A Highlander for Christmas is an excellent time travel romance by Sandy Blair, author of the Kilt series of historical romances.
Claire MacGregor is a Boston antiques dealer who is bequeathed a chest that holds a puzzle box. When she opens it, Cameron MacLeod appears. The last thing he remembers is getting ready to fight the English in 1745. I generally like the time travels best when the hero or heroine travels back in time, but this book shows just how good it can be when one of them comes to the present day.
Claire is a wonderful and realistic heroine who is easy to sympathize with. The sexual tension between her and Cameron was sizzling and one of my favorite parts of the book. I really enjoyed seeing Cameron react to the modern world as well and some of his misconceptions were hilarious. The reindeer scene was very funny, even if a little over-the-top.
The book had some serious and emotional points, too, and brought me to tears when Cam found out what happened to his family in the past. The secondary characters were all well written and I loved the setting since Boston is one of my favorite places. The fast pace and many surprises kept me glued to the book until the satisfying end.
I'll rate this book 8.5 out of 10 and hope Sandy Blair will write other time travels because she clearly has a knack for them.
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label time travel. Show all posts
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, August 1, 2009
What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown
What Would Jane Austen Do? first caught my attention because I'm a Jane Austen fan. The cover with the abs of steel and the stately British home didn't hurt, either. Then I saw it was a time-travel--I was in heaven!
Eleanor Pottinger attends a Jane Austen Society conference and encounters two ghosts who need her to go back in time and save their brother's life. Enticed by the chance to meet Jane Austen herself, she agrees. She promptly falls for the dashing Lord Shermont.
I thought this was an excellent time travel. It was more believeable than many of them, and the historical details seemed spot on. I was a little disappointed that Jane Austen hardly appears in the book, but she is still a part of it because Eleanor uses Austen's books to help her figure out what to do in sticky situations. I liked Eleanor very much and Shermont was a fine hero, although he didn't really come into his own until the last part of the book.
The book was original, the time travel elements were handled with great skill and the heroine was a real gem. The book had some humor, some suspense, some delicious sexual tension and a couple of huge surprises. I would recommend this to anyone who likes time travels or English historicals.
I'll rate this book 8.5 out of 10 and look forward to the next book by Laurie Brown.
Eleanor Pottinger attends a Jane Austen Society conference and encounters two ghosts who need her to go back in time and save their brother's life. Enticed by the chance to meet Jane Austen herself, she agrees. She promptly falls for the dashing Lord Shermont.
I thought this was an excellent time travel. It was more believeable than many of them, and the historical details seemed spot on. I was a little disappointed that Jane Austen hardly appears in the book, but she is still a part of it because Eleanor uses Austen's books to help her figure out what to do in sticky situations. I liked Eleanor very much and Shermont was a fine hero, although he didn't really come into his own until the last part of the book.
The book was original, the time travel elements were handled with great skill and the heroine was a real gem. The book had some humor, some suspense, some delicious sexual tension and a couple of huge surprises. I would recommend this to anyone who likes time travels or English historicals.
I'll rate this book 8.5 out of 10 and look forward to the next book by Laurie Brown.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Dead of Night (Anthology)
Dead of Night includes stories by J.D. Robb, Mary Blayney, Ruth Ryan Langan and Mary Kay McComas. Each story is about 100 pages long. The quality varied a lot, so I'm going to rate each story separately rather than give one rating for the book.
"Eternity in Death" by J.D. Robb features her futuristic Lt. Eve Dallas. Although I found this novella to be well written, I also thought it was very boring. I really had to force myself to finish it. There was little suspense, little humor and the characters didn't come alive for me. If you are a fan of Robb's series, though, you might enjoy this. I'd rate it a 4 out of 10.
The gem of the book for me was Blayney's "Amy and the Earl's Amazing Adventure." It's an English time travel that uses an unusual approach. My attention was riveted from the beginning and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. It was fresh and original, with great characters and a nice touch of humor. I'd rate it an 8 out of 10 and would probably have rated it higher if it was longer. I'm going to see what else Blayney has written.
The third story, by Langan, is "Timeless." As you can guess from the title, it's another time travel. This one was quite different than Blayney's story, though. It takes place in Scotland in the 15th century and although it is interesting, there is a major problem with the ending. [SPOILER ALERT] I absolutely HATE books where the hero dies and the heroine returns to the present time to find someone very like him (descendant? reincarnation?) Either way it doesn't matter because he is NOT the hero and it ruins the book for me. Therefore, the story rates a 2 out of 10 solely because of the ending. If it had ended differently, I probably would have rated it a 6.5.
