As a responsible adult and ever-vigilant protector of all that is good and true, I feel it imperative that I issue a stern warning about The Restorer by Sharon Hinke.

This is a very dangerous book. Reading this book will upset your place in the time-space continuum. It will suck you into its pages like a portal into another reality, and then drop you back into our world hours later, potentially leaving entire days unaccounted for. And, if you are given to reading in the bathtub, be warned: it is nearly impossible to put this book down long enough to towel off, and you may find yourself trapped in a tub of room-temperature bathwater with more pruney wrinkles than a bulldog.

Established CBA Mom-Lit author Sharon Hinke has accomplished something incredible in The Restorer–a successful fusion of Mom-Lit and Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Allegory genres. Like any fusion of extremes, hard-core advocates of either genre will have to adjust a little. The hard-core Mom-Lit fans may find it challenging at first to get their heads around the alternate universe that burned-out soccer mom Susan Mitchell falls into; portals into alternate realities aren’t exactly the norm in Mom-Lit. Likewise, hard-core Fantasy readers may be challenged by the interpretation of that alternate reality through the eyes of a suburban soccer-mom. However, those who have the creative vision to see this fusion for what it is and approach without presumption will find The Restorer to be a wondrous journey with a truly unique twist or two and more than a few surprises as soccer-mom Susan grows into her calling in the alternate reality, and in the process rediscovers herself.

Be warned that once you open this book and start reading, you might slip through the portal right behind Susan. I did, and I want to go back. It’s a good thing this is the first of three (and who knows, maybe more) in the Sword of Lyric series. I’ll soon make the return trip with The Restorer’s Son.