Time

In Time, by Samantha Darling, Isobel's world collapses when her new husband Jason is diagnosed with terminal cancer.  Through Samantha's words, we follow Isobel on this unenviable journey she has no choice but to take.  Mostly with the support of Jason's best friend James, Isobel must deal with more than any young woman wants to or should have to...a terminally ill husband, his pending death, the small life she carries inside of her, and how she can possibly carry on without Jason.

Time is all about Isobel, her reactions, her actions, her emotional upheaval, and how much her life changes.  Written in first person POV, this favors the emphasis on Isobel.  However, I felt that I would have liked to have POV's from some of the other characters in Time to add dimension to the story, and the first person narration limits this.  For example, James was an endless source of strength for Isobel no matter how she treated him, and I would have liked to know more about him.

The emotions Samantha evokes in Time are honest and raw, and it is easy to feel Isobel's pain, anger, her everything.  Although I honestly can not say I felt strongly one way or another about Isobel, Samantha drew me into the plot with strong, memorable characters, family dynamics, and heart break.  There are a lot of secondary characters in Time who are all important to the story, although it seemed to take quite a while before other characters besides Jason, Isobel and James were introduced into the plot. I liked the sub plot with Isobel's family and  I really liked Frank, Jason's father, and Samantha's descriptions of him make him real in my mind.

Not all heart break, Samantha does give some happy moments in Time that make the plot believable and I really liked how she brought things together at the conclusion.  I'd recommend Time to women's fiction readers who don't mind a 'happy for now' ending.

3.5/5 stars