Book Description:
On the eve of her fortieth birthday, a woman wakes up from a pickleball accident with the unexpected chance to relive her twenties in this sparkling novel from a fresh, new voice.
Sutton Layne is almost-forty and fabulous, with a happy marriage, three beautiful children, and a successful interior design business. But there’s plenty of chaos behind the scenes of early midlife. Her preteen son is going off the rails, her husband is bailing on the party he was supposed to throw her, and that thriving business? If she can’t land her next big client, it might all come crashing down. Then a surprise DM from someone in her past sends her spiraling into what-ifs. What if she settled down too young? Walked away from her big break? Never had her great adventure?
Despite her simmering mini-crisis, Sutton can’t wait for the birthday luncheon and pickleball tournament her friends have planned in her honor. But when an accident on the court knocks her out cold, she wakes up somewhere else . . . and is offered the chance to do it all over again. She can revisit her twenties—out of order and on her own terms. And this time around, anything goes: cities, careers, friendships. Even love.
From star-studded Hollywood nights to the jungles of Nicaragua, from the heat of Coachella to the snowy summit of the Matterhorn, Sutton chases the life she fears she might have missed, with unexpected results.
With a wink to the classic It’s a Wonderful Life, Twenty Something Else is a witty, wistful journey through the dreams we outgrow, the life choices that shape us, and the surprising detours that can lead us home.
Clean and wholesome women’s fiction with themes of second chances, identity, friendship, and love.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Twenty Something Else, a fun contemporary fiction novel with magical realism and time travel story elements. Sutton lives in Newport Beach, California, and she’s only days away from her dreaded fortieth birthday. She married young, had children young, and wishes she was young again.
When Sutton is knocked out cold during a pickleball game, she’s transported to an alternate version of her life and has the opportunity to relive her twenties. The catch is her husband and children don’t exist as she navigates different stages in her twenty something life.
I loved journeying with Sutton and discovering how she handled tricky and unexpected situations with the benefit of future knowledge and wisdom from her life experiences. There were consequences for her decisions, both good and bad, depending on her choices. The big question she’s facing is how can she find her way home and what will her old life look like when she returns.
Sutton’s faith is challenged when she’s forced to deal with situations that wouldn’t have taken place if she’d met and married her husband in her early twenties. The story explores forgiveness themes, the importance of truth, and letting go of bitterness.
I recommend Twenty Something Else to contemporary fiction readers who like women’s friendship and magical realism stories with time travel, second chances, romantic elements, drama, and strong faith themes.
Many thanks to Tyndale and NetGalley for the advanced reader copy.
Buy at Baker Book House (40% paperback preorder discount)
