The story begins in early 2019 when Gloria finds herself flying down a dark road in a strange car, covered in blood, and having no recollection of how she came to be this way. Her story unfolds from there as she slips away, as if awakening from a bad dream, only to find herself back in 2003, still married to Charles. She is panic-stricken, especially since she knows she left Charles in 2017 and is now engaged to a wonderful and kind man named Rick, so how can she be waking up in her old house next to Charles? When she realizes she is fully awake, she thinks perhaps God has given her a chance at a do-over, especially since Charles' abuse has caused her to lose many precious memories of her two young daughters growing up. This new Gloria is much wiser to Charles' manipulations, so perhaps this time, she has a chance to do things differently.
The chapters flip back and forth between 2003 and 2017 - 2019, the time when Gloria decided to leave Charles and began building a new life with Rick, only this time, Gloria makes a number of changes in her earlier life, having Charles' number that much earlier because she was already armed with years of experience dealing with him. Many similar things are happening in both timelines, including things like Charles growing violent and threatening Gloria and the girls, him enjoying stints in jail for driving drunk, and Gloria's parents helping her to leave him. Because of this, there were times when I got confused as to what was happening exactly when, but to be honest, this may have been intentional since Gloria, herself, was having trouble sussing out which timeline was reality and what was just a dream. After all, as time progresses and she is still stuck in 2003, she begins to think her future life was really the dream, but she can't bear a life without Rick...
I can't say much more about the book without revealing more than I want to, because this really is a book that should unfold organically for the reader. Suffice it to say that Gloria works with a therapist in 2003 and beyond to integrate the other Gloria into her life in the hopes of remembering her lost time. I really enjoyed The Other Gloria and, although it is not a perfect book, I found the ending artfully written and really enjoyable. It is truly a skilled writer than can take two separate timelines and bring them together for the ending of a book so beautifully and Villafane does just that. If you enjoy a good thriller, check out The Other Gloria. I'd be interested to see what she has in store for her next book.
