Helpful Score: 8
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book! It makes you stop and think about your own what ifs... The story is about a young mother, who's own mother had abandoned her family when she was just 9 years old. You can see how a lot of her marriage and motherhood issues are stemmed from this. The whole story was put together nicely and tied up with a great ending.
Helpful Score: 5
A New York Times Bestseller (and they actually got this one right) An easy read and yet at times surprisingly deep. This is a great book about the decisions that we make in life and the what-ifs that may be in the back of our minds. Would our lives be worse, better, the same or just different if we had just...? A book that addresses some of the tougher issues in a woman's life and the biggest question of all, would you have been happier if you had chosen a different path? I enjoyed this book quite a bit and would recommend.
Helpful Score: 4
One of the best books I have ever read - and that is saying a lot considering how much I read. If you have ever been in a long term relationship or are even thinking about it - you should check out this book.
Helpful Score: 4
Looking in from the outside, Jill Westfield leads the perfect life. She lives in an affluent New York suburb, is happily married to Henry, a successful lawyer, and is a model mother to her beautiful daughter Katie. But, underneath it all, cracks in their seven year marriage are becoming more and more obvious. Since becoming a partner in his firm, Henry is traveling more and more, rarely coming home to his wife and daughter. Jill, an advertising executive turned housewife, is left to tend the household and raise Katie. She immerses herself in decorating, in cooking, in throwing the best birthday parties, but the loneliness she feels - the loneliness that has been there ever since her own mother abandoned her when she was nine - is hard to escape. Jill moves through her days full of chores and errands on auto-pilot, with Henry seemingly oblivious to the disconnect growing in their marriage.
When Jill hears that her ex Jackson, the one she left after meeting Henry, is getting married, she is sent into a tailspin of what ifs. What if leaving Jackson was not the right decision? What if this was not the life she was meant to live? What if she made the wrong choices all along? Waking up the next morning, Jill finds herself in her oldpre-marriage apartment, the apartment she shared with Jackson. Through some weird time warp, she is thrown back in time to a life pre-Henry, pre-Katie, and most importantly, pre her break-up with Jackson.
Living her past with the knowledge of the future, Jill is making new choices with 20/20 hindsight. She avoids the arguments that led to the demise of her relationship with Jackson, she patches things up with his family, and breathes through campaign pitches at work, already knowing that they will be a success. However, Jill's decisions also affect the lives of those around her, sending them on paths she could not anticipate. Will her second chance allow her to make the choices she believes she should have made the first time around, or is she fated to the life she was already leading?
"Time of My Life" is Allison Winn Scotch's second novel, and an immensely enjoyable and engaging one at that. The abrupt time travel switch from Jill's present life to her past one aside, "Time of My Life" is an interesting look at fate, and of how one single choice can lead to a completely different set of outcomes. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering whether Jill would stay with Jackson and let her life take a different direction, or if she would be pulled back to Henry and the motherhood she misses once it's no longer there. "Time of My Life" is both an easy and light read, and one that can spark interesting discussions among its readers.
When Jill hears that her ex Jackson, the one she left after meeting Henry, is getting married, she is sent into a tailspin of what ifs. What if leaving Jackson was not the right decision? What if this was not the life she was meant to live? What if she made the wrong choices all along? Waking up the next morning, Jill finds herself in her oldpre-marriage apartment, the apartment she shared with Jackson. Through some weird time warp, she is thrown back in time to a life pre-Henry, pre-Katie, and most importantly, pre her break-up with Jackson.
Living her past with the knowledge of the future, Jill is making new choices with 20/20 hindsight. She avoids the arguments that led to the demise of her relationship with Jackson, she patches things up with his family, and breathes through campaign pitches at work, already knowing that they will be a success. However, Jill's decisions also affect the lives of those around her, sending them on paths she could not anticipate. Will her second chance allow her to make the choices she believes she should have made the first time around, or is she fated to the life she was already leading?
"Time of My Life" is Allison Winn Scotch's second novel, and an immensely enjoyable and engaging one at that. The abrupt time travel switch from Jill's present life to her past one aside, "Time of My Life" is an interesting look at fate, and of how one single choice can lead to a completely different set of outcomes. I was constantly on the edge of my seat wondering whether Jill would stay with Jackson and let her life take a different direction, or if she would be pulled back to Henry and the motherhood she misses once it's no longer there. "Time of My Life" is both an easy and light read, and one that can spark interesting discussions among its readers.
Helpful Score: 4
This was a great read that let you relive those what if times thru another womens life. Being a married mother of 2 for over a decade, I was able to relate fully with Jillian. If you even think what if it had been different this is the book for you.
Helpful Score: 2
I loved this book, but maybe it was due to the fact that I sometimes wonder about my own past relationships and where my life would be if I could go back in time and do some things different. If you sometimes wonder what could happen if you went back in time, this might be the book for you.
Helpful Score: 1
What if you had the chance to go back and have a do over? What would you do different in your life?
The narrator Jillian gets that chance. This book was enjoyable and I didn't want to put it down. In addition to the main character, there are a couple of other characters that were very interesting. Jillian also knows about things that will impact the other characters and attempts to subtley guide them also.
