Tag Archives: Time Travel

Sea Spray (Time Box 3) by John A Heldt-a review

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Sea Spray (Time Box 3) by John A Heldt-a review

 

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date December 20, 2020

Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of seven, seek peace and safety in 1927, the latest stop on a journey through time. For a while, each succeeds.

Parents Mark and Mary find housing in affluent East Hampton, New York, where a gracious elderly couple offers use of their mansion. Son Jordan and his new wife, Jessie, plan a family. Siblings Laura, Jeremy, and Ashley pursue fun and adventure. All form strong friendships with the Prices, a mysterious mirror-image family that lives next door.

Billionaire Robert Devereaux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends a hit man to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan.

Randy Taylor, who programs the machines, is determined to stop him. He tries to undermine his boss and save the Lanes, even as he tries to help his mother beat a deadly illness. He pines for the day he can join his fugitive friends and rekindle a promising relationship with Laura Lane.

Filled with romance, humor, and heartbreak, SEA SPRAY follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through the exciting and often dangerous world of Lindbergh, Gershwin, and Fitzgerald.

••••••••

REVIEW:SEA SPRAY is the third instalment in John A Heldt’s time travel series focusing on the Lane family. SEA SPRAY can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and history as there is a common theme and continuing premise throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: Having created two time machines in 2021 known as the Time Box, patriarch Mark Lane discovers that his business partner, billionaire Robert Devereaux, wants to use the Time Boxes for questionable purposes. Having prepared for weeks, Mark Lane and his family pull up roots, and send themselves, along with the Time Boxes, back in time. Robert Devereaux desperate to retrieve the time boxes, and punish his one-time partner, hires a modern day assassin who goes on a time travel hunt for Mark Lane and his family.

Told from several third person perspectives SEA SPRAY finds the family transported to 1927, the roaring twenties, at the height of Prohibition in East Hampton, New York where the family will summer in the mansion of an elderly couple. Meeting their neighbors, Tom and Madeline Price, as well as their children, who will befriend and fall in love, the Lane’s will quickly discover that they are unable to relax when a messenger from the twenty-first century warns that that Devereaux’s assassin survived his last encounter with the Lanes, and is continuing his search for the time-travelling family. From Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig, to Charles Lindbergh, and black market alcohol, bootleggers, and speakeasies, the Lane family will witness and participate in their share of history, affecting the lives of the people they encountered along the way. Found once again, the Lanes are forced to travel to a time when the world was at war with itself, and in doing so, hope to prevent someone else from changing the outcome of the second world war.

Once again, back in 2022, the Lane’s accomplice Randy Taylor, devices a way to warn the family of an impending attack by Devereaux’s assassin but in doing so, comes to the hard realization, that the woman he loves, has fallen in love with someone else. Having lost both his mother and father in a short period of time, Randy makes a decision that does not go according to plan.

SEA SPRAY is a story of family and relationships, friendships and love; history, time travel, science fiction, secrets, power and control. The premise is intriguing and entertaining; the romances are subtle and sweet; the colorful characters are numerous and energetic. John A Heldt pulls the reader into a wonderful and historic glimpse at the fun, flirty and dangerous twenties.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
The Lane Betrayal
The Fair

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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The Fair (Time Box #2) by John A Heldt-a review

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The Fair (Time Box #2) by John A Heldt-a review

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date June 29, 2020

Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of six, seek safety and contentment in 1893, the latest stop on a journey through time. While parents Mark and Mary find relief at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, an extravaganza of science and splendor, children Jeremy, Laura, and Ashley find romance, friendship, and thrills.

Older son Jordan, meanwhile, heads west in search of answers. Grieving the loss of a lover from 1865, he travels to Virginia City, Nevada, where he integrates himself into a storied mining community and the heart of a pretty library clerk.

Billionaire Robert Devereux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends an assassin to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan.

Filled with humor, heartbreak, and suspense, THE FAIR follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through an unforgettable year in American history.

••••••••

REVIEW:THE FAIR is the second instalment in John A Heldt’s TIME BOX time travel series focusing on the Lane family. THE FAIR can be read as a stand alone but I recommend reading the series in order for back story and history as there is a common theme and continuing premise throughout.

SOME BACKGROUND: Having created two time machines in 2021 known as the Time Box, patriarch Mark Lane discovers that his business partner, billionaire Robert Devereaux, wants to use the Time Boxes for questionable purposes. Having prepared for weeks, Mark Lane and his family pull up roots, and send themselves, along with the Time Boxes, back in time. Robert Devereaux desperate to retrieve the time boxes, and punish his one-time partner, hires a modern day assassin who goes on a time travel hunt for Mark Lane and his family.

