Book Review: "Once and Again" by Rebecca Serle

In the Acknowledgements of her powerfully thought-provoking new book, Rebecca Serle said, “[This] is the first book that does not ask the question ‘How will it turn out?’ but instead ponders: ‘How do I sit with what has happened?’” I feel like that really sums up the core of this story.

The women of the Novak family have been given an extraordinary gift. Each has the opportunity to turn back time, once, to erase or redo something. When Lauren was 15, she learned about this gift, as her mother Marcella used hers to save Lauren’s father, who died in a car accident.

Once Marcella chose her moment to redo, although she felt relief, she also felt a great weight placed on her. Now she had no chance for a do-over, which made her more cautious and nervous about everything, particularly her husband’s actions. This definitely strains her relationship with Lauren.

Lauren and her husband Leo have been struggling with fertility issues. When Leo gets a job in NYC for the summer, he moves there, while Lauren returns to her childhood home on the Malibu shores. She misses Leo, although not the constant stress of IVF, and she enjoys surfing with her father and spending time with her grandmother, Sylvia. And Lauren still doesn’t understand why she and her mother can’t get along.

To her surprise, Lauren’s first love, Stone, returns home to care for his dying stepmother. As she watches his grief and reconnects with him for the first time in 10 years, Lauren’s feelings become jumbled. To rediscover her happiness, is there an opportunity to redo something?

Rebecca Serle always knows how to touch my emotions and get me thinking. I definitely cried a bit as I pondered what I would change if I had the chance—or would I? This really would be an excellent book club book, and it’ll certainly be on my mind for a long time!