Time of My Life by Allison Winn Scotch
Jillian is a happy upper-middle class wife and mother. At least that’s the persona she’s determined to portray. She finally has to admit her unhappiness to herself when she hears that her ex-boyfriend, a man who was the opposite of her husband in so many ways, is getting married. Stuck in her big suburban house with only her young daughter for company while her husband is away on business and feeling ever more like a stranger, Jillian begins to wonder what it would have been like if she had stayed with Jackson instead of leaving him and marrying Henry. Would she be in a more passionate relationship? Would she have something more to do with her days than play with the baby and take yoga, perhaps have been promoted in her job at the ad agency? Suddenly Jillian finds herself seven years in the past, before she and Jack broke up, before she met Henry. She’s been given the chance for a do-over, to find out what would have happened if she had not ended thing with Jack. What if.
You don’t have to tell me that this plot sounds kind of iffy. It is the sort of thing that could either be good, or unbelievably stupid and saccharine. Luckily, Allison took this story and made it good. Very good, in fact. It was perhaps slightly odd that Jillian didn’t freak out more and consider herself completely insane when she suddenly found herself seven years in her past, but I loved the way she embraced her opportunity and tried her best to make things work out with Jackson. She was able to employ great self-examination and try to fix the things she did wrong in their relationship with her seven years of hindsight. It was when she started meeting Henry in her new old life, though, that things got really interesting, as she starts examining whether she made any similar mistakes in her relationship with him.
“Time of My Life” was fun, but thoughtful. It offered great self-examination without getting too heavy. Although I don’t personally relate to Jillian’s trapped feeling, she was written in a way that let me empathize with her easily and understand how it could have come to this. In fact, I thought there were lessons to be learned by the reader from what Jillian went through. Long story short? I loved “Time of My Life.” It was definitely smart women’s fiction.
Buy this book from:
Powells.
A local independent bookseller via Indiebound.
Amazon.
I read this book as part of a TLC Book Tour. Check out some of the other tour hosts for more reviews. Links go to the host’s site, not to their specific review.
Monday, August 17th: Hey Lady! Whatcha Readin’?
Wednesday, August 19th: Peeking Between the Pages
Thursday, August 20th: Melissa’s Bookshelf
Monday, August 24th: Infinite Shelf
Wednesday, August 26th: Book Soulmates
Monday, August 31st: Devourer of Books
Wednesday, September 2nd: 2 Kids and Tired Book Reviews
Tuesday, September 8th: Linus’s Blanket
Thursday, September 10th: Literate Housewife
Monday, September 14th: Presenting Lenore
Wednesday, September 16th: Stephanie’s Written Word
Thursday, September 17th: Diary of an Eccentric
Date TBD: Luxury Reading
I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book! I’ll have to check it out. Thanks for the great review!
.-= Melody´s last blog ..Musing Mondays: Books for Children =-.
From the description of the book, I agree that I my first impression was definitely “iffy.” I would have probably passed this up without a second thought. But your review is making me at least consider it. I’m not sure it’s for me, but I’m glad to know that it’s worthwhile.
.-= Beth F´s last blog ..Monthly Wrap Up: August 2009 =-.
Staying home all day and playing with my baby sounds pretty good to this mom of two preteens! The baby years FLY by and I miss my babies!!
I’m glad you enjoyed the book, Jen! Thanks so much for the time and energy that went into reading and reviewing TOML.
.-= Lisamm´s last blog ..TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS for Aug. 31st – Sept. 4th =-.
I think this sounds good. The plot sounds kind of like an old Nicholas Cage movie, Family Man, that I love.
.-= Kathy´s last blog ..Mailbox Monday =-.
You are right, this could have gone south pretty quickly. All the reviews I’ve seen, though, have been very favorable! Nice review!
.-= Sandy´s last blog ..Monday Movie Meme – The Great Outdoors =-.
This one has great reviews! The plot looks good too!
.-= Veens´s last blog ..**Surprise Surprise** Giveaway and a Guest Post! =-.
glad you liked this one…i read it a while back and didn’t really love it. i get a bit nervous from the whole ‘redo life’ theme. i’ve seen this book garner a good deal of positive press and know i’m in the minority…but that’s what’s great about books and reviews! cheers!!
.-= nat @ book, line, and sinker´s last blog ..Winner, winner! Chicken Dinner!!! =-.
I am so looking forward to reading this. I love the idea of it. Great review!
.-= stacybuckeye´s last blog ..Free Books for September =-.
Who wouldn’t want a do-over done right? I think it would be fun. First I’ll try it via this book.
.-= Margot´s last blog ..It’s Tuesday: Time For Some Teasers! =-.
So glad you liked it! I agree, I haven’t felt trapped, per se, but I definitely could relate to wondering what might have been, which I think is almost a universal feeling, whether you relate it to who you married, which job you chose, where you moved to (or didn’t move to), etc. I’m really pumped about this particular author after reading TOML.
.-= trish´s last blog ..Book Blogger Convention 2010? =-.
“Smart women’s fiction” – good way to describe this one! I enjoyed it as well.
.-= S. Krishna´s last blog ..Rocket Men – Craig Nelson =-.
I’m looking forward to my tour date next week. There are definitely times where I feel very trapped by it all and wonder what if. The truth of the matter is that no matter which choice I made at any given fork in the road, I’d probably wonder what if anyway. Great review, Jen!
.-= Literate Housewife´s last blog ..Peril the First ~ My First R.I.P. Challenge =-.