First things first, this is the second book in the Levels of Ascension series from Amy Proebstel. I mean, sure, this should be obvious but I say it for a very practical reason - if you use the Look Inside feature on Amazon, you'll find the first couple of chapters and preface are very heavy on the infodump side to catch readers up to what has gone before. Don't be put off by that, the rest of the book doesn't follow in those early footsteps.
The story picks up from where book one left off - in which lead character Amanda found herself in the land of Tuala, a strange world where time moves differently, and when she was torn away from that world, had left her children, twin girls, there.
Understandably, she wants to get back to her children and is helped by her parents, who piece together that the strange telepod devices resemble the supposed flying saucer found in Roswell. And off they go to try to find a way back.
Meanwhile, the villain of the first book, Petre, is hunting for Amanda in Tuala, unaware that she is now on Earth - and he hires a man named Ninan to seek her out. Ninan's investigation is the best part of the novel. He's a really interesting character - being used by a villain for his own purposes but seeking out a place in the world of his own, and beginning to question Petre's purposes.
Sadly, though, there's a lot of the novel that is slowed down by lengthy dialogue and with not a lot of action - and a couple of major plot points pretty much happen by coincidence rather than design. Amanda's return to Tuala doesn't happen until quite late in the book - despite pretty much finding the right person to talk to about it in Roswell almost right away. To be honest, Amanda is largely peripheral for a swathe of the book, and that doesn't seem to be the best position to have the main character in. Add to that a remarkable amount of head hopping between characters - we even briefly see the world from the perspective of one of Amanda's babies for some reason - and it's hard to really get into the flow of the book.
If book one hooked you, then this does pick up right where it left off - and positions us at the end for the third in the series, and Proebstel does a good job of getting the reader up to speed at the start for those who missed book one. For me, though, the roaming viewpoint and lack of driving character action kept me from really engaging.