The last story is "On the Fringe" by Mary Kay McComas. I was turned off at first because it felt like chicklit, not a genre I enjoy. I really hate whiny women dealing with boring everyday problems. The story did pick up once the magic carpet appeared. I don't remember reading a romance before with a magic carpet and I found this intriguing. It then took on a "It's a Wonderful Life" feel and I did get quite interested. I thought it was original, although I didn't like the characters that much, and I'll rate it a 7 out of 10.
"Eternity in Death" by J.D. Robb features her futuristic Lt. Eve Dallas. Although I found this novella to be well written, I also thought it was very boring. I really had to force myself to finish it. There was little suspense, little humor and the characters didn't come alive for me. If you are a fan of Robb's series, though, you might enjoy this. I'd rate it a 4 out of 10.
The gem of the book for me was Blayney's "Amy and the Earl's Amazing Adventure." It's an English time travel that uses an unusual approach. My attention was riveted from the beginning and I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. It was fresh and original, with great characters and a nice touch of humor. I'd rate it an 8 out of 10 and would probably have rated it higher if it was longer. I'm going to see what else Blayney has written.
The third story, by Langan, is "Timeless." As you can guess from the title, it's another time travel. This one was quite different than Blayney's story, though. It takes place in Scotland in the 15th century and although it is interesting, there is a major problem with the ending. [SPOILER ALERT] I absolutely HATE books where the hero dies and the heroine returns to the present time to find someone very like him (descendant? reincarnation?) Either way it doesn't matter because he is NOT the hero and it ruins the book for me. Therefore, the story rates a 2 out of 10 solely because of the ending. If it had ended differently, I probably would have rated it a 6.5.
The last story is "On the Fringe" by Mary Kay McComas. I was turned off at first because it felt like chicklit, not a genre I enjoy. I really hate whiny women dealing with boring everyday problems. The story did pick up once the magic carpet appeared. I don't remember reading a romance before with a magic carpet and I found this intriguing. It then took on a "It's a Wonderful Life" feel and I did get quite interested. I thought it was original, although I didn't like the characters that much, and I'll rate it a 7 out of 10.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
With Every Breath by Lynn Kurland
With Every Breath is the latest in Kurland's series about the MacLeod and de Piaget families in Scotland. Many of them involve time travel and/or ghosts. My favorite in the series is Stardust of Yesterday, one of my favorite romance books. They can be read out of order, but if you read them in order you get to revisit old characters which adds to the fun.
Although I really love Kurland's writing, I have to reluctantly say With Every Breath is not her best. I still enjoyed it, but it has some fairly major flaws. The first is that it is too long and could have benefited from some editing to condense the narrative. There are too many pages in which not very much happens. Another problem is that the heroine is always crying. I mean, ALWAYS. It got very irritating. I understand she was upset, but to spend three-quarters of the book weeping is too much. I also found it totally unbelieveable that she was still a virgin at 33 and that they didn't do anything more than kissing in the book.
There was a secondary plot line that wasn't well developed until the very end, when it came together and made sense. I also would have liked to have had more time travel. The heroine, Sunshine, goes back in time to 1375, but she's only there for about 84 pages of a 386 page book.
Every author can have an "off" book and I will certainly buy her next book. If you haven't read anything by Lynn Kurland, I'd recommend starting with one of her earlier books, like Stardust of Yesterday, If I Had You or Another Chance to Dream.
I'd rate this book 6 out of 10.
Although I really love Kurland's writing, I have to reluctantly say With Every Breath is not her best. I still enjoyed it, but it has some fairly major flaws. The first is that it is too long and could have benefited from some editing to condense the narrative. There are too many pages in which not very much happens. Another problem is that the heroine is always crying. I mean, ALWAYS. It got very irritating. I understand she was upset, but to spend three-quarters of the book weeping is too much. I also found it totally unbelieveable that she was still a virgin at 33 and that they didn't do anything more than kissing in the book.
There was a secondary plot line that wasn't well developed until the very end, when it came together and made sense. I also would have liked to have had more time travel. The heroine, Sunshine, goes back in time to 1375, but she's only there for about 84 pages of a 386 page book.
Every author can have an "off" book and I will certainly buy her next book. If you haven't read anything by Lynn Kurland, I'd recommend starting with one of her earlier books, like Stardust of Yesterday, If I Had You or Another Chance to Dream.
I'd rate this book 6 out of 10.
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