The Journey by John A. Heldt

Seattle, 2010. When her entrepreneur husband dies in an accident, Michelle Preston Richardson, 48, finds herself childless and directionless. She yearns for the simpler days of her youth, before she followed her high school sweetheart down a road that led to limitless riches but little fulfillment, and jumps at a chance to reconnect with her past at a class reunion. But when Michelle returns to Unionville, Oregon, and joins three classmates on a spur-of-the-moment tour of an abandoned mansion, she gets more than she asked for. She enters a mysterious room and is thrown back to 1979.

Distraught and destitute, Michelle finds a job as a secretary at Unionville High, where she guides her spirited younger self, Shelly Preston, and childhood friends through their tumultuous senior year. Along the way, she meets widowed teacher Robert Land and finds the love and happiness she had always sought. But that happiness is threatened when history intervenes and Michelle must act quickly to save those she loves from deadly fates. Filled with humor and heartbreak, THE JOURNEY gives new meaning to friendship, courage, and commitment as it follows an unfulfilled soul through her second shot at life.

This is the second book I've read by author John Heldt.  The first book, The Mine, I read and reviewed not too long ago and I really enjoyed it.  (You can read that review HERE)  There is something about time travel books that makes them so interesting.  John has a gift for writing an easy reading book with characters that you come to love.

In this book Michelle travels back in time and finds herself as a high school senior.  I think the author did a great job of writing the same character from two different points of view, at two different ages.  It was pretty sweet.  Michelle tries to gently guide her younger self to make good choices, maybe better ones that she made the first time around, without influencing too much.  But whenever you mess with events in time, things will change.  Consequences happen.  Michelle was easy to like and connect to.  I liked her attitude toward people and life.  She wanted to be kind and help people.  She wanted to make the world a better place.

I read through The Journey quickly.  It was interesting and engaging.  The characters were real and I could relate to them.  There was a bit of bittersweet there at the end.  It took me a little by surprise but I can see that it had to be.  Time Travel.  It's a scary business.  I'm glad John was willing to share his book with me.

As far as content, there were a few instances of mild swearing.  There is some under-aged drinking mentioned and some sexual scenes where high school kids hook up in cars.  There is some talk about sex or having sex.  Nothing is described in detail.

You can find The Journey at Amazon.