diff --git a/src/persistReducer.js b/src/persistReducer.js
index a35d5cae0..3dd8bcd00 100644
--- a/src/persistReducer.js
+++ b/src/persistReducer.js
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import defaultGetStoredState from './getStoredState'
 import purgeStoredState from './purgeStoredState'
 
 type PersistPartial = { _persist: PersistState }
+const DEFAULT_TIMEOUT = 5000
 /*
   @TODO add validation / handling for:
   - persisting a reducer which has nested _persist
@@ -47,6 +48,8 @@ export default function persistReducer<State: Object, Action: Object>(
       ? autoMergeLevel1
       : config.stateReconciler
   const getStoredState = config.getStoredState || defaultGetStoredState
+  const timeout =
+    config.timeout !== undefined ? config.timeout : DEFAULT_TIMEOUT
   let _persistoid = null
   let _purge = false
   let _paused = true
@@ -64,6 +67,33 @@ export default function persistReducer<State: Object, Action: Object>(
     let restState: State = rest
 
     if (action.type === PERSIST) {
+      let _sealed = false
+      let _rehydrate = (payload, err) => {
+        // only rehydrate if we are not already sealed
+        !_sealed && action.rehydrate(config.key, payload, err)
+        if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && _sealed)
+          console.error(
+            `redux-persist: rehydrate for "${
+              config.key
+            }" called after timeout.`,
+            payload,
+            err
+          )
+      }
+      timeout &&
+        setTimeout(() => {
+          !_sealed &&
+            _rehydrate(
+              undefined,
+              new Error(
+                `redux-persist: persist timed out for persist key "${
+                  config.key
+                }"`
+              )
+            )
+          _sealed = true
+        }, timeout)
+
       // @NOTE PERSIST resumes if paused.
       _paused = false
 
@@ -87,17 +117,17 @@ export default function persistReducer<State: Object, Action: Object>(
           const migrate = config.migrate || ((s, v) => Promise.resolve(s))
           migrate(restoredState, version).then(
             migratedState => {
-              action.rehydrate(config.key, migratedState)
+              _rehydrate(migratedState)
             },
             migrateErr => {
               if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production' && migrateErr)
                 console.error('redux-persist: migration error', migrateErr)
-              action.rehydrate(config.key, undefined, migrateErr)
+              _rehydrate(undefined, migrateErr)
             }
           )
         },
         err => {
-          action.rehydrate(config.key, undefined, err)
+          _rehydrate(undefined, err)
         }
       )
 
diff --git a/src/persistStore.js b/src/persistStore.js
index c79e5a8ac..51ee480e2 100644
--- a/src/persistStore.js
+++ b/src/persistStore.js
@@ -40,13 +40,12 @@ const persistorReducer = (state = initialState, action) => {
 
 export default function persistStore(
   store: Object,
-  persistorOptions?: PersistorOptions,
+  options?: ?PersistorOptions,
   cb?: BoostrappedCb
 ): Persistor {
-  let options: Object = persistorOptions || {}
-
   // help catch incorrect usage of passing PersistConfig in as PersistorOptions
   if (process.env.NODE_ENV !== 'production') {
+    let optionsToTest: Object = options || {}
     let bannedKeys = [
       'blacklist',
       'whitelist',
@@ -56,7 +55,7 @@ export default function persistStore(
       'migrate',
     ]
     bannedKeys.forEach(k => {
-      if (!!options[k])
+      if (!!optionsToTest[k])
         console.error(
           `redux-persist: invalid option passed to persistStore: "${k}". You may be incorrectly passing persistConfig into persistStore, whereas it should be passed into persistReducer.`
         )
@@ -64,7 +63,11 @@ export default function persistStore(
   }
   let boostrappedCb = cb || false
 
-  let _pStore = createStore(persistorReducer, initialState, options.enhancer)
+  let _pStore = createStore(
+    persistorReducer,
+    initialState,
+    options ? options.enhancer : undefined
+  )
   let register = (key: string) => {
     _pStore.dispatch({
       type: REGISTER,
diff --git a/src/types.js b/src/types.js
index e7a099a35..3f7f9fd78 100644
--- a/src/types.js
+++ b/src/types.js
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ export type PersistConfig = {
   getStoredState?: PersistConfig => Promise<PersistedState>, // used for migrations
   debug?: boolean,
   serialize?: boolean,
+  timeout?: number,
 }
 
 export type PersistorOptions = {
diff --git a/tests/complete.spec.js b/tests/complete.spec.js
index 5c62ea351..62f811f7a 100644
--- a/tests/complete.spec.js
+++ b/tests/complete.spec.js
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+
 // @flow
 
 import test from 'ava'
@@ -10,6 +11,7 @@ import { combineReducers, createStore } from 'redux'
 import persistReducer from '../src/persistReducer'
 import persistStore from '../src/persistStore'
 import { createMemoryStorage } from 'storage-memory'
+import brokenStorage from './utils/brokenStorage'
 import { PERSIST, REHYDRATE } from '../src/constants'
 import sleep from './utils/sleep'
 
@@ -19,6 +21,7 @@ const config = {
   version: 1,
   storage: createMemoryStorage(),
   debug: true,
+  timeout: 5,
 }
 
 test('multiple persistReducers work together', t => {
@@ -28,9 +31,40 @@ test('multiple persistReducers work together', t => {
     const rootReducer = combineReducers({ r1, r2 })
     const store = createStore(rootReducer)
     const persistor = persistStore(store, {}, () => {
-      console.log(store.getState(), persistor.getState()) 
       t.is(persistor.getState().bootstrapped, true)
       resolve()      
     })
   })
 })
+
+test('persistStore timeout 0 never bootstraps', t => {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    let r1 = persistReducer({...config, storage: brokenStorage, timeout: 0}, reducer)
+    const rootReducer = combineReducers({ r1 })
+    const store = createStore(rootReducer)
+    const persistor = persistStore(store, null, () => {
+      console.log('resolve')
+      reject()     
+    })
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      t.is(persistor.getState().bootstrapped, false)
+      resolve()
+    }, 10)
+  })
+})
+
+
+test('persistStore timeout forces bootstrap', t => {
+  return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
+    let r1 = persistReducer({...config, storage: brokenStorage}, reducer)
+    const rootReducer = combineReducers({ r1 })
+    const store = createStore(rootReducer)
+    const persistor = persistStore(store, null, () => {
+      t.is(persistor.getState().bootstrapped, true)
+      resolve()
+    })
+    setTimeout(() => {
+      reject()
+    }, 10)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/tests/utils/brokenStorage.js b/tests/utils/brokenStorage.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..75225cc4b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/utils/brokenStorage.js
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+// @flow
+
+export default {
+    getItem(): Promise<void> {
+        return new Promise((resolve: Function, reject: Function) => {})
+    },
+    setItem(): Promise<void> {
+        return new Promise((resolve: Function, reject: Function) => {})
+    },
+    removeItem(): Promise<void> {
+        return new Promise((resolve: Function, reject: Function) => {})
+    }
+  }
+  
\ No newline at end of file