She Wouldn't Change a Thing is a 2021 science fiction novel by Sarah Adlakha. It was published by Forge Books in August 2021. It was the author's debut novel.
A second chance is the last thing she wants. When thirty-nine year old Maria Forrsman wakes up in her sixteen-year-old body, she doesn't know how she got there. All she does know is she has to get back: to her home in Bienville, Mississippi, to her job as a successful psychiatrist and, most importantly, to her husband, daughters, and unborn son. But she also knows that, in only a few weeks, a devastating tragedy will strike her husband, a tragedy that will lead to their meeting each other. Can she change time and still keep what it's given her?
This book has a very interesting idea at the core of its story. Maria has a chance to do certain things over, to change the past, but has to wrestle with how changing the past might impact her present. It's a compelling idea to struggle with, and it lays the foundation for an intriguing story. Unfortunately, the novel doesn't explore that idea in an interesting way. There are a few moments where the broader implications are referenced, but the plot never goes in that direction. Instead, Maria gets caught in this loop of "should I change the past" and considering the selfish reasons why she shouldn't change the past. The wider ramifications aren't really explored and the plot stagnates for a good portion of the book as she switches between these two alternatives. The plot also had a few too many contrivances for my liking. Maria somehow knew exactly what to say to certain characters, to prove she had been thrown back in time, but every other character in the same situation couldn't. Due to how muddled the execution of the idea was, I didn't find the climax or resolution of the story satisfying or cathartic.
The characters in this book were fine. I didn't feel connected with any of them. They didn't annoy me and I wasn't turned off by reading their stories, but they also didn't have much depth. None of them seemed to have a very solid foundation, so it's hard to see how any of them had any kind of arc or underwent some sort of character development. Far too many characters had trauma of some kind than was realistic or able to be explored. Every character has some form of trauma, and a lot of the time, it would be mentioned, but not explored. Or the author hadn't thought through how it might shape their character, with one or two exceptions. It felt unnecessary, and as if having trauma equated to writing a complex character.
This is a debut novel, which surprised me. I may not have enjoyed the story itself, but the author clearly has talent. Her prose kept me reading, even as I was getting frustrated with the story. The writing has a distinct style that some readers will really connect with. There were some pacing issues, in my opinion, as the story stagnates in the middle.
The novel is categorized as science fiction, but I'm almost reluctant to say that it is. The inclusion of time travel technically makes it a science fiction work, but it does not read or feel like sci-fi. It resembles a literary fiction novel with some time travel thrown in for "flavor" more than anything else. Time travel is an inciting incident, but the story rarely makes it a focus. Maria's introspection about what's the "right thing to do" is given much more focus and attention than anything related to time travel.
She Wouldn't Change a Thing is a book that I wasn't fond of. The novel has a great premise, but a lackluster execution. The characters don't stand out to me and were hard to connect with. The writing was fine, and the author has talent, though it didn't blow me away. All in all, this book was a miss for me.
Rating: 1.5 Stars
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