"Is there every really anything such as a coincidence?"

About once a month nine-year-old Savannah Alexander would have the nightmare. However, it had never been as bad as it was tonight, after a run in with the local bully. It always included helplessness, panic, a spreading horror of something unspeakable about to happen and an evil voice that called her Selena. However, it had never been this vivid. This time it sends her running from her grandparents home, where she and her parents are visiting, and into the night. When she hurts her foot, she's rescued by the cousin's friend, Tommy.

She doesn't see Tommy again for years, until the nightmares return. She last had them when she was fifteen, thirteen years ago. The reoccurrence of them causes her friend and co-worker to make her an appointment with a psychiatrist, who advised her to take a vacation or risk a breakdown. This is how she ends up at her grandparent's old home in East Prairie. The house is empty at this time, now that her grandparents are gone, but still habitable, as her father is using it as a rental property. A weird series of coincidental meetings with relatives and old friends, including Dr. Tom Patterson--her childhood hero, Tommy, all grown up--strikes Savannah as very strange.

Though single parent Tom has no plans on getting involved with Savannah, he senses the danger that emanates for the childhood bully, now an obnoxious adult, that he unfortunately has business with. When he realizes that this man is connected to Savannah's nightmares, and appears to be a danger to her, he also accepts that he can't leave her. Especially after she asks his help in discovering the source and meaning of her dreams. Yet when he does, Savannah finds herself reliving a past life--and facing an evil she must defeat in the past to safeguard the future.

"Past Indiscretions" is a wonderful paranormal romance with a secondary mystery that is quite intriguing. More a reincarnation story than a time-travel, it does have a bit of that tone, also. The scenes that take place in the past are imaginatively done. The numerous coincidences can be a bit much, yet play an integral part in the story. The villain is fairly vile, in both time periods. Not quite in the common way, paranormal fans won't want to miss this one.

Sexuality: Non-descriptive monogamous sex.

Reviewed by Flora Bell
Posted March 15, 2004