Monday, January 6, 2014

Book Review: A Way Back to You by Emily Gray Clawson

Title: A Way Back to You
Author: Emily Gray Clawson
Enjoyment Rating: ***
Source: Kindle
This book would be rated: PG

In A Way Back to You, Annabelle is still reeling after the death her husband, more than two years earlier. She hasn't gotten her groove back, and everyone around her can see it. A friend stages an intervention, and Annabelle goes to spend the weekend with her parents, to give her a chance to decompress from the stress of single parenthood. But when she wakes up the next morning, she's sixteen years old, and she has to relive part of her teenage years in order to get back to the present. But should she live her life differently? If she can meet her husband earlier, giving herself four extra years with him, should she? What about the boy she was crazy about at the time? Just how much should she change the course of her life?

While I didn't understand the final chapter of the novel, when she returns to the present (certain things were altered that seemed kind of unalterable, like the structure of her husband's brain), and there were problems with the timeline (she repeats many times that they had thirteen years together, but I did the math and they had at least fifteen years together), I really enjoyed the portions of the novel when Annabelle is in the past. There are times when I'd love to live my teen years with the wisdom of my thirtysomething brain, and Annabelle gets that opportunity, which is fun to see.

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