Judith‘s review of Rubies and Other Gems by Joyce DeBacco.

A one-night stand in her dreams isn’t the worst thing that can happen to Lily’s shaky marriage. Unless it involves a real man who lived and died years before she was born.

Transported through time by her grandmother’s ruby jewelry, Lily is appalled when she discovers Daniel, her dream lover, isn’t a dream after all. But she’s entranced by the simpler nature of times gone by and can’t resist going back again. But only after imposing strict rules on herself. When a miscalculation keeps her away longer than planned, she’s confronted by her enraged husband, Sam, on her return. Aware she can’t make amends and steer her children in the right direction unless she stays in the here and now, Lily vows to leave the past to the past.

But in her attempt to take away the jewelry’s power, she inadvertently sends herself back without her return ticket, the rubies. Aided only by the kindness of an older, grayer—and married Daniel, she fears she’ll grow old and die before her loved ones are born. A far greater fear is that her children won’t ever see the light of day if she’s not there to give birth to them.

I am as excited about action tales and erotic love stories as the next person. But from time to time readers encounter a love story that is really what I sometimes call a “life biography” or “pictures in the life of . . .” So it is with the family in this story, told mostly from the perspective of Lily Manning, a woman who had been married for 20 plus years with two nearly grown children and a quiet and non-expressive husband.

This novel is not your “hot-hot-hot” kind of novel. There are some love scenes sprinkled through out the tale, but they are not the engine that drives this novel. Rather it is the dynamic between Lily and her husband and children that are the forces that inspire her actions and reactions and which inevitably shape the relationships that are the center pieces of this literary work.

Pin Grandma’s ruby brooch on your sweater and put on one matching earring, sit down for a short nap in a favorite chair, and voila! Lily finds herself in her Grandma’s farm house kitchen, only it is during the years when her Grandma was a little girl. She discovers that the town where she lives looked very different 100 years prior to her lifetime, and she meets the blacksmith, a very handsome and friendly guy, to whom Lily is attracted. He is the stuff of which her fantasies are made. And given the fact that Lily and her husband are seldom intimate anymore, she is definitely open to a fantasy lover. However, after a journey back in time once or twice, Lily is appalled to discover that Daniel was a real person and that her fantasy lover wasn’t just a dream.

Lily must now make some decisions about her future that are difficult and which form the backdrop of the on-going story. The progress of her life and experiences tell of her discoveries about herself and her husband, Sam, about her children–especially her daughter who has been using drugs off and on for years, and about her son and his dreams. She must work very hard to re-build her marriage after Sam finds out about her infidelity. And she must decide what she is going to do about her Grandmother’s rubies.

The “gems” in the title may very well be the opportunities that are opened to her as she discovers more about herself and each of her family members. Certainly the rubies were a door to a whole other world and to people and their times, people who became important to Lily and upon whom she had more of an impact that she realized at the time. The “gems” may also be the people who are important to Lily. No doubt she gained a new appreciation for Sam and his faithfulness to her as a husband, a deeper respect for her children and their right as emerging adults to chart their own future, and a greater understanding of herself and what was really important to her happiness.

So I would recommend this novel as one of those books that moves the reader through the days, months, and years of living, that open the reader’s awareness to circumstances that, in this case, may be just a bit unique–how many of us get to be time travelers?–and which “warm the cockles of our hearts” with the genuine humanness of the story, and which remind each of us that there are precious factors in all our lives that go far beyond our estimation sometimes. I doubt if anyone on this planet truly appreciates their spouses, children, and special people in their lives as much as we should. So be sure to read this novel–it will be well-worth your time. I know it held my interst from start to finish, and I was entertained and instructed as I read. I give this book a rating of 4.25 out of 5.

This book is available from Amazon Digital Services. You can buy it here in e-format.

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