What an interesting concept! David Galloway owns and runs a small bookstore in a small town in Michigan. The first hint that this will be an intriguing book is that David smells smoke and he thinks of how fires can be followed by explosions and sizzling skin and that he had over a century’s worth of overreacting to fire!
Right after this incident David reads about a thirty year old daredevil, Zachary Wilson, who rode a motorcycle over the Grand Canyon and fell to His death. The next day David finds out that Zachary did not die, that an angel saved his life!
David decides to go and talk to Zachary to find out if he is like him. Zachary is in his element, being mobbed by people and photographed but he agrees to meet with David later that evening.
David goes to his room.... but David becomes bedridden, his body will refuse to function for three days. Zac comes in, sees David’s condition, and he asks if David is rejuvenating, David says yes and his mind wanders back a hundred years to his wife and children. Then David is taken to a trailer with some men he does not know and he is given a blood transfusion. David finds out that he and these men were all treated by one doctor with a serum when they had life-threatening injuries that they should have died from over a hundred years ago.
You will have to read the book for yourself to see what happens to David, and Zac and the others, and decide for yourself....would you want to live forever?

Well, to be perfectly honest, I must say that I wasn't even considering reading this until I saw the cover. Speculative isn't my thing, and I wasn't going to risk reading a book I was pretty sure I wouldn't like. But then it popped up on NetGalley, and I grabbed it on impulse.

In the very first chapter, I was hooked. I had too much to do to read it in one sitting, but I did read it in under 24 hours. The writing style is so thoughtful and flows so well, with a cadence that has a trifle of nostalgia to it and fits perfectly with the character's voice. I loved all the old literary references and especially the musical references to Stephen Foster's compositions.

The handful of people David meets have had plenty of hard knocks in life—more than the average share, obviously. I love how Amanda Stephens dove straight into the hard topics and shared a strong Gospel message along the way. It deals with faith, justice (whew! On some scenes...), reliance on God despite our circumstances, and so on. I loved, also, how human David is and yet still a manly, principled hero.

Now can I have a sequel, please?

Content: some "acceptable" crudities which I didn't care for reading; most people won't mind. Also some references to people having slept together outside of marriage.

Thanks to NetGalley for a free review copy. A favorable review was not required.

I was really into this book and thoroughly enjoying it until about 65-70% of the way through. Then, it kind of took a left turn at Albuquerque.... You've got this great story line, with well-built characters and an intriguing historical / science fiction factor, and then....a twist that just didn't fit with the story. It didn't work for me. I'd like to see the author take the first part of the book and rework the ending.