This is a Women's Fiction with Magical Realism (Time Travel). This book may me think about what I would do if I got pulled back to when I was a teenager, and I think we all will say there is so many things we would do differently if we went back to our teenage self. Now, I think what would happen if I change anything. The characters is not what pulled me into this book, but the story itself is what pulled me in and kept me wanting to keep reading. The characters grow on me, but I have to say they did not stand out at first. The ending of this book is so beautiful, and it is so well done. I have to say I cried like a baby while listening to the last little bit of this book. If you are looking for a book that will touch you and make you think then you should give this book a try. I listen to the audiobook of this book, and the narrator doing a great job. I was kindly provided an e-audiobook of this book by the publisher or author (Sarah Adlakha) via NetGalley, so I can give an honest review about how I feel about this book. I want to send a big Thank you to them for that.

Now THAT is how you write an ending!

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing is a novel about time travel, and before I get back to it here’s a quick list of time-travelin’ books I’ve truly enjoyed before:

none

nada

zilch

I tried twice to finish The Time Traveler’s Wife, and I only made it about 50 pages into Life After Life (which is actually called out as a comparative title in his one’s blurb). Who knows why I took a chance on Sarah Adlakha’s debut then, but if I could do it all over I wouldn’t change a thing.

The concept sounds simple. A 39-year-old pregnant woman wakes up as her 17-year-old self and must make the choice between fulfilling her “purpose” back then - which would then eliminate her present - or getting back to middle-aged life as she knew it with her husband and kids. Wait… did I get that right? Are you confused? Ah heck, I don’t know.

One of my favorite authors, Diane Chamberlain, provided a quote for the cover that describes this book as “a mind-bending story,” and she ain’t lying! The tapestry Adlakha weaves is intricate and requires a lot of brain power at times. Sometimes I didn’t feel up to the challenge, and many of the questions posed about the universe, spirituality, faith, and physics went pretty deep.

But then the ending! And an even better epilogue! Picture me standing up and giving this author a round of applause.

Audiobook listeners will be pleased to hear that the always-reliable Cassandra Campbell provides the narration. In the first few chapters she’s given the wretched task of performing the lines of toddlers, but rest assured this doesn’t last long. Hang in there… all the way to that epilogue… and it’ll be worth your while.

My thanks to the author, Forge Books, and MacMillan audio for providing me with advance copies to review!

What if you could go back in time and fix a wrong? What if it then changed the whole life you had created in the future? Would you do it? After being shot, Maria is in a coma in the hospital, exactly in that situation. Does she right the wrong and lose the life she loves or does she walk away and live out that life? I found the plot of this book quite intriguing. The first part of the book was riveting, but as it progressed it lagged a bit and by the end it was difficult to follow at times. An interesting read and listen nonetheless. Cassandra Campbell has a voice that’s believable and easy voice to listen to.

She Wouldn't Change a Thing follows Maria, a pregnant soon-to-be mom of three, Maria. She has a good marriage and a good life as a psychiatrist. One day she receives a visit from a new patient who warns Maria to stay away from her secretary. The next thing Maria knows she wakes up in her 17-year-old body. Trying to convince everyone that she's not really 17 and she shouldn't be there doesn't go to well, but Maria is determined to get back to her old life no matter the cost.

It took me a long time to get into this story. Maybe it 's because I don't read a lot of women's fiction. That or I had trouble relating to any of the characters. Maybe it's because I don't have kids. I'm not sure of the reason. This was a good story, and I like the fresh look it added to making time travel somewhat believable. In the end I liked it, but I didn't love it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for this ALC. The narrator Cassandra Campbell was great, and she really brought Maria to life.

What would you do if you woke up one day and you were 17yo again? That’s what happens to Maria. After an incident happens she wakes up in her old bedroom. With her mom, that passed away 2 years ago from cancer, & her dad thinking she has lost her mind when she tries to convince them that she’s actually grown, married with children.

One of my favorite movies is sliding doors (Gwyneth Paltrow & dreamy John Hannah) so when I saw this audiobook I had to give it a try. This book definitely makes you think about what you would change if you knew for certain it would alter your future as well.


I enjoyed this audiobook but I think I would have been able to follow the ending better if I had the physical book. It had nothing to do with the narrator, without spoiling anything there’s a lot to unwrap at the end.

Who doesn't love a good "what if" story?? I was excited for this debut about second chances and different possible lives but while it started off strong for me it ended up falling a little flat towards the middle/end. Maria is a 39 year old mother of two girls with a new baby boy on the way any day. When she meets Jenny, a patient in her psychiatry practice who says she's from the future and warns her to watch out for her secretary things get really intriguing.

Maria isn't able to keep from looking into the mystery Jenny presents. Is she just crazy or could her warnings be valid? Jenny told her to wait until her son was born before doing anything but of course Maria doesn't listen. A confrontation leads to Maria waking up in her 17 year old body and wanting nothing more but to get back to her real life. Unfortunately everyone thinks she's crazy and it takes meeting another 'time traveller' for Maria to figure out she has a 'purpose' to fulfill.

