A Witch in Time

November 11, 2019
Dark magic creates a love triangle that spans lifetimes in this complex, genre-bending debut. Helen Lambert, freshly divorced from Roger, meets Luke Varner for the first time on a blind date in 2012. Or so she thinks until Luke informs her that they’ve met before: in France in 1895, then California in 1935, and New Mexico in 1970. Luke is a lesser demon, overseeing a curse that forces Helen (formerly incarnated as Juliet, Nora, and Sandra) to reenact a doomed romance with Roger (previously Marchant, Billy, and Rick) through time. Worse, the curse has deadly fine print: Helen never lives past 34. But each time Helen reincarnates, her magic and memories of Luke, who she really loves, grow stronger. With only a month until her 34th birthday, Helen learns that to break the curse she must kill Luke. Sayers traverses time periods effortlessly with lush, graceful descriptions of each era, though some readers will be turned off by graphic scenes of rape and abuse as Helen is brutalized across time. This spiraling narrative will appeal to fans of historical fiction and complicated love stories who can stomach violence.

December 1, 2019
When Helen Lambert meets her blind date, Luke Varner, at a trendy D.C. bar, little does she know they've met before--over several lifetimes. In this, her debut novel, Sayers cleverly twists the loves-lost-through-time motif. Helen and Luke are not star-crossed, or rather curse-crossed, lovers from the 19th century, doomed to an eternity of thwarted passion. Instead, Sayers binds them together in a complicated codependent triangle: Helen is certainly replaying a thwarted love affair from more than a century ago, but she did not love Luke then. It all begins in 1895, when Juliet LaCompte, a beautiful 16-year-old French farm girl, falls in love with her summer neighbor, Auguste Marchant. Marchant is a Parisian artist who adores painting Juliet, and as the summer progresses, their desires for each other grow. But Marchant is very much married with a heavily pregnant wife, and Juliet is betrothed to a boy whose farm abuts her father's. Even worse, Juliet's mother, a skilled herbalist and sometime witch, finds out about their affair. Enraged that Juliet has besmirched the family's honor and terrified for reasons Juliet cannot understand, her mother casts a spell cursing Marchant. But the spell is sloppily made, and it not only catches Juliet in its web, but also saddles her with a demon administrator: Lucian Varnier (aka Luke), who begins to fall in love with her, too. Sayers builds tension between present-day Luke and Helen by plunging Helen into a dream world, where she relives her time as a 1930s Hollywood starlet and 1970s rock musician, and each incarnation of Juliet becomes more attached to Luke. Moreover, her own powers as a witch have grown, so perhaps this will be the lifetime in which she breaks the curse. But her own feelings for Luke may get in the way. A smart, engrossing debut from a writer to watch.

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February 1, 2020

DEBUT Juliet LaCompte is a teenager cursed by her mother, a minor witch, to fall in love with a man who will never love her the same way for eternity. When she dies, she is reborn and the cycle starts again. Traveling to late 19th-century France, 1930s Hollywood, 1970s Southern California, and contemporary Washington, DC, Sayers weaves a complicated tale of romance by introducing more memories of her demon lover in Juliet's modern reincarnation, Helen. In each new life, she is doomed to repeat the mistakes of her past with a twist: She remembers each life she's lived, even though she's not supposed to. Things come to a head when Helen meets her lover again, but this time she only has one month to figure out how to stop the curse. Sayers's strength lies in her characters; both major and minor players are realistic and fascinating. VERDICT Sayers weaves deep historical context with rich characterizations to create a melancholic novel, reminiscent of Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife and Diana Gabaldon's "Outlander" series that readers of historical fiction and romance will enjoy.--Kay Strahan, Univ. of Tennessee Health Sciences Lib., Memphis

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

A romance cursed to repeat throughout time. Four variations of the same couple. One demon, with secrets of his own, overseeing them all. With multiple narrators giving voice to the tales of Juliet, Nora, Sandra, and Helen, it is expected that there will be some variations in style and skill. Yet, with the exception of a few unusual pronunciation decisions, each of the four narrators expertly portrays her characters' distinct personalities, bringing each one to life. The choice of multiple narrators adds a deeper layer to the production. Courtney Patterson, Emily Caldwell, Brittany Wilkerson, and Stephanie Willis perform in their own styles, furthering the illusion that the four protagonists are separate in time but having enough similarities to convince the listener that the women are closely connected. Their performances leave one wanting more. A.S.L.M. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine

January 1, 2020
Just after Helen Lambert's divorce is finalized, a friend sets her up on a blind date. Her dinner companion is somehow familiar although she is certain they have never met?until he tells her they have, but in a previous life and over multiple lifetimes, whenever she calls him with a wish to fulfill. Scoffing at these preposterous notions, Helen leaves. Then the dreams begin. Through these immersive reveries, Helen learns she is the victim of a witch's binding spell, one that ties her to reincarnations of the same man across time. She is cursed to relive her life again and again, always falling in love and always dying young. The intriguing details of life in Belle Epoque France, mid-1930s Hollywood, and the 1970s L.A. Laurel Canyon music scene combined with 21st century Washington, DC, will draw readers into Sayers' fantasy debut. Offer this fascinating magical fusion of movies Groundhog Day and Somewhere in Time with the television series Quantum Leap to readers who enjoy stories that mix fictional characters with real historical figures.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)