Reading Fanatic Reviews

Time-Travel Romance

 

 

The Marriage of Time by Mariah Stone

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The Marriage of Time*

Finding Safe Harbor in Viking Times

In Viking times after a battle that has gone poorly, jarl Hakon is given a choice: death or marriage to the victor’s daughter and becoming that man’s ally. Hakon chooses to live, though he develops a plan to kill the man with whom he has a very bad history beyond this battle. In present-day Boston, Mia is at the hospital, showing her ultrasound to a friend. She is expecting a child, but she is determined to escape her abusive boyfriend, Dan. He finds her and lets her know that he will not let her go now that he knows she is carrying his child. A kindly looking older woman had been watching, and she follows them as Dan tried to take Mia out of the building under threat of force. She offers Mia a way out of her situation. She is a Norn and has the ability to send Mia back to Viking time. Mia soon finds herself at a runestone altar in the woods, and it is clear the older lady was telling the truth. Very nearly attacked by a bear when she first gets there, Mia is rescued by a man who claims that she is his bride-to-be.

What will happen to Mia in Viking times? How will Hakon react to her, especially if he learns her secret? Will Mia be able to escape, or will she have to marry him? What of the real bride-to-be? What of Mia’s life back in 2019? Will she go back to the future?

There was much to like about this book. Both Mia and Hakon are people with troubled pasts, Mia because of her abusive boyfriend and difficult father and Hakon because he has lived under the shadow of a curse that has affected his psyche as well as cause issues with his people. Even though Hakon looks tough on the cover–and he is–he’s got a kindness and a vulnerability about him that makes him a worthy romantic hero. While they get off to a rough start, how could Mia not fall for him?

I enjoyed, too, the lovely little moments that happen in time travel books. I particularly loved how it was almost a running gag that at times he just did not understand her words: hospital, congenital, etc. I adored the scene where she “uncursed” him, swaying to Thriller in her mind as she wiggled her fingers above crushed-up Tylenol…and how Hakon thought that she must be both a witch and healer, as his headache improved and hip pain went away. LOL!

There were a few things I didn’t like about the book. I am not a fan of clichéed secondary characters, and unfortunately, mafia crime lord Dan is an unfortunately stereotypical stock character. Medical issues are touched on briefly here and there, and as I am a registered nurse, I could pick up on some inaccuracies occasionally. And in the tiniest quibble of all, as both a nurse and a knitter, I took issue with two parts of this sentence describing the Norn as she watches the scene unfold between Dan and Mia: “…she was knitting, the needles in her hands jumping up and down like the lines of vitals monitor.” First, as a knitter, I can say that the needles don’t jump up and down in your hands! In fact, often the needles stay very stationary, with only the smallest movements evident as the yarn is picked (if a Continental knitter) or the hands moving to throw the yarn around the needle (if a British-style knitter). Second, I don’t know what vitals monitors the author has seen, but none that I have worked with would reflect such movement (an EKG maybe, but not a vitals machine), even if what she stated about the knitting was true.

That being said, I did enjoy this book. Mia and Hakon seem very real, and the way that they interacted with each other was fascinating to follow as their relationship grew and changed. I like seeing how both of them could heal wounds for each other; I love that when it happens in stories. By the way, I so wanted to give Mia a firm talking to near the end. Goodness, girl, what were you thinking!

The Going Back Portal by Connie Lacy

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Free with Kindle Unlimited

The Going Back Portal*

Time Portal to Dark Time in American History

Kathryn, an investigative TV journalist, loves her grandmother, but thinks she is not quite in her right mind when she starts talking about seeing a Cherokee woman at a farm nearby. The problem is, there is no farm close to them. After investigating with Grandma, Kathryn changes her mind when she is transported back to the 1840s. Forest Water is a woman from that time who was left behind on the trail of tears and trapped on what used to be her family’s farmstead by a brutal white man. Kathryn keeps going back in time, wanting to help the young woman. Soon, she finds that more is at stake than the woman’s freedom and her life.

Will Kathryn be able to help the Cherokee woman? Can she keep the dangers at bay? Will Forest Water be free of the man harming her?

This book was well written. There’s a good mix of dialogue and narrative prose; she doesn’t hit you over the head with a lot of backstory all at once. The story unfolds naturally, as we learn along with Kathryn. It’s clear that Kathryn and her grandmother have a good relationship, even when Kathryn doesn’t believe her. It’s always lovely to see warm, intergenerational relationships. Oh, my goodness, poor Forest Water! What she had to go through! Even though this is fiction, it brings home the atrocities that happened at that time.

This book is a real page-turner. The author made the time travel aspect seem plausible. You can’t help but feel for these two women as they struggle against forces that are so strong. Yet, the fight is important. I loved how the author interwove romance relationships for both of the women into the plot. Something for them both to have hope for.

If you enjoy time travel and romance steeped in one of the dark times in America’s past, you might enjoy this very different take on time travel romance.

Studying Her Vikings by Skye MacKinnon

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Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Google Play, Kobo, Scribd, Mondadori, and Angus & Robertson

Studying Her Vikings*

First Days at Time Travel School

We meet Lainie as she says goodbye to her mother for the last time. Now accepted into the Time Travel Academy, she can have no contact with her mother from this point on. Transported away, she only feels slight effects from the journey, and so her education is fast-tracked because that means she will most likely be able to travel back further in time without ill effect. In this episode of the serial, Lainie goes deep into learning about Vikings and runology from a hunky professor.

What a fun concept to serialize a book like this! The author intends to put out an episode every two weeks until it’s complete. This harkens back to the days in the 1840s and 1850s when novels by people like Gaskell and Dickens were serialized in magazines. The concept completely works in the modern day, where we can just grab a little piece of a story—say over lunch or waiting at the doctor’s office—and whet our appetite for the next installment.

At the beginning of this episode, the author discusses that she herself has been studying Old Norse and runology as a part of her master’s degree. This made me wonder if some of what Lainie is learning is what the author has been learning in her own classes. She gives us a nice set of resources at the end if we want to learn more about Old Norse, Vikings, and runology.

Looking forward to the next installment!

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One star = I received it as a free advance/review copy or directly from the author.

Two stars = I borrowed it through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Three stars = I purchased the book outright (sometimes for free).

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