The One That I Want

April 5, 2010
In the latest from Scotch (Time of My Life
), a clichéd story of a baby-craving 30-something, gives way to an aching, honest look into the death and rebirth of relationships. Tilly Farmer is a high school guidance counselor who married her high school sweetheart, has never left her hometown of Westlake, Wash., and is sure that the key to her happiness is getting pregnant. When an unexpected encounter with an old grade school friend (now a psychic) leaves Tilly with the ability to see the future, what she foresees is not a baby but losing her husband to a job in Seattle. Though the far-fetched plot device feels tired, Scotch combines the fallout of Tilly's visions with the burdens of an alcoholic father, angry younger sister, and deceased mother to bring her character into focus. Scotch answers hard questions about the nature of personal identity and overwhelming loss with a wise, absorbing narrative.

April 1, 2010
A dose of supernatural powers turns a self-satisfied former cheerleader into an emotional wreck, and maybe a more authentic person.

Tilly Farmer has it all—at least according to her own estimation. She and Tyler, popular high-school sweethearts, are now married, tucked away in their little house in the same small Washington town in which they were raised. Tilly is the guidance counselor at her old high school and gets to relive the glory days everyday. No matter that her talented younger sister Darcy"escaped" as soon as she could to Los Angeles And forget that Tyler is haunted by lost dreams—he was on the way to becoming a pro ball player before a college injury—in the town where he was once a hero. To Tilly, everyone is happy, happy, happy. Until the county fair that is, when a long-lost school friend, Ashley, manning the psychic booth, gives Tilly a head massage. Boom! Clarity finally comes to 32-year-old Tilly, who begins to see the future through visions. She quickly comes to appreciate how much of life she's lived with blinders on. Into the picture falls Eli, the school's new cool art teacher, who gets Tilly interested in photography again. Unsurprisingly the lesson is: 1) Tilly has not followed her own dreams and 2) She has invested her energy in caring for others. Tilly is angry, not only at her new psychic gift, but at all the reality she's missed out on, such as noticing the slow disintegration of her marriage. Never fear, once she gets used to reality, she begins to like its potential.

Pleasant, predictable beach-bag fare from Scotch (Time of My Life, 2008, etc.).

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April 15, 2010
Tilly Farmer readily admits she's a happy woman. She married her high school sweetheart and is ready to start a family. She works as a guidance counselor at her old high school, and she lives in a nice house in the hometown where she grew up. She even has a hand in planning the senior prom and school musical every year. A chance meeting with an estranged friend working as a fortune teller leaves Tilly with strange visions that show a future quite the opposite of her expectations, like her father's struggle with alcoholism and her husband packing a moving truck. When her premonitions begin to prove valid, Tilly's left to wonder whether her happiness is genuine or a quixotic quest to keep hold of the best time of her life. VERDICT A well-told if slightly predictable tale, Scotch's ("Time of My Life") novel is a good choice for fans of women's fiction and book clubs. It's fast-paced and feels light yet still packs a satisfying emotional punch.Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY

Copyright 2010 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2010
Scotch (The Department of Lost & Found, 2007; Time of My Life, 2008) specializes in heroines at a crossroads, questioning their life choices and preparing to embark on journeys of self-discovery. Here she hews closely to this formula. Tilly Farmer is aggressively insistent in claiming that she loves her life, including marriage to her high-school sweetheart and a job as a high-school guidance counselor. Shes actually in a rut but doesnt know it, until a fortune-teller provides her with the gift of clarity regarding the future. The more honest Tilly is about her emotionsespecially the anger, resentment, and grief tamped down since the death of her motherthe more her perfect world unravels and the closer she comes to real happiness. Scotch creates eminently relatable characters, with a particularly excellent understanding of the way sisters interact, and has the ability to craft scenes of real emotional weight, so much so that none of her flash-forwards or hocus-pocus is necessary.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)