Time of My Life, by Allison Winn Scotch (Book Review)

What an awesome book! I love stories that involve manipulating time or involve some sort of road-not-taken scenario. In this book, protagonist Jillian Westfield is living the perfect suburban housewife and mother of an adorable 18-month-old in 2007. She loves her daughter, but she's bored to tears by her life and her marriage has definitely lost its luster.

Then one day she wakes up and it's seven years earlier. (Now, my first thought was, there's no way I could relive the Bush years, but since it was July 2000, I would have wanted alert the media that BUSH IS GOING TO STEAL FLORIDA! And beware of that stupid butterfly ballot!).

But I digress. Other than a brief mention of the Bush-Gore race, there is almost no mention of politics. In 2000, Jill's life was at a crossroads. She was about ready to break up with her exciting but rather unambitious and noncommittal boyfriend, Jackson, and about ready to get together with the man she would eventually marry, Henry. She is now intent on trying to make things work with Jack, and not getting together with Henry. She now has the advantage of 20/20 hindsight; often things work out well because of this. For example, when her friend Meg has a miscarriage, Jill knows it is going to happen, and this time she thinks to call 911 in advance instead of going to Meg first and then calling 911. This is crucial since Meg lost so much blood the first time that she required a transfusion and sustained much more internal damage. Also, Jill is able to anticipate trouble spots in her relationship with Jack and deal with problems more effectively.

Occasionally things don't work out quite as well, because each new action has unintended consequences. For example, her boss Josie's marriage appears to be going south, even though as far as Jill knows, Josie and her husband were perfectly happy in 2007. Jill is upset by the possibility that her interfering in the past, trying to change things, has caused problems for Josie. Also, even though Jill doesn't want to get together with her husband, she misses her daughter, who will never be if she stays with Jack.

But things are going great with Jack, now that she knows he's the one she wants. Or are they?

Is the problem that Jill chose the wrong person? Or is the problem that she has stifled too much of herself and failed to confront her own demons?

This is a book that will resonate with anyone who has ever wished they could have gne back and made a different choice in life. How many of us have wished we could have made a relationship work (or left a bad one sooner), not dropped out of college, taken a risk instead of playing it safe, or done any number of things we felt would have made our lives better? It is a book that invites self-reflection. The book is also a real page turner. I was fascinated by the concept and couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I look forward to reading more from this author.