The Journey (Northwest Passage – 2) by John Heldt
4 stars
(Excerpt from Goodreads) Seattle, 2010. When her entrepreneur husband dies in an accident, Michelle Preston Richardson, 48, finds herself childless and directionless. She yearns for the simpler days of her youth, before she followed her high school sweetheart down a road that led to limitless riches but little fulfillment, and jumps at a chance to reconnect with her past at a class reunion. But when Michelle returns to Unionville, Oregon, and joins three classmates on a spur-of-the-moment tour of an abandoned mansion, she gets more than she asked for. She enters a mysterious room and is thrown back to 1979.
Distraught and destitute, Michelle finds a job as a secretary at Unionville High, where she guides her spirited younger self, Shelly Preston, and childhood friends through their tumultuous senior year. Along the way, she meets widowed teacher Robert Land and finds the love and happiness she had always sought. But that happiness is threatened when history intervenes and Michelle must act quickly to save those she loves from deadly fates. Filled with humor and heartbreak, THE JOURNEY gives new meaning to friendship, courage, and commitment as it follows an unfulfilled soul through her second shot at life.
Michelle has a life that most people would love. But when Michelle loses her husband she longs for something with more meaning. When she goes on a tour of a haunted house with some school friends she finds herself back in 1979. Things are tough and she has to start from scratch with the help of others, something that she is not used to. But she doesn’t let this stop her and soon she finds a job at the same high school that she attended years earlier.
Along the way she finds someone that loves her and seems to have the life she secretly wanted for years. She also guides herself and her high school friends with different advice. But Michelle has to be careful. Although they are little changes they make big ripples in time and can come back to haunt her.
I read The Mine a while ago and just loved the story. When I received the Journey I was thinking that it would be along the same line. But The Journey has taken another direction asking us what we would do if we could go back and guide ourselves when we were younger. Michelle is such a strong character. Although she gets one heck of a surprise she doesn’t break down and give up, she grows from it and finds a new path for herself.
I loved following her interactions with her younger self. I really wanted t Michelle to live happily ever after once she found the perfect spot for herself. But that can’t always be. I was not expecting the ending. Although it wasn’t my preferred it made the most sense.
This is the second book in the Northwest Passage series but you could easily read this as a stand alone book. It is a great story for those of us who would like to try again and see where life would take us.
This is a great story with lots of possibilities. It’s one that you will want to add to your keep shelf.
I received this book for free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
More more information on The Journey, other books in the Northwest Passage series, or on John Heldt be sure to check out Amazon, Goodreads, and John Heldt’s website.
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