Younger Every Day

Reviewer Note: The author provided me with a free copy of this book for an honest review. I did not receive any financial compensation for writing and/or posting this review. This review may contain spoilers.

Who wouldn't want to reverse time and go back to a period when they were younger, thinner, better looking? If it just came in a pill or tiny bottle, would you take it? No surgery, no diets, just a simple swig from a bottle and “POOF”, you're suddenly ten years younger – would you take that drink? If you did take the drink, what would your life be like? Those questions are answered for Mr. Thomas Elder, husband and father, in the book Younger Every Day by Rob Santana.

Tom, father of two, feels his age the day he turns 50, when he collapses in his home from a heart attack. He feels old and out of touch with his own family. His daughter, Penny, is angry most of the time and his son, Mark, spends the majority of his time playing video games. His wife, Kim, is fourteen years his junior and still beautiful. He feels his life is going nowhere and wants a change. That change comes when he meets a man who offers him the fountain of youth in a tiny bottle. All he has to do is drink the first liquid, then return in a few days to be restored to his actual age with a second liquid (if he wants).

Things get interesting as he grows younger, first explaining to his very shocked wife about the youth elixer, then posing as a cousin that the children didn't know existed (since their father is an only child). Kim and Tom create a story, a fairly convincing one, to explain how it is that Tom has a nephew that no one had heard of. Then, as a young boy of 12, then a young child of 5, and eventually an infant. Each age regression occurs after Tom loses consciousness, whether it's by falling asleep or passing out, and eventually his children have to be let in on what is happening, as Kim attempts to find a cure that will reverse her Tom's aging. With each regression, Tom learns a little bit more about his children and what their lives are like since they rarely share things with their parents. As he grows younger, he attempts to hold onto his authority as their father, which becomes harder and harder to do. His transformation also impacts Mark and Penny. Mark finds someone to play video games with and care for. Penny, on the other hand, becomes more rebellious, attending parties with the proverbial bad boy and taking her mother's car on an anger fueled drive.

I was intrigued by the relationship between Kim and Tom. Kim comes very close to cheating on Tom at one point, but backs out at the last minute. She was very young when she married Tom, all of 18, and I think there is a part of her that felt the age difference when he suffered his heart attack. Yet, as Tom begins to grow younger, Kim's love for him shines brighter. She is genuinely concerned about the reversal and she genuinely wants him back to his actual age, his current self. As I read the story, I wanted even more about Tom and Kim and the ins and outs of their relationship. I really liked the flashback story on how they met quite a bit. I felt that the children, especially Penny, were a distraction. I didn't really care for Penny and her actions throughout the story. I did develop a bit more sympathy for Mark as the story proceeded forward and Tom reversed in age, it seemed like the younger Tom got the more Mark grew, which I liked seeing. I did not see growth from Penny in the same way, at least not for a significant part of the book. Sometimes, not all characters are going to be favorites, and Penny is definitely not my favorite. That being said, I was hopeful for this family, hopeful that the reverse aging would be cured, hopeful that the relationships between husband/wife, mother/daughter, son/father, and father/daughter would be healed, that an important lesson would be learned by all (including the reader). While I didn't like the ending (it made me sad), I appreciated it because it made sense to me. I think we all flirt with the idea of growing younger, instead of older, but there's always going to be consequences for messing with a natural process and that is what I think this book explored very well.

My sincerest thanks to the author, Mr. Rob Santana, for the opportunity to read this book!