If you’re in the mood for a particular type of forbidden romance (or trying to avoid a trope you know isn’t for you), here are a few recommendations to get you started! I’ve grouped together some of the most common tropes you’ll find in this quest, plus a section for books with more unique premises.

Student/teacher

Dark Notes by Pam Godwin Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy C. Cherry Waking Olivia by Elizabeth O’Roark The Hookup Equation by Roxie Noir 4th Degree by Nikki Castle Lessons in Sin by Pam Goodwin

Step-siblings & adopted siblings

For The Fans by Nyla K Eyes On Me by Sara Cate June First by Jennifer Hartmann Double Play by C.L. Rose Head Above Water by C.E. Ricci Shattered Innocence by Sara Cate

Ex-partner’s parent

Wild Card by Elsie Silver Praise by Sara Cate Chasing The Wild by Elliot Rose The Doctor by Nikki Sloane The Tryst by Lauren Blakely Birthday Girl by Penelope Douglas

Best friend’s parent

Mistakes Were Made by Meryl Wilsner Older by Jennifer Hartmann Taylor’s Father by Penelope Ward The Quarterback by Tal Bauer Mrs Middleton by Melissa Tereze

Dad’s best friend

A Major Puck Up by Brittanee Nicole Torn by Carian Cole If You Want Me by Helena Hunting My Dirty Duke by Joanna Shupe

Unique forbidden premises

Still Beating by Jennifer Hartmann (please check cw!) If We Could Go Back by Cara Dee A Family Affair by Harper Bliss Sinner by Sierra Simone Sunday Morning by Jewel E. Ann

Just a quick note: these aren’t all the tropes featured in this quest, just the most popular ones. If people find this helpful, I’m happy to edit this post and add the rest of the books & tropes!

Happy reading!

Hi everyone! I’m Sasha (@sashareads). Putting this quest together has felt a bit like tending to a tiny book‑baby, and I’m so excited to finally share it with you. I hope you’ll adore it as much as I do.🥰

About the quest The Kaleidoscope of Time dives into worlds where time doesn’t behave the way we expect - loops, pockets, displacement, and intentional travel across eras. Because it stretches across so many genres, some books will feel instantly like your thing and others might not - and that’s completely okay. You’ll find a mix of YA and adult titles across historical fiction, speculative fiction, literary fiction, romance, dystopian, fantasy, mystery, thrillers, and plenty of genre‑blending, all threaded with a touch of sci‑fi.

If you’d like to read some of the books that helped make the subgenre what it is today, then you should go for The Time Ship: A Chrononautical Journey by Enrique Gaspar, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain, Kindred by Octavia E. Butler and Outlander by Diana Gabaldon.

Personally I’ve especially enjoyed Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (Historical Fiction), Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (Fantasy), Love Lethal, Death Divine by Jelena Dunato (Fantasy Romance), The Austen Affair by Madeline Bell (Historical Romance), The Everlasting by Alix E. Harrow (Fantasy Romance), and On the Calculation of Volume I by Solvej Balle (Literary Fiction)

Quest recommendations I’ll be taking suggestions through this post: Quest Recommendations. Please give it a read before sharing your recs.

We’re all passionate about our favorite time travel stories, and I’d truly love to hear yours. However, recommending a book doesn’t guarantee it’ll be added, even if it’s popular and/or fits the criteria.

Let’s get questing! 🕰️

do you take notes? do you read slower? do you bust out highlighters and tabs?

when i was young and we’d get pulled out of class to assess our reading, i was well aware of the timer in my teacher’s hand. i could read quickly and fluently, but when it came to the post-reading quiz, i realized i didn’t retain much of anything.

fast forward to current day me, predisposed to the quick dopamine-laden yet numbing nature of social media—i’ve read 30+ books this year, and i doubt my abilities to describe to you what each was about. i can’t really do it with my most recent reads either. (i have suffered from great memory loss, undiagnosed, but i suspect from depression, but i still think i can afford to slow down and soak in the words on a page).

i also think i’m too hard on myself with reading (and anything i do lol) so i involuntarily add pressure to the hobby, and then i get frustrated with myself.

please help 🥲

In just 4 days, August will be over. It feels like it passed a little too quickly. With it, summer will technically be over too (actually, by date, in my country fall starts SEP 22nd usually, but it's easier to think of the end of august as the end of summer).

As a fall girlie and stressed student, this is both a joy and a demise. So, what are the best things and worst things about fall in your opinion? For me, the best things are Halloween and the leaves changing colour; worst things are having to adjust to a strict routine, sacrificing my free time and getting caught unprepared by the rain.

Reading wise, how did your summer go? It's the time when I try to read the most since I have more time and I know that's the same for lots of people. Did you have any goals for it? Did you manage to meet them? Any particular stand outs of this season?

In June I managed to get myself back up from a reading slump, in July I got back into my three books a month habit, and that led me to being a little ambitious with myself this August. I wanted to read 2 manga, 1 non fiction and 4 novels. Considering the most I'd read in a month was just 4 books and this would've made the count go up to 7, I'm still really happy I ended up reading 5.

I'm trying to squeeze into these last few days one more read, it's a very short book, so I might actually make it, but forcing myself to read while on a busy vacation put me into a slump these past few days, so I don't know if I'll be able to.

Now I'm curious to hear about how your summer was and to know if you're also trying to squeeze in some more reads like me. For anybody who was waiting for fall, we're almost there! And for all the summer lovers, hope you had so much fun<3

if pagebound had emojis for users profiles like they do for books, which three emojis would you choose for yourself and why?

mine would be 🐝 because i like honey or ⭐️ because i like stars (duh!) 🍊 my favorite fruit 🧵 because i like to crochet but i don't like the emoji 🧶 lol

(i already have them in my bio because no way i would not have them)