Turn Back Time by Annette Anders
Annette Anders weaves together an eclectic montage of people, places and plotlines in this novel, first in a series of four. David is a Broadway star on the road; Stella, a heartbroken library curator; Naomi, a sharp-tongued travel agent; and there’s Revan, adventure-seeking photographer.
However, Anders isn’t content to write a simple contemporary romance. Turn Back Time is a love story and a travelogue — with a kidnapping slipped in.
Stella and Naomi, best friends in spite of each other, find themselves on an unplanned “vacation” in France. The time was originally a business trip for Naomi and her mother, both travel agents, but Mom, at the last minute, could not go. Naomi’s best friend Stella agreed to take her place.
WONDERFULLY IMMERSIVE DESCRIPTIONS
In Paris, they sightsee, eat fine dinners, drink wine and talk. The ultimate girly vacation, especially since Stella needed to heal her heart from losing David, and Naomi needed to whine about her own unrequited crush.
The business part of the trip takes the women on a tour of honeymoon destinations in Brittany and Normandy, along with a gaggle of other travel agents anxious to sell similar packages to their clients. Here is where readers will find themselves immersed in wonderful descriptions of castles and coastlines, cemeteries, churches and bistros. It’s a travelogue for people who hate travelogues, and Anders is able to introduce a handful of new characters.
CAPTIVE IN THE CATACOMBS
Just as the two women are settling into a few days unsoured by niggling unhappiness, there is news that sends them scurrying back to Paris, along with their new friend Julia from the tour. Now, there are three women with a mission.
This new development takes place in the catacombs under Paris, miles of haunting tunnels lined with human bones and creepy history. The police have cordoned off the entrances, reporters are at the ready, and somewhere, deep in the cold and airless underground, is someone both Naomi and Stella love, bleeding, bound and held against his will.
Anders doesn’t tie up all the loose ends, and readers will not want to leave Stella and Naomi, David, Revan, Julia, or the handful of family members readers have learned to care about. In Due Time , the second novel in the Full Circle series, picks up where Turn Back Time ends. Or where, more accurately, it doesn’t really end.
