes on a role different from the one they have in their original time frame. For example, in the seventeenth century, Lily is Georgia’s servant and sleeps on a trundle bed at Georgia’s side. Lily records all of her travels in a diary along with lists and special notes about her experiences.
As you can imagine, there is a lot of humor in this book. Readers are also exposed to the history of various time frames, and will have to decide how they would confront various situations. Being a young teenager is hard enough without being thrown into completely new expectations. Bullying and friendship are major themes. Young love in the form of a possible budding romance is woven into the story also. I liked watching the characters Lily and Poppy navigate the minefields inherent in being thirteen years old. The diary format was a good one for this tale. I will watch out for the next book in this series, and I recommend it for middle age readers, especially girls.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 4/5
Category: Children’s Fiction, Middle Grades
Notes: 1. Ages 10-14
2. #1 in the Lily Tripp Diary Series
3. Includes notes explaining what is historically accurate and what isn’t.
Publication: May 12, 2026—Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group (can be pre-ordered)
Memorable Lines:
Every New Year’s day until the last one, I entered a New Old Year. And everyone I know came back to a different time with me and spent a whole year in the past. But here’s the kicker: absolutely no one seemed to notice it was happening except for ME.
Fairly early on in my time travels, I realized that while everyone’s memories get adjusted, they don’t disappear…And if old memories won’t fit into new perspectives, then it seems they end up sort of jumbled, so people don’t remember exactly what happened, but they do remember how they felt.
The one thing I can say for certain about Joey or Joseph or whoever he is—the one thing that was true in 1922, 1621 and the 1970s—is that he has a knack for staying out of trouble while getting other people into it.
The Diary at the Last House Before the Sea–disappearance in the cove
The Diary at the Last House Before the Sea
By Liz Eeles
The chapters in this book alternate narrators from Clara who returned to Heaven’s Cove to help her mother when her father became sick; to Geoffrey, the Lord of the Manor; to River, Geoffrey’s estranged son. Clara’s mother, Julie Netherway, housekeeper and cook for the manor, still lives in the little house on the manor property where Clara was raised. She is dedicated to caring for Geoffrey and the manor as were all Netherway women who came before her.
Geoffrey was a gruff father, but actually loves his son. His wife left her husband with River when he was a teenager to live in a commune in Australia. It was hard to have a relationship with his father, and he cut ties completely with Clara who had been his friend from childhood.
River is called back to Heaven’s Cove as an adult because his father is in financial straits and Cousin Bartie is convincing him that he needs to sell the manor, the only home Geoffrey has ever known and his family heritage.
This novel has gentle romantic tones, but dives deeply into the characters and their motivations. Most interesting to me is the mystery of why Geoffrey’s beautiful and adored stepmother Audrey had committed suicide when he was just a child. Sadly, he actually saw her walk into the ocean to her death. He has always wondered why he was not good enough.
Clara discovers Audrey’s diary which seems to have coded messages in it. She is fascinated by this woman and the sad tale of her death which so many years later has affected Geoffrey and River in turn.
I highly recommend The Diary at the Last House Before the Sea for its intricate plot and interesting characters. I have read several books in this series and have enjoyed all of them. The author is a very good storyteller.
I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Rating: 5/5
Category: Fiction, Women’s Fiction
Notes: #7 in the Heavens Cove series, but should be considered a standalone as the setting is the main element that connects these novels.
Publication: July 8, 2024—Bookouture
Memorable Lines:
Sunbeams were dappling through the trees at the cove’s edge and River realised that he was literally walking in his cousin’s shadow, just as he always had metaphorically.
…she nodded anyway, glowing at being called a swan. Though that did imply she’d once been an ugly duckling.
He’d long prided himself on being an unsentimental man, yet all kinds of emotions were now bubbling to the surface of his mind, like bleached bones rising from the depths of the ocean.
education pathways 