Review: She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha

Title: She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha
Publisher: Forge Books
Genre: Contemporary, Time Travel
Length: 304 pages
Book Rating: B

Complimentary Review Copy Provided by Publisher Through NetGalley

Summary:

Sliding Doors meets Life After Life in Sarah Adlakha’s story about a wife and mother who is given the chance to start over at the risk of losing everything she loves.

A second chance is the last thing she wants.

When thirty-nine year old Maria Forssmann wakes up in her seventeen-year-old body, she doesn’t know how she got there. All she does know is she has to get back: to her home in Bienville, Mississippi, to her job as a successful psychiatrist and, most importantly, to her husband, daughters, and unborn son.

But she also knows that, in only a few weeks, a devastating tragedy will strike her husband, a tragedy that will lead to their meeting each other.

Can she change time and still keep what it’s given her?

Exploring the responsibilities love lays on us, the complicated burdens of motherhood, and the rippling impact of our choices, She Wouldn’t Change a Thing is a dazzling debut from a bright new voice.

Review:

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing by Sarah Adlakha is a well-written debut with a very intriguing premise.

Thirty-nine-year-old Maria Forrsman has a thriving psychiatry practice, a loving husband, and two young children. She is also pregnant with their third child that is due very soon. Her husband Will has a demanding career as a doctor so much of the household and childcare responsibilities fall on Maria’s shoulders. With so much going on in her personal life, she is a little distracted when new patient Sylvia Woolf’s first session is filled with dire warnings and unbelievable claims. But one of the things that Sylvia tells her piques Maria’s curiosity. With the opportunity to verify the information, she cannot resist checking it out.  This decision proves to be life altering for Maria and other people as well. When faced with an impossible choice, what will Maria ultimately decide to do?

Maria is stretched too thin as she juggles work and home. She loves Will but she is very resentful that he does not help more around the house. Maria is very concerned about how she will manage after their third baby arrives. After she makes the fateful decision to find out more about Sylvia’s claims, Maria wakes up as her seventeen-year-old self, but she retains her memories of her life with Will. Determined to make it back to her family, Maria is faced with a moral dilemma when she has the power to prevent a tragedy. But in doing so, she will alter the course of many lives, including her own.

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing is a fascinating novel with a multi-layered storyline. The characters are vibrantly developed with relatable strengths and weaknesses. The beginning and end of the story are fast-paced and engaging.  However, the middle of the story gets a little confusing as Maria goes back to her seventeen-year-old self and the puzzling introduction of new characters. But it is well-worth wading through the confusion as Maria weighs which choice she will eventually make. Sarah Adlakha brings this thought-provoking to an incredibly gratifying conclusion.