THEN, AGAIN
Jaclyn Youhana Garver
November 12, 2024
Lake Union Publishing
309 pages
Bookshop.org | Goodreads | Amazon
I think every woman always wonders, at some point, what happened to their first love from high school.
After high school, Asha married Charlie (not her first love) and they lived a wonderful life until Charlie suffered an aneurysm and went into a coma for a year. Just as Charlie has been in the coma for one year, Jason, her first love, comes back into Asha’s life.
This is a multilayered story. It goes back and forth through various timelines, but not chronologically. The story jumps back to different points of time through Asha’s life. We watch her in an off-and-on relationship with Jason. We watch her meet Charlie and marry him.
Asha has many arguments with herself. She suffers guilt. .She doesn’t know if she should see Jason. She goes through a multitude of emotions. Love, guilt, need, acceptance. Through it all she has a best friend, Bridget. Everyone should have a BFF like Bridget. For years and years, she stands by Asha, provides a sounding board, support and relief. Just an excellent friend.
Another interesting character is Maura, Charlie’s sister. She is a completely off-the-wall religious fanatic. No redeeming qualities at all. I’m not crazy about Jason’s character. He is a very moody and possessive. I honestly don’t understand why Asha is always drawn back to him.
I found some parts of the book very good. But parts of it were too wordy for me. That slowed the flow of the story,
The premise was great but I think I would have liked a story better that was a little more fast paced.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.
Leave a Reply