Told from several third person perspectives THE FAIR follows the Lane family from 1865 to 1790 back to 1893 and a quick trip to 2022. Trying to stay one-step ahead of Devereaux’s assassin, the Lane family makes plans to travel to Chicago circa 1893 as the Chicago World’s Columbian Exposition aka The Chicago World’s Fair celebrates the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World but all is not well in 1893 as a serial killer has set his sights on Chicago, and the Lane family is about to interfere in recorded history.

THE FAIR follows the Lane sons Jeremy and Jordan as each falls in love but only one will get his happily ever after. Jordan’s beloved accepts the idea of time travel and everything the Lane family has to offer but Jeremy struggles with the fact that his beloved is betrothed to someone else.

Meanwhile back in 2022, the Lane family’s co-conspirator Randy works desperately to foil all attempts at sending an assassin through time, Robert Devereaux has his people searching the historical archives to uncover the who and where of his time travelling targets.

THE FAIR and the Time Box series is a story of family, friendships, relationships and love; a series of science fiction, betrayal and power, history and revelations. From heart break to happiness, THE FAIR is a playful, energetic and transcendent story of one family’s travel through history and time.

Click HERE for Sandy’s review of book one THE LANE BETRAYAL.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Scandalous Scot by Cecelia Mecca & Julie Johnstone-a review

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Scandalous Scot (Highlanders Through Time #4) by Cecelia Mecca & Julie Johnstone-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date May 19, 2020

Hᴇ sᴛᴏʟᴇ ᴀ ᴋɪss, ᴀɴᴅ ꜰᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴀ ᴡɪꜰᴇ.

Ian McCaim is used to following in his brother’s footsteps—even if it takes him to medieval Scotland. When he finally completes the time travel ritual, the magic lands him next to Hightower Castle and his big brother, Greyson, is there to greet him. As soon as the rest of the family returns to Hightower, the McCaims can finally go home, but in the meantime, Greyson has a task for Ian: charm the man whose son is fated to play a pivotal role in the Scottish War of Independence. An easy task—or at least it would be if Ian were capable of behaving himself.

After a lifetime of having endured stares, Màiri Kelbrue is used to being looked at—the strange mark on her cheek ensures it. So when the handsome man she encounters near her father’s loch gawks at her, she assumes the worst. Until he kisses her. The passion she feels for the stranger stuns her—she’d thought to marry her childhood friend, but never once did he make her feel like this. And then the unimaginable happens—when the stranger escorts her home, he tells her very religious father exactly what happened between them.

Within a sennight, Ian and Màiri are rushed to the altar. Ian plans to return to the future sooner rather than later, but the bride he didn’t ask for soon becomes the only thing he wants. What will he do when it’s time to go home?

•••••••

REVIEW: Scandalous Scot by Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone is the fourth and final novel in the Highlanders Through Time series. This is the story of Ian McCaim and Lady Mairi, daughter of Alexander Kelbrue, laird of Clan Kelbrue.

This is the fourth and final novel of this fabulous time traveling series, and it’s a very professionally written and plotted work. The characters are each different, even though brothers, each McCaim brother has their own personality and issues. The love interests have all been special and perfectly suited to each brother. This novel is as well.

Ian is the baby brother and has never felt he quite new his place. He works for his father and brother’s company as the head of PR. He’s well gifted with being able to deal with people to be sure, but it’s just not what he wants. However, he has been unable to express that to his family.

Ian does the chant, which works. The cross goes with him because he’s the only one left holding it. He wakes up in Scotland, laying in knee deep snow. As he feels better, he stands and walks up a hill to see a large three towered castle not far away. He tells the guards he’s lost. When two men come out toward him, he’s gobsmacked to see his brother Greyson in clothing of the period carrying a weapon. Surprises just kept coming as he learns that all his brothers have found wives.

A week later, after being introduced to the clan and informed of a few things, Ian was traveling with Grey and his Uncle Ross to a neighboring clan to help convince them to support Robert the Bruce, while they also waited for the rest of the family to come to Hightower. He got himself a little away from the others by wandering around. He came upon a young woman who he thought looked hurt. As he got closer, he saw past her hooded coat and thought she was perfection. He was immediately drawn to her. He introduced himself as Ian MacKinnish (the identity they are using) and asked if she was okay. Mairi was also drawn to the handsome man she’d never seen and fought herself not to reach out to touch him. She told him she was hurt but was now better. He reached out and touched her cheek and things progressed quickly from there.

Okay, that’s the setup. I won’t spoil this marvelous read for you. Just know that Ian is a bit impetuous and the story takes off from there. There are also a lot more details than I’ve given you, but you really need to read this for yourself to understand.

This series has been a delight to read. It’s so well done and has had so much danger, unusual things happening. It’s been a real treat to take the time traveling ride with these guys. Authors Julie Johnston and Cecelia Mecca have done a wonderous job writing these novels. If you haven’t started this series, don’t wait longer…it’s all ready for you!

