Two women. Two islands. A magical connection to the past.

Reverse Ripples is a heartwarming, magical, suspense-filled story of friendship, adventure, time travel, and love that transcends time.

After graduating from university, two PhDs, Pia and Sam, head to an island on the tip of the Bermuda Triangle for a summer of relaxation. While kayaking in a bioluminescent bay one night, Pia accidentally falls into the magical sparkling blue waters of the bay.

Upon returning home to New York City to begin her career as a forensic pathologist in the Chief Medical Examiner's office, she begins to experience unfathomable visions and interruptions in time. As she struggles through the seemingly impossible experiences with dead strangers, she realizes she can go back in time and cheat death. Now she faces the ultimate moral dilemma?deciding who to save.

Reverse Ripples is your ticket to a powerful, magical and captivating journey!

M.E. Strautmanis, short for Mary Ellen, grew up on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia. She is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and the New York School of Interior Design in New York City. After eight years of design work in Toronto, M.E. relocated with her growing family to Soho, New York, where she has lived most of her life. She recently returnedto her roots and currently resides in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

M.E. is a voracious reader, a lover of the written and spoken word, a word puzzle enthusiast, and a born storyteller. She believes everyone has a story. Her six children were her first audience for her stories, both real and imaginary.

M.E. has volunteered in New York City schools, fund-raised, advocated for early childhood literacy, instituted after-school programs, and opened her home to youth in crisis. She believes strongly in community involvement, the adage that it takes a village, and family is not just the people to whom we are related but all the people with whom we interact.

Mary Ellen Strautmanis' profile page

"Teresa LaBella took me on a roller coaster ride of intrigue, drama, crime, and romance." —Readers' Favorite

M. E. Strautmanis' Reverse Ripples will appeal to lovers of time travel novels laced with romance, fate, destiny, friendship, love, and choices. Strautmanis weaves suspense and adventure into the storyline. She brings the Island of Vieques and New York City to life with vivid descriptions." —Readers' Favorite

"This story has everything I want in a fantasy for grown-ups: family and friendship, love and lust, loss and connection, plus real-life magic—specifically, Vieques and Bioluminescence—interwoven with a thrilling and heartfelt supernatural mystery. It makes me so happy to know this book exists in the world." —Josh Seigal, Producer, 30 Rock and The Good Place

"The story's clever, the characterization strong, and the best descriptive passages touched with insight and poetry." —BookLife

"Reverse Ripples by M.E. Strautmanis is a remarkable work of fiction, capturing the reader's imagination through its multi-layered narrative. The novel deftly intertwines romance, intrigue, and introspection, inviting readers to ponder their own morals long after the final page is turned." —Literary Titan