Second Time Around (Time Lottery Series #2) [Paperback]

Nancy Moser (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2004

This sequel to Time Lottery follows a similar theme. Three more contestants are given the unique opportunity to visit their past – and the choice to live within that new reality. Can David Stancowsky stop the love of his life from dying? Will Vanessa Caldwell break the patterns of dysfunction before she makes a terrible mistake? And why does Hollywood A-lister, Lane Holloway, want to return home?

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

What if we could go back to one specific time in our lives and change the course of the future? In this sequel to the Christy Award–winning The Lottery, Moser offers an intriguing look at the consequences of our choices. Three time lottery ticket winners all have regrets about their past. Movie star Lane Holloway is haunted by the life she might have had in a small town with her high school sweetheart. Vanessa Caldwell wonders about her abortion and her decision to live with her wealthy father rather than her hippie mother. The never-married CEO David Stancowsky longs to save his fiancée from an apparent accidental death that cost them their future. They can go back in time, but if they choose to stay and live a different life—their "Alternity"—they will die in real time. Intriguingly, given the plot, Vanessa's mother tells her "Life is not random... each of us has been created with a unique purpose. The trick is to find out what it is." Sharp, unobtrusive details, strong dialogue and interesting characters make the pages turn. Occasionally, Moser slips into preachiness, but the worst faux pas is a self-promoting reference to her earlier book The Seat Beside Me, as a potential vehicle for Holloway. Despite ending on a sour note, this is a compelling read that faith fiction fans will enjoy.
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Book Description

In this follow-up to the Christie Award-winning "Time Lottery," three more contestants are faced with onerous choices about their future when they win the opportunity to visit their past.

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Publishing, Inc (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593104782
• ISBN-13: 978-1593104788
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,123,632 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nancy Moser is the award-winning author of over twenty novels that focus on the characters discovering their unique purpose. Her genres include both contemporary and historical stories. Her latest release "An Unlikely Suitor" was named to Booklist's "Top 10 Romance Novels of 2011". Both "An Unlikely Suitor" and "Masquerade" are set in the Gilded Age of New York City (see a book trailer for "Masquerade" below.) Coming out in 2012 is a Christmas/Quilt antholgy,"A Patchwork Christmas", containing three novellas by Moser, Stephanie Grace Whitson, and Judith Miller. Moser's contemporary books are known for their big-cast utilization of multiple points-of-view and intricate plotting. Some titles are "John 3: 16", "The Sister Circle", "The Good Nearby", and "The Invitation." Her historical bio-novels allow real women-of-history to share their life stories: "Just Jane" (Jane Austen), "Mozart's Sister" (Nannerl Mozart), "Washington's Lady" (Martha Washington) and "How Do I Love Thee?" (Elizabeth Barrett Browning.) Her time-travel novel, "Time Lottery", won a Christy Award and "Washington's Lady" was a finalist. Nancy and her husband Mark live in the Midwest. She's earned a degree in architecture, traveled extensively in Europe, and has performed in numerous theaters, symphonies, and choirs. She gives Said So Sister Seminars around the country, helping women identify their gifts as they celebrate their sisterhood. She paints canes voraciously, kills all her houseplants, and can wire an electrical fixture without getting shocked. She is a fan of anything antique--humans included. Find out more at www.nancymoser.com, www.sistercircles.com. and her historical fiction blog at: http://footnotesfromhistory.blogspot.com/

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What decision in your life do you regret? Would you change it if you could?, July 3, 2008

By 

Bill Garrison (Oklahoma City, OK USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Second Time Around (Time Lottery Series #2) (Paperback)

I was in the middle of reading an incredible book about time travel called Replay by Ken Grimwood when I ran across Second Time Around by Nancy Moser at Mardels. This book is a sequel to the award winning Time Lottery, which I haven't read. The premise is this: A company called Time Lottery Incorporated has developed a method for you to mentally go into your past and make a different decision than one you originally made. Time travel is both incredibly interesting and completely unrealistic, so for a book like this to work, the author has to set reasonable ground rules and then not break them. Moser does this exceptionally well. The winners of the Time Lottery will get to go back in time to a specific moment where they made a wrong choice. They will be able to make a different choice, yet they will have no idea they are time traveling or have a totally different life in the future. After a certain amount of time living in the past, they will have to make the choice if they want to stay in their alternate time or come back to the present.

There are three lucky winners to the lottery this time around. Vanessa Caldwell is fifty and not happy. She is in a loveless marriage and can't communicate with her daughter. Her father has controlled her for her entire life and forbidden contact with her mother since she was a teenager. Her mother has recently died and Vanessa longs for a chance to find out what her mother was like.

Lane Holloway is a world famous actress who secrety despises all the trappings that go with the fame. She wonders what life would be like if she never went to that audition that made her famous.

David Stancowsky is a 74 year old architect who never married. In 1956, his fiance died in a car wreck after running away from him and an argument he caused. He's never forgiven himself. What if he could prevent the car wreck and his fiance's death?

Each person is able to go back and make a different choice. Of course, the new choice leads to a bunch of other consequences, some good, some bad. Friends and family from the present must face the possibility of their loved ones never returning.

I really enjoyed this book. There are plenty of twists and turns regarding the motivations and true character of the characters in this book. You don't need to read Time Lottery to enjoy this novel, but I perhaps which I had because Second Time Around may contain a few spoilers. This book doesn't pack the punch the the above mentioned Replay did for me, but it does make me wonder if there are any decisions I would like to change in my life. Like most people, I'm sure there are, but if I were to have the opportunity, then it might just ruin everything I have now. That's Moser's message, I think. We only have one life. Enjoy it. Make the most if it. Be thankful for everything God has given you.

I urge Christian fiction readers who may be turned off by the time travel element not to worry. The time travel is just a premise to examine real life and the choices we must make.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent sequel! Wish there were more..., April 28, 2008

By 

Bethi J (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Time Around (Time Lottery Series #2) (Paperback)

This was an excellent book! I expected that the sequel would have more of a "been-there, done-that" feel, as the premise was already set, but it was fresh, new... and perhaps even better than the original Time Lottery. I will have to go back and reread the first book to figure that out. But anyway, it was a very good book, and not as predictable as I thought it would be. Who would choose to come back? It's not certain at all until the end.

6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Read, May 6, 2006

By 

michie "michie" (Sacramento, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Second Time Around (Time Lottery Series #2) (Paperback)

I enjoyed the Second Time Around even more that the first book, Time Lottery - most likely because the stage is already set. Fast paced, great characters, wonderful plot lines. I hope the author writes another book or two for this series. A great summer or vacation read!