When Nephele has a terrible freshman year, she does the only logical thing for a math prodigy like herself: she invents a time travel app so she can go back and do it again (and again, and again) in this funny love story, Groundhog Day for the iPhone generation.
Fourteen-year-old Nephele used to have friends. Well, she had a friend. That friend made the adjustment to high school easily, leaving Nephele behind in the process. And as Nephele looks ahead, all she can see is three very lonely years.
Nephele is also a whip-smart lover of math and science, so she makes a plan. Step one: invent time travel. Step two: go back in time, have a do-over of 9th grade, crack the code on making friends and become beloved and popular.
Does it work? Sort of. Nephele does travel through time, but not the way she planned–she’s created a time loop, and she’s the only one looping. And she keeps looping, for ten years, always alone. Now, facing ninth grade for the tenth time, Nephele knows what to expect. Or so she thinks. She didn’t anticipate that her new teacher would be a boy from her long ago ninth grade class, now a grown man; that she would finally make a new friend, after ten years. And, she couldn’t have pictured someone like Jazz, with his deep violet eyes, goofy magic tricks and the quietly intense way he sees her. After ten freshman years, she still has a lot more to learn. But now that she’s finally figured out how to go back, has she found something worth staying for?
Praise for Time Travel for Love and Profit
Amazing Audiobooks for Young Adults 2022 Nominee (ALA-YALSA)
A Kirkus Review 10 Outstanding 2020 Fall Titles for Teens
Feature title in Publishers Weekly’s Time Loops and Multiverses: A Children's and YA Book List, “a selection of books for young readers that bend space and time, reminiscent of iconic series such as Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time Quintet and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.”
“Lariviere’s YA debut is a multifaceted mélange of math and hormones; Nephele’s introspective monologues are filled with elegantly descriptive detail, tending toward a rambling stream-of-consciousness that many readers will find winning.” — Publishers Weekly
"For fans of Scott Westerfeld's YA sci-fi and the whimsy of Dr. Who." — School Library Journal
"Lariviere revels in math and science, unabashedly celebrates science fiction and romance novels, and anchors the story in a realistic, comfortably cozy coastal Californian setting. The lack of catastrophic, explosion-riddled scenes, evil overlords, or alien invasions renders this a gentle, grounded read, reminiscent of A Wrinkle in Time...A heartwarming story of hacking high school through math." — Kirkus Reviews
"The science is fun, the idea of an app as the vehicle for time travel is unique, and the supporting characters are fabulous—even DirkAngus, the app—has personality." — YALSA's Amazing Audiobooks Featured review
"Captivating and wildly creative, Time Travel for Love and Profit gave me that thrill of excitement you feel when you find a new YA voice that you know will become one of your favorites." — Rachael Allen, author of A Taxonomy of Love and The Summer of Impossibilities
"This bittersweet, beautifully funny novel is wonderfully weird and infinitely loveable. Staying up all night reading it is like an all-time memorable sleepover with your best, most oddball friend.” – Harriet Reuter Hapgood, author of How To Be Luminous and The Square Root of Summer
"A wild and funny ride through that most treacherous time of all: freshman year.This is a wise and timely reminder that there are no do-overs in life!" —Brent Hartinger, author of Geography Club and The Otto Digmore Difference
"Smart, tender, and deliciously nerdy." — Ariel Kaplan, author of We Are the Perfect Girl