I had the pleasure of getting to know poet, author and small press publisher, Lana Ayers, while working on my MFA at Seton Hill University (SHU). We both entered the Writing Popular Fiction Program in June 2012. I was learning to write cozy mysteries and Lana was there to hone her skills and write science fiction. That’s where I learned despite being an accomplished poet and entrepreneur (she had two presses where she published poetry), Lana dreamed about writing science fiction. It was at SHU that I learned about her time travel book. I don’t remember the exact circumstances that led to Lana sending me her completed manuscript, but I do remember I got the file while I was sitting in my office at work. I opened the file and started to read and was engrossed. I planned to read a couple of pages but after reading the first chapter, I remember getting up, closing my office door, getting a candy bar and thinking, this is good stuff. The first chapter was well written, lyrical and steamy. This definitely wasn’t a cozy, but it was so good, I couldn’t put it down. From that point on, I have a been a huge fan of Lana Ayers and this book.
Time Flash: Another Me is a unique science fiction/time travel novel. Sara Garcia is a woman getting ready to celebrate an anniversary. She thinks a new cereal diet will be just the thing to help her lose weight so she can fit into a red dress, which she hopes will rekindle her husband, Jon’s passion, and make everything better in her life. Little does Sara know, that an evil corporation is using this cereal to conduct experiments on humans without their permission. Strange things happen each time Sara eats this cereal. She starts to have flash backs, but these aren’t just any flashbacks. Each time Sara eats the cereal she actually travels back in time, back before she was married. The flashbacks don’t last and each time she returns to the current time, something has changed. Believing her husband is having an affair with a sexy neighbor, Sara starts to think life might have been better without Jon. So, she goes back in time and makes different choices. But each choice has consequences. Some consequences are so bad that Sara has to resort to desperate actions to try to repair the past in the hopes of fixing the future for herself and those she loves. With only the help of her cat, Gallo, Sara has to take down a corporation. If she’s successful, more than one life will be saved.
When I first heard about the time travel aspect of this book, I was hesitant, But Ayers makes it work. This book is special and crosses genres. It’s a suspense/science fiction/women’s fiction/romance book that will have you reading late into the night to see how things work out. It’s not cozy (steamy sexual scenes), but it has a strong mystery thread which will keep mystery lovers engaged until the last page. Get your copy today. Amazon.