Madeline is truly exploring what she wants from her life, but Emma is also learning where she wants to be and what she’s willing to do to get there.

Madeline is admirably practical. She is the girl boss who is getting stuff DONE. And then she meets Rob, and he shows her she could be happy. Being as practical as she is, she recognizes that she does not know how to be happy in a relationship, and she enters therapy with Olivia. Best. Choice. Ever.

Emma has navigated both her career and a personal life. While working with Madeline for quite a while, she’s also gotten married and had a child. Now she strives to be a good mother, and still have a competitive career. As Madeline’s best friend, she thinks she has a better handle on her faults, but also wants her to be happy.

Olivia offers Madeline excellent (well, EXPERT) advice about reviewing her past, and rewriting the stories that set her expectations of life. Madeline is an excellent pupil and views therapy as something else to be successful at.

The story could almost have been a memoir instead of fiction, and it was easy to imagine parts of the characters as recognizable people. The book earned 5 out of 5 stars. Even without Madeline’s traumatic past, her therapist’s advice seems like the sort that could improve anyone’s life. This engaging contemporary story is recommended for women (especially) who enjoy self-help stories, career vs family stories, and mostly happy endings.

Ok, I'm in love with this book! This is not a small book, but it was such a pleasure and easy read.

Overworked Madeline takes a scary leap of faith into self-discovery and goes into confusing-as-it-can-be soul-searching after understanding that she is simply done and wants happiness instead of whatever this executive s...stuff happening for her. And of course, here close people think she is a bit crazy and totally weird for meditating and doing yoga (her boyfriend) and for not wanting back into this life-crushing work environment (her friend).

This book was in the right place, at the right time for me. But honestly, it would be "at the right time" even two years ago and 5 years later, because of the topics covered here. I always said that fiction books (but is it that much of the fiction?- wink at the author) can serve you better than non-fiction psychological books with their big words and unnecessary explanations, and this book is perfect for self-help book lovers when they want something laid-back and interesting, and yet life-changing with a dash of self-discovery. And this book is perfect for self-help book haters who still need some encouragement to go after things they would actually enjoy and not things that just drain them. Here is a great portrait of the life of the busy person as it is - everything being under control, yet falling apart, the person being the first to do so, and lazy days in pajamas putting down actual wants and needs, for those wants to later break into person's consciousness like a scared cat and to stick to person's mind like henna on the fluffy towels.

All of us need some laid-back serious and deep but warm late-night conversations with wine with a friend. Let this book be your company for the evening like that.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Madeline is a senior vice president at a major bank, balancing her boss’s demands with her perfectionism to create a strong presence and a solid performance. She was very happy in her workaholic world until she met Rob. At forty-nine, she fell in love, and she no longer wanted to devote her entire life to her job.

Her boss Steve, however, had other ideas.

While Madeline tried to make a little more space for herself, to enjoy time with Rob and to plan their wedding, Steve interrupts her dinners with calls about problems she needs to fix immediately, promotes his own favorite employees over the ones Madeline has seen work hard, holds grudges over small slights, and runs roughshod over her every boundary. And Madeline lets him. Especially when he dangles a promotion over her head.

But Madeline is increasingly unhappy. And when she doesn’t quite know why, she decides to see a therapist. At first, her sessions are a little baffling, like her therapist Olivia wants her to understand something that’s completely foreign. But little by little, as Madeline starts to put in the work, she starts to figure out what it is she really wants, and what she doesn’t want. And what she doesn’t want is a job that is painful and all-consuming. So one day, when Steve and his toxic ideas just get to be too much for her, she resigns, effective immediately.

As Madeline tries to find a new path for herself, her friend Emma stays at the bank, taking a promotion and taking over some of the work Madeline used to do. She has a husband and a teenager, and with her new workload, Emma struggles to make time for them. But it’s worth it to her, to be in the upper ranks of the bank.

As both women struggle with the demands of the lives they’ve chosen, they find themselves making choices about who they want to be and how they want their future to look. They are making decisions that affect their relationships, their families, and their own health, and each woman will have to choose for herself what success looks like and feels like as they come into their own power.

This Time Could Be Different is a look at what it takes to work as a woman in modern America. It’s a book about facing the demons of your past and finding strength inside of yourself. It’s about working in a toxic office and the reasons you ended up there in the first place. But mostly it’s about figuring out who you are what you want and going after it, whether it involves a typical workplace or going out on your own.

I really enjoyed This Time Could Be Different. I found myself caught up in Madeline’s story and rooting for her to find the peace she searched for. I thought this novel was smart and funny, but mostly I thought it was subversive. The power structures of the bank were outdated and Madeline’s ideas of herself and her work came from a traumatic childhood, but the words of her therapist and the exercises she assigned Madeline reversed a lot of that damage. Her story fascinated me, and she was the person I wanted to find happiness most of all.

This Time Could Be Different would be a fantastic book for a book club. There are a lot of threads to pick at in this story and a lot of good discussions that could come from the scenes of this book. Between Madeline thinking that there was a ghost in her and Rob’s home to Emma’s struggles with her teenager’s preferred pronouns to the workplace, the therapy, the relationships, the struggles for balance—this novel has a wealth of jumping off points for an important discussion, or even just as an opportunity to share stories of bad bosses over wine and cheese.

I think anyone who is struggling with their job, or with their future, could find some hope and healing in Madeline’s story, and maybe even find some inspiration for a better life balance and more self-care.

Egalleys for This Time Could Be Different were provided by SparkPoint Studio and Spark Press through NetGalley, with many thanks.

I found this book to be truly inspirational as to how, like Madeline, in reinventing yourself and in terms of the qualification of success and fulfillment, that one can be happier than ever imaginable. She took a step.back from a career of which gratification such as a presentation done well created emotions that were fleeting rather than her exploring things she was truly passionate about such as event planning. She chose simple moments to be celebrated and surrounded herself with cheerleaders such as Rob and Rachel. In working with Olivia, she truly left the past behind and forgave those who she had let define her such as her grandparents. Conversely, Emma decided that her self worth was only defined by her career and she would put everything aside in order to achieve the next steps. In doing so, she emotionally and physically depleted herself and as the book moved on, her happiness grew less and less. She sacrificed everything for the company and it was telling when she informed Jasper that when her daughter graduated, she was all his. This book reaffirms what us truly important.

Book Review

This Time Could Be Different

By: Khristin Wierman

Pub Date: September 12, 2023

Trigger warning: There is mention of suicide.

Thank you to @NetGalley and Spark Press for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

There’s a lot more to Madeline than meets the eye. She seems to have it all, the career, the fiancé, a house, and her cat, Bear. It’s what people don’t see- the traumatic childhood, a father that would rather be doing anything but spending time with her, grandparents that blame her for what happened to her mom.

Thankfully she has Bear, her cat whose purring calms her and her therapist Olivia, who peels back layers of Madeline’s past to see there’s a lot to work through. Olivia and Madeline take small steps and develop meditation and yoga practice and ways to deal with the bad memories not suppress them. It’s when Madeline steps away from her career and takes the time to spend on herself that she truly blossoms.

My thoughts:

Madeline is a character in crisis. She is struggling to find balance between work and everything else. While work has always come first, she realizes she doesn’t want it to be that way. She wants to marry her fiancé; she wants to figure out what’s next with her career. She is someone you can relate to, she is sensitive and smart, and at 49 years old she is at a turning point. Her life can either continue as is or possibly be better. Madeline is truly inspiring.

Read if:

· you’re considering a career change

· working through a difficult past

· enjoy reading about self-help

· like reading about women who come out stronger and better than ever