In 1963, Angelica "Jelly" Ryan was in her senior year of high school in Love, Oklahoma. She lived in the age of bobby socks, the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, and college being considered "wasted on women, who'll just up and get married." Jelly's father, Jake Ryan, was the town sheriff, and he did his best to raise his daughter alone. He wanted only for her to get married so that he wouldn't have to worry about her "running around"-and so that he could marry his long-time lover, the friendly beautician Velta. College for Jelly appeared to be out of the question from the beginning.

Jelly's teacher, Anna Myers, had other plans for Jelly. She recognised her quick wit and intelligence and wanted more for Jelly than what Jake was willing to offer her. However, Jelly's chances of going to college were diminished when she had sex with an older boy Jerry Don Hunt after the tragic deaths of their friends. She fell pregnant, and the only way for her to stabilize her life was to marry Jerry Don. Unconcerned with the new responsibilities of having a wife and child, however, Jerry Don volunteered to go to Vietnam, but Jelly was not by any means left alone to cope with the bumps that life as a pregnant married teenager brings.

The story is a heart-warming look at love in a small town. What it lacks in writing finesse, it makes up for with the warmth and the strong Southern voice of the characters, captured in the dialogue so Southern you can almost hear the twang. It also showcases the bad and the good things about living in a small town-everyone knows you and your business, but when you're in trouble, you have a good-sized extended family that rallies behind you.

Unfortunately, the warmth of the story is undermined by both a lack of careful editing, and a slow, jerky pace in places. Woods slips from past into present tense occasionally and jumps between points of view in a confusing manner. She gets carried away with telling and doesn't do enough showing, which gives the impression that she doesn't trust the reader to work things out for herself. These are simple things which easily could have been picked up by a good editor, and would have made the story easier to read and, as a result, more pleasurable.

All in all, although Killing Time has the potential to be a sweet, poignant and moving story about the choices we make and the importance of friends, it just doesn't quite get there.

Reviewed By: Melinda Stanners
© July 2004