Yikes on bikes this book was wild.
Let’s start with the summary.
My name was Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive.
“Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle. Her charming farmhouse is rustic, her husband a handsome cowboy, her six children each more delightful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers behind the scenes, her kitchen hiding industrial-grade fridges and ovens, her husband the heir to a political dynasty? What Natalie’s followers—all 8 million of them—don’t know won’t hurt them. And The Angry Women? The privileged, Ivy League, coastal elite haters who call her an antifeminist iconoclast? They’re sick with jealousy. Because Natalie isn’t simply living the good life, she’s living the ideal—and just so happens to be building an empire from it.
Until one morning she wakes up in a life that isn’t hers. Her home, her husband, her children—they’re all familiar, but something’s off. Her kitchen is warmed by a sputtering fire rather than electricity, her children are dirty and strange, and her soft-handed husband is suddenly a competent farmer. Just yesterday Natalie was curating photos of homemade jam for her Instagram, and now she’s expected to haul firewood and handwash clothes until her fingers bleed. Has she become the unwitting star of a ruthless reality show? Could it really be time travel? Is she being tested by God? By Satan? When Natalie suffers a brutal injury in the woods, she realizes two things: This is not her beautiful life, and she must escape by any means possible.
A gripping, electrifying novel that is as darkly funny as it is frightening, Yesteryear is a gimlet-eyed look at tradition, fame, faith, and the grand performance of womanhood.”
Natalie is a very unlikable character, and an unreliable narrator. She is really not a nice person at all, and never has been. When she leaves home for college, her mom implores her to “Be kind”, which doesn’t seem like it is in Natalie’s wheelhouse. She must have some sort of kind though, because she did end up getting married to Caleb. Who also is not a good character. This book is really full of unlikable people, who do ugly things. Natalie though has her social media audience fooled, or at least some of them. The Angry Women have never believed she was doing all that she said she was. Everything is an act with Natalie, and in fact she starts to view herself as Online Natalie and then just her regular self, and regular old Natalie is not a peach.
I don’t want to reveal too much here, or spoil anything so I am trying to tread lightly while giving an honest review.
Natalie is a master manipulator. She has a vision and forces people to follow her whims, whether that is through her money or fame or just dumb luck. And after the birth of her first child, she really needed some help but her mom managed that situation poorly, which did not help. Her mom perpetuated the old myth that Natalie could handle her own “baby blues’, and didn’t need any professional help, and instead recommended exercise. And this book is full of things like this, old worn out ways of thinking, tempered with the megaphone that is the internet.
And everything in her life is fake, fake, fake. And then one day, she is in 1855, with a family that she doesn’t recognize as her own. She suddenly has to live the life she pretended to live, and is not loving it. Her husband is a hard man, like a man from Puritan times, not the pliable husband she is used to.
And, I don’t think I should say anything else just in case.
Would I recommend this book? No, not really. It made me terribly sad, and was very heavy and intense. I understand why some of us want to read it though, just the curiosity of it all.
I am going to do a video for my secret YouTube later on, and I will post that link here if anyone is interested. I will explain a bit more there, and also reveal the twist for anyone who wants to know without reading the book.
Feel free to email me if you want to chat about it!
I was about halfway through I think and I just couldn’t keep going (I did have a peek at the ending, though).
Lol! I would have done the same thing had I dnf’d.
Ugh! I hate an unreliable narrator and I really dislike books where it seems like none of the characters have redeemable qualities. If I don’t like any of the characters I just can not keep reading. This definitely sounds like something I’d never get through.
It was just not the book for me. It wasn’t worth how it made me feel at the end. It was a good book, written well, had many valid points, etc. but overall, it made me not feel good.
Validating my decision to give this one a pass!
I think this is one of those books that if you want to read it, read it. If you already have hesitations, skip it. Lol.
It is our book club book for next month and have yet to start it. Now I wonder….
I know a lot of people did love this book, and found it amusing. I personally did not feel that way about it. I will be curious to know what you think!
I’ve read this book and I was somewhat disappointed in it. I know they were trying to get across the “influencer” life but this book had too much going on in my opinion. I hope the movie can do a better job at portraying what they really want to get across.
There was a LOT going on. I think it tried to comment on all aspects of social media – influencers, manly forums, reddit, conspiracy theorists, etc. I am very curious about the movie!
Nice review. Yes I read this as well in May … and it is a kooky kind of novel – where things aren’t as they seem. I can understand you not liking the characters etc. It is quite negative, yikes! The author seems to be critical of that kind of trad/fake life and poking fun in a darkly satirical way of Natalie & the social media world etc. It is a bit clever I think and perhaps a bit thought-provoking. Here are some more thoughts: https://www.thecuecard.com/books/yesteryear/
I do think she was doing that as well, and also poked fun at other groups online, like redditors, incels, etc. It was extremely thought provoking, I agree. I had to sit with this book for a bit to decide where I landed with it. I will have to pop over to read your review!
I have this on hold and still want to read it just because of your review and all the comments! I am one of those stubborn people who rarely DNF just because I’m so stubborn!! Let’s see if I make it through once I get it!
https://marshainthemiddle.com/
I am very much looking forward to talking with you about it!!! I think you will make it through. 🙂
I’m on the library waiting list for this one – a very long list!
I am looking forward to what you think of it!
I have been contemplating picking this one up but am always a little hesitant when something is suddenly *everywhere* and this book is definitely a hot topic right now. I appreciate your honest review. I may pick it up at some point, but I don’t need any nasty people in my orbit these days, even fictional characters 😉
There is not one likeable adult in this book. I absolutely detested them all. If you don’t want negativity in your life right now, I would skip this one for sure. Natalie will sit in your head for a few days after reading it, like an ugly angry toad.
I read this one with Susan in May. I think I saw there was a similar real life situation aboout a couple in Idaho who kept some of their kids in a bad situation. Don’t want to add more in case of spoilers for anyone who has not read it.
That twist at the end with Clementine was crazy!
I’ve been very intrigued by this one, but not sure about taking the plunge or not … I’m glad you’re going to reveal the twist, because I am now thinking this is a pass.
I had read a bit about this one and thought it sounded vaguely interesting with the whole influencer/trad wife thing. I don’t think our forebears had time for curating their social feeds while trying to keep themselves and their families alive. It didn’t really sound like something I would like though and your review has cemented my decision to skip it. I really struggle with unlikable characters. Natalie sounds like she would have a lot in common with Serena in Ron Rash’s book of the same name. She is unforgettable but holy moly, I kind of wish she were.
It was very well written, but every single adult in the book was unlikeable. I was unsettled and uncomfortable the whole time reading it.
While it didn’t delve into the whole social influencer/trad wife thing as deeply as Yesteryear, Everyone is Lying to You is a better read. It was a thriller, and just wasn’t as heavy and intense. This one made much deeper points and comparisons, and satirized many online worlds cleverly, but just wasn’t worth the ick feeling it gave me.
I’ve seen some interesting reviews on this one I think. It’s neat to get your take and see what you thought. Thanks for sharing!
https://lisalovesliterature.bookblog.io/2026/07/02/favorite-first-lines-june-2026/