A Witch in Time

Dark magic creates a love triangle that spans lifetimes in this complex, genre-bending debut. Helen Lambert, freshly divorced from Roger, meets Luke Varner for the first time on a blind date in 2012. Or so she thinks until Luke informs her that they’ve met before: in France in 1895, then California in 1935, and New Mexico in 1970. Luke is a lesser demon, overseeing a curse that forces Helen (formerly incarnated as Juliet, Nora, and Sandra) to reenact a doomed romance with Roger (previously Marchant, Billy, and Rick) through time. Worse, the curse has deadly fine print: Helen never lives past 34. But each time Helen reincarnates, her magic and memories of Luke, who she really loves, grow stronger. With only a month until her 34th birthday, Helen learns that to break the curse she must kill Luke. Sayers traverses time periods effortlessly with lush, graceful descriptions of each era, though some readers will be turned off by graphic scenes of rape and abuse as Helen is brutalized across time. This spiraling narrative will appeal to fans of historical fiction and complicated love stories who can stomach violence. (Feb.)