There were a couple of questions that were left unanswered in the end. The wrap up was a little too quick. But other than that I found this book to hold my interest and was quite entertaining.
The narrator Jillian gets that chance. This book was enjoyable and I didn't want to put it down. In addition to the main character, there are a couple of other characters that were very interesting. Jillian also knows about things that will impact the other characters and attempts to subtley guide them also.
There were a couple of questions that were left unanswered in the end. The wrap up was a little too quick. But other than that I found this book to hold my interest and was quite entertaining.
Helpful Score: 1
The main character is trying to find her own identity and happiness in her role as a mom and wife. She is not sure what she really wants. If you ever watched the movie "It's a Wonderful Life," you know the basic story. She is taking the "what if" trip down memory lane. Any mom, wife can identify with her thoughts & feelings. I found the characters and writing somewat shallow, lacking maturity. The author frequently references magazines she writes for in her own life. A light read if you don't want a book that makes you think much.
Helpful Score: 1
What would you do if you got a do-over in your life? If you were able to go back and answer your what-if's? This is what happens to Jillian, the main character. She finds herself back in her past, able to make different choices than those she made the first time around. It is an interesting story, a great read, and I found myself pulled in different directions, just like Jillian!
This was a very easy, enjoyable read. Definitely recommended. Also, it puts life in perspective quite well.
What a fun book!
This book is about a woman who is miserable with the day to day drudgery she imposes on herself trying to live up to her own perfectionism. Fortunately, there isn't a lot of whining and moaning about it before she time travels back into her past to take up her life where she was 7 years ago, a few months before she met her husband and ended up where she was. The author just sets the scene and then gets the story rolling. There is no extensive conversation about time travelling either.
On the one hand, I really did enjoy this book because I could relate to a lot of what Jillian was feeling and I loved the little references to all the popular women's magazines that I actually read too. On the other hand, I absolutely hated the ended. I did like that there was some self-revelation that she had to be in control of allowing herself to express her own wants and needs. However, it just seemed like the whole ending was that everything that went wrong had been her fault and she just wasn't remembering right.
Plus, the ending left a lot of clues to what had changed in her life but didn't go into explanations. It just sort of stopped. I actually thought maybe at the end we would find out that her husband had also travelled back to the past to try to set things right in their marriage based on some of the things that he did differently when she was in the past and I think that would have made a nice twist.
Other than that, it was an enjoyable read with not a ton of predictability.
On the one hand, I really did enjoy this book because I could relate to a lot of what Jillian was feeling and I loved the little references to all the popular women's magazines that I actually read too. On the other hand, I absolutely hated the ended. I did like that there was some self-revelation that she had to be in control of allowing herself to express her own wants and needs. However, it just seemed like the whole ending was that everything that went wrong had been her fault and she just wasn't remembering right.
Plus, the ending left a lot of clues to what had changed in her life but didn't go into explanations. It just sort of stopped. I actually thought maybe at the end we would find out that her husband had also travelled back to the past to try to set things right in their marriage based on some of the things that he did differently when she was in the past and I think that would have made a nice twist.
Other than that, it was an enjoyable read with not a ton of predictability.
Great book, easy read. Light reading that will make you feel like you have chosen the right path because no matter how we get there, we always end up in the same place!!!
I loved the concept of the book. The choices we make. Where they lead us. And what if?
Jillian has the perfect life or so it may seem. Though she she spends her days rehashing past regrets and several "what if" scenarios. In a crazy turn of events she finds herself seven years in the past. Armed with 20/20 hindsight, she sets out to change her future. I for one really enjoyed this book! The story IMO was refreshingly unpredictable and ended the way I had hoped for. The main character Jillian was relatable and likeable. I felt emotionally invested in most of the secondary characters. Which I've found only happens in a well written book. It makes you think. If given the chance, would you change your past? Is it even possible to avoid the inevitable? I think everyone has passing thoughts on what their life would have been like if things had happened differently. Everything happens for a reason, sometimes understanding them is the hardest part.
Do you believe in do-overs? What if you could go back to a point in your life and change how you did something: who you were dating or married, handled a situation differently? Would the outcome then be more to your liking? This book focuses on the life of the ideal suburban new mom (Jillian) and her husband and toddler daughter. But somewhere along the way, Jillian becomes dissatisfied and disillusioned with her marriage and life. She longs for the former love of her life and envisions a happier existence with him if only shed stuck it out in their relationship. While her masseuse is trying to unblock her chi, she is transported seven years in the pastback to her former boyfriend and career. What will she change this time around and is she willing to accept the consequences those changes will bring? This book is definitely not something I would typically read, and at times I found myself wondering if I would continue. But it does bring up some interesting and thought-provoking ideas. What if sometimes what you think you are running away from is something you're actually running to? Can what you have here and now be what you need, not necessarily what you want or think you need?
Good book, I am a mom of 2 small children and sometimes wish for a break but the book really goes back to how much she misses her daughter. She also takes her second chance to change all the right things.
