Seconds to Spare

Seconds to Spare
by Rachel Reiss
Wednesday Books, 2026. 311 pages. Young Adult, Science Fiction, Mystery.

Eighteen-year-old Evelyn Werth is the only person onboard Aloha Airways Flight 1333 who's stuck in a 28-minute time loop, one that repeats over and over again—and always ends with the plane crashing. When Orion James—the cute boy who's been asleep the entirety of each cycle—wakes, it triggers an alarming change. As the two grow closer and learn to trust each other, they discover there's more to the loop than they initially realized. They must find the hidden clues, piece together the moving puzzle, and save everyone onboard -before it's too late.

Rachel Reiss’ award-winning Wattpad story Velocity to Never Exceed is now a full-length novel! This tale would work very well as an episode of The Twilight Zone—an ordinary person is plunged into a supernatural scenario, and is often the only one aware of what’s going on. The question at the core of this kind of story is not how or why this has happened, but rather what our protagonist will do and what they will reveal about themselves in the process.

Evelyn is a very likeable heroine; her personal pain (the reason why she was on the plane in the first place) doesn’t stop her from making real (if temporary) connections with her fellow passengers. (I loved her open admission that she had eaten everyone’s snacks at least once, as well as binged everyone’s downloaded entertainment options, throughout her many loops.) Orion is more introverted, but once he gets over the shock of his situation, he is a good match for Evelyn’s outgoing (and tangent-prone) personality. I was glad that Evelyn was granted a companion to help her solve the mystery of the loops; even with the seemingly infinite time available, two heads are definitely better than one.

Reiss lays out all the essential pieces of the puzzle right at the beginning, but doesn’t make anything too obvious, and brings everything together for a very satisfying conclusion. If you enjoy race-against-the-clock mysteries with a healthy dose of the fantastic, Seconds to Spare would be a good pick for you!

If you like Seconds to Spare, you might like:

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-LAH