This Time Around by Kimberly Packard

THIS TIME AROUND

by

Kimberly Packard

Time Travel Romance / Contemporary Women’s Fiction / Romantic Comedy

Publisher: Abalos Publishing

Date of Publication: June 11, 2024

Number of Pages: 286 pages 

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SYNOPSIS

Most of us would jump at a chance for a do-over of our teenage years…but what if our worst mistakes lead to our happily-ever-after?

Josie Gardner’s life revolves around her amazing children and her career. But, when her husband threatens to take her kids in their divorce, and the business she’s put most of her passion, time and money into building is at risk of failing, a panic attack shatters her grip on reality… and the present.

Josie wakes up in her teenage bedroom, thirty years in the past. She’s forced to relive her emotionally devastating senior year of high school — the year she cut her father out of her life, caused one of her best friends to sever ties, and turned away the boy she loved.

Determined to get back to her children in her own time, Josie tries to fix the mistakes she made, in the hope that righting wrongs will send her back to the present. But when tempted by her high school crush Josie faces the real possibility of losing her future for good.

Would you take a second chance for love…even if it meant losing everything?

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Kimberly Packard is an award-winning author of women’s fiction.

When she isn’t writing, she can be found planning her next trip, asking her dog what’s in his mouth or curled up with a book. She resides in Texas with her husband Colby, a clever cat named Oliver and a precocious black lab named Tully. 

Her debut novel, Phoenix, was awarded as Best General Fiction of 2013 by the Texas Association of Authors. She is also the author of a Christmas novella, The Crazy Yates, and the sequels to Phoenix, Pardon Falls and Prospera Pass, and her stand-alone titles Vortex, Dire’s Club and This Time Around. She was honored as one of the Top 10 Haute Young Authors by Southern Methodist University in 2019. Vortex was the 2019 winner of the Pencraft award in Women’s Fiction, and Dire’s Club, was awarded the 2021 General Fiction of the Year by the North Texas Book Festival.

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REVIEW

What a ride! No hyperbole—I could not put this book down. Dinner was late and the world disappeared as This Time Around put me under its spell. Kimberly Packard’s exploration of a mother’s love is masterful, creative, and compelling.

Josie Gardner’s once orderly life seems to be coming apart at the seams as she navigates an impending divorce and custody battle, raising two teenagers, and running a business to either new heights or a steep dive. All of this impending doom racing at her sends Josie into a panic attack as she focuses intently on a picture drawn by her first love—the one who got away. Awaking in her seventeen-year-old body, Josie must figure out why she’s here and how to get back home.

Before reading this book, I’d have told you that the thought of reliving a year of high school would fill me with utter dread. But being able to take my older, wiser self through some of those events with a new lens of understanding is a thoroughly compelling notion. Josie knows that it doesn’t really matter if she switches from calculus to home economics or befriends a group of geeks. And one can’t help but commiserate when she realizes she can’t have a glass of wine after a rough day! This time around, she can call out a guy’s inappropriate behavior with no qualms, coach younger girls on how to stand up for themselves and have greater compassion for the hidden lives of those around her.

Packard breathes such life into her characters and has a deft hand at dialogue.  I felt like I was right alongside Josie as she interacted with the geeky guys trying to help her get back home, battles her desire for Daniel against her deep need to return to her kids, develops a new understanding of her parents’ crumbling relationship, and works to stop terrible events that happened during her original senior year.

Unlike many time-travel tales, Packard doesn’t let her story veer into the silly territory some inhabit. She infuses the novel with the perfect touch of humor—because truly, so much of high school is ridiculous–while also using the time travel device as a means of helping Josie delve into her own life to understand herself and the events that shook her foundation. Her husband’s divorce papers demanding primary custody had caused her to doubt herself as a mother. Now stranded so far from them in space and time, she knows she will do whatever it takes to return to her kids, no matter what.

With a stellar cast of characters, Kimberly Packard artfully weaves together science fiction, humor, romance, and drama in this not-to-be-missed story celebrating second chances and the strength of a mother’s love.

Jill Anderson is a former teacher and academic advisor who focused her career on helping secondary and college students find their voices and develop confidence in their own wonderfulness. A misplaced Texan, she currently lives in Tacoma, WA, but thinks the weather might keep her there permanently.

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