I don't want to spoil anything beyond this point but I had a hard time enjoying that Maria was forced to give up the life she was loving in order to help save her husband from a painful event in his past that would mean he never met her in the future and Maria would essentially erase her past life. I felt this was a LOT to ask of someone and I just didn't enjoy it. The story was very well written though and I loved listening to Cassandra Campbell as narrator for the audio copy. If you enjoy stories about complex life changing decisions along the lines of Life after life (a book I actually did love), this might be more your thing than it was mine. Much thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan audio for my ALC.

Decisions... Decisions.... !

Dr. Maria Forssman has one helluva moral dilemma: save the life of one child and thus forfeit her own future of a successful medical career, children and happy marriage, or allow that child to die and live with the knowledge that she could have prevented her death? Could she face her husband, knowing that she could have taken away his lifelong regret at not being able to avert that young child's death?

I'm not going to pretend that I understood the mechanics of the galactic time warp/collision that sent Maria back into her seventeen year old body. Maria is horrified when she wakes up in her childhood bedroom, her parents still alive and sleeping soundly in their room down the hall from hers.

Earlier that day, her patient, Sylvia, had warned her not to go to the locker. Maria should also have kept her promise to her husband to stay home and leave the contents of the locker to the police, who were investigating a SIDS case involving one of her friends and coworkers. But Maria can't seem to stop herself. One moment, she is standing outside the locker, and the next moment, she finds herself in her old room, having awakened from a very disturbing dream.

Maria soon finds out that she, and her former patient, Sylvia, are not the only ones to have been sent back in time. All of the time travelers that Maria meets believe that they had been chosen by a greater power to perform a task, to reset history or to right a previous wrong. Stuck in the past, Maria wants nothing more than to return to her future, but does she really have a purpose to fulfill? Has God/The Universe/Nature, really chosen her for a special task - to make a choice that would completely rewrite her and her husband's history?

I listened to this spellbinding audiobook, ably narrated by Cassandra Campbell. The first few scenes were slow going, but I get that the author had to set the scene for what was to come. It is impossible to write a review for this one that doesn't contain any spoilers, so I am just going to urge you to read or listen to this edge of your seat, mind-boggling drama. I'm rating this one a 5 out of 5 stars because I am still trying to make heads or tails out of this complex but intriguing story. Well done, I was truly entertained!

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for an ARC of the audiobook of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Blog Posting: https://crossingthepond.reviews/2021/08/09/she-wouldnt-change-a-thing-by-sarah-adlakha/

Goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4050546637

This book has been on my radar since October 2020, so I was thrilled to receive an advance review copy from NetGalley and MacMillian Audio.

The main character is Maria, a married psychiatrist with 2 children and a third due soon. Shortly after a cryptic encounter with a patient, Maria finds herself thrown back into her teenaged life with all her future memories intact. She is forced to make a difficult decision, and the choice she makes will have serious consequences for herself and the people she loves. Maria’s character is well-developed and realistic, and the dilemma she faces is clearly agonizing for her.

The narrative periodically switches to a woman named Jenny whose life is tied to Maria’s in ways that aren’t explained until late in the novel.

The story moves a bit slowly at the beginning, and for the first quarter of the book, I was waiting for the plot to “start”. Once it became clear what was happening, the plot was quite intriguing and I was hooked.

While it’s not a “hard science” time travel story, the novel addresses one of the intriguing questions at the heart of the genre: What ripples occur when you change one thing about a person’s past?

I loved the author’s writing and her rich use of unusual metaphors and descriptions. The ending was complex, yet satisfying. I look forward to the author’s next book.

I’ve always enjoyed Cassandra Campbell’s narratation and she did a great job on this book.

She Wouldn’t Change a Thing is being marketed as Sliding Doors meets Life After Life. I agree, kind of. I loved both of those. I see a Sliding Doors reference and I’m in. But I didn’t love this, and I might be wrong. 🤦🏻‍♀️
Maria is a psychiatrist with a busy practice, mom to two girls with another baby on the way, and then something happens with one of her patients. Maria finds herself back in high school, knowing all that she will have, but with a difficult choice to make that will impact her life and the lives of those closest to her.
I really enjoy a book that explores the choices we make. I thought the writing was engrossing, but this one just missed the mark for me. I listened to this yesterday and I thought the narration was excellent. I can’t wait to see what other readers think of this novel.
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Would you change the past if you could? Maria Forssman is 39 years old when she wakes up in her 17 year old body. After she gets over the shock, her only thought is finding her way back to her life; her husband, daughters and her yet to be born son. Still, she knows that in just a short period of time her husband will be facing tragedy. The tragedy that will lead to their meeting. Maria begins to wonder if she might be able to spare her husband that pain; but will that mean there is no future for them? I loved this book, I have often dreamed of being able to go back in time, knowing what I know now. Will it be the Butterfly Effect or Frequency?