Time for One More Dance

Book excerpt: Twenty-six-year-old Aubrey Adderley is not your typical Southern California girl. Raised mostly by her grandparents, she inherited a love for an era when multimedia and technology did not yet rule the world; when a gentleman's promise was sealed with a handshake and a lady's honor was held in the highest esteem. Aubrey has a passion for classic movies from the Golden Age of cinema. MGM musicals are her favorite; Gene Kelly, her hero. At the tender age of ten, Aubrey accompanies her mother to an autograph signing and meets Mr. Kelly. Aubrey finds his reaction to her somewhat peculiar, but doesn't think about it again until years later when a series of events orchestrated by unknown forces causes everything to begin to make sense. With the help of her level-headed best friend Rusty - and the science lab which has unwittingly been left at her disposal by the doctor whose house she is sitting for the summer - our adventure-loving heroine travels to the past and encounters Gene Kelly at three very different seasons of his life. Against the backdrop of depression-era New York City, Gene and Aubrey attempt to warn an unsuspecting community on Long Island of the impending hurricane which would later be dubbed "The Long Island Express.” Aubrey battles prejudice at a time when women weren't always taken seriously, all the while fighting to stay one step ahead of the mysterious stranger who seems bent upon stopping her at every turn. She struggles against the physical toll that is an unavoidable side-effect of time traveling, and with the moral dilemmas that her travels present. Aubrey's brief visits to the past encompass nearly forty years of Gene's life. Her quest for the heart of her hero teaches her a valuable lesson about perseverance, loyalty, honor and love.