This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Free Book Program, which is open to all readers and is completely free. The author will provide you with a free copy of their book in exchange for an honest review. You and the author will discuss what sites you will post your review to and what kind of copy of the book you would like to receive (eBook, PDF, Word, paperback, etc.). To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Review Exchange Program, which is open to all authors and is completely free. Simply put, you agree to provide an honest review an author's book in exchange for the author doing the same for you. What sites your reviews are posted on (B&N, Amazon, etc.) and whether you send digital (eBook, PDF, Word, etc.) or hard copies of your books to each other for review is up to you. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email, and be sure to describe your book or include a link to your Readers' Favorite review page or Amazon page.
This author participates in the Readers' Favorite Book Donation Program, which was created to help nonprofit and charitable organizations (schools, libraries, convalescent homes, soldier donation programs, etc.) by providing them with free books and to help authors garner more exposure for their work. This author is willing to donate free copies of their book in exchange for reviews (if circumstances allow) and the knowledge that their book is being read and enjoyed. To begin, click the purple email icon to send this author a private email. Be sure to tell the author who you are, what organization you are with, how many books you need, how they will be used, and the number of reviews, if any, you would be able to provide.
Diane Byington has been a tenured college professor, yoga teacher, psychotherapist, and executive coach. Also, she raised goats for fiber and once took a job cooking hot dogs for a NASCAR event. She still enjoys spinning and weaving, but she hasn’t eaten a hot dog or watched a car race since.
Reviewed by Sandy Masia for Readers' Favorite
Kaley Kline works for the Tesla Museum in Colorado Springs as the director. Her job is to secure donations to help finish the museum; she also works to discover more artifacts to display in the museum. The crux of the plot is the discovery she makes of journal entries that seem to have been written by Tesla himself. These entries are about time travel. She begins to wonder if this is possible and if she could back and undo her mistakes.
The urge to go back and fix our mistakes, be successful, and fix our own lives is what drives the plot of this book. This is mainly in the foreground, but If She Had Stayed also explores the concept of growth, change, and the question of whether things can genuinely be mended without a cost. Diane Byington has put together a story that explores a strange phenomenon in a way that is intriguing and entertains the reader. She has put at the center of her story a woman who is easy to identify with, human and magnetic. And Kaley has a life, she is not the careerist, work above else archetype who is becoming more and more familiar in female-centered stories. She is motivated, flawed, grown, sensitive, intelligent; she works hard, but she has a way of making you feel like you could be her.
Diane Byington has navigated the difficulty of creating a motivated, successful female character who is not alienating. The marrying of sci-fi elements and the sensibilities of women's fiction has been a success, something I have never thought I would ever say. This gives If She Had Stayed a satisfying depth and interpersonal complexity. If She Had Stayed is entertaining, smart, and explorative.