Reading Order and Previous Reviews

Sinful Scot
Sexy Scot
Seductive Scot

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Georgianna

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Seductive Scot by Julie Johnstone & Cecelia Mecca-Review & Giveaway

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Seductive Scot by Julie Johnstone & Cecelia Mecca-Review and Giveaway

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date April 23, 2020

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Reikart McCaim doesn’t want to be saved—despite the fact that he’s a time traveler from 2020 New Orleans stuck in medieval Scotland. He holds his jagged secrets close to his chest and wants to keep them that way. Even if he could open up to the incredible woman fate has tossed in his path, they’d both be shredded by the things he can’t let go of. Still, he needs her help. In his time, his father lies in a coma with only one wish: to see Reikart’s mother again, whom he’s always claimed was a time traveler pulled back to her true time. Two of Reikart’s brothers already traveled back to search for her, but they are missing, too. Now, Reikart must find his family and secure the magic cross they need to return to their time. And the lass who is everything he wants but cannot allow himself to have is the only one who can recover it.

Deirdre Irvine’s life is a disaster, and it’s about to get a whole lot messier. She’s been betrayed by her brother, and she finds herself unwittingly embroiled in a plot to gain control of the Scottish throne. Not to mention she’s harboring enormous guilt over failing the sister she adores. So when the unexpected chance to prove herself to her sister arises, Deirdre will do anything to use the opportunity to her advantage. It doesn’t matter that it means putting herself in danger and joining forces with a man who claims he’s from the future. But she is woefully unprepared for the jeopardy he puts her heart in.

For a scarred man and wounded lass, their greatest obstacle may not be the centuries that divide them, but the walls they’ve erected themselves. As Deirdre’s and Reikart’s lives intertwine and they’re confronted with dangerous enemies, she’s about to discover a strength she never knew she had, and he’s about to learn that facing his ghosts may be the only way to save not only himself but the woman he now loves.

••••••••

REVIEW: Seductive Scot by Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone is the third novel in the Highlanders Through Time series. This is the story of Reikart McCaim and Lady Deirdre, daughter of the Earl of Fife.

If you read the first two novels in this series, you’ll recognize the brothers of Reikart McCaim, from Ian who is still with him in the future to the two, Rhys and Greyson who are in 1286. If you haven’t read them…more’s the pity?

What you haven’t been told about Reikart is that he’s damaged himself with guilt over the accidental death of a woman he was with in the future. He had a car accident, being a little reckless and she died. But it wasn’t all his fault, but he has conveniently or perhaps inconveniently forgotten everything that was not his fault. So, although he still has had sex with women, he refuses to truly care for any of them. In fact, he’s been very careful to pick only those who want an evening of uncommitted fun.

You should also be familiar with the character of Lady Deirdre. She’s been portrayed as a possible villain. However, we find that while she believed in her brother, Yearger, she was unaware of his plans and schemes and didn’t know he was an actual villain. There are, however, some truths she must face and does.
I don’t like spoilers, and this is a great series, so I won’t tell you everything, just the things I found fascinating and so very well written.

Reikart and Ian do the chant again, after seeing that their cousin would take care of their father and the family shipping business, just in case…
Reikart actually lands on top of Lady Deirdre in 1286. So, is there some design in where the cross and chant lands someone traveling? Hummmm… food for thought! Anyway, he was immediately being attacked by those invading the castle. No, I’m not going to go into why…that little wonderful part you’ll just have to read for yourself. However, he was defending himself and the lady he’d landed on, with encouragement from her. He was in trouble when a familiar voice stopped the fight. Low and behold it was his brother, Rhys! Okay, that’s enough spoilers.

Here’s the questions I came up with. Is Reikart attracted to Deirdre and her to him? Can these two characters forgive themselves for their human failings enough to live life? How does all this wonderful healing come about? Can they recover the imperative fae cross? How will they get away (truly unique answer)?

These are just a few of the details of this marvelous story. Authors Johnston and Mecca do a marvelous and inventive job of giving us pivoting plots, ingenious saviors, family situations and love and so very much more. Yes, of course the romance is sizzling…how could it not be? BTW, I love the cover!

Reading order and Previous Reviews
Sinful Scot
Sexy Scot

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Georgianna S

 

About Julie Johnstone

Follow: Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter

Author Julie Johnstone first fell in love with romance fifteen years ago when she picked up her first romance novel in an airport gift shop on the way to Conroe, Texas for a family reunion and spent her whole weekend reading rather than water skiing, which up until then was one of her favorite things to do.

Julie is staying up way too late and typing furiously on her keyboard to finish her next book or blog with her fellow authors at Ladyscribes. Julie is married to an amazing lawyer and when she is not running her two precocious children to one activity or another she is trying to seek out some time to stay in shape and see her dearest friends.

•••••••••

About Cecelia Mecca

Follow: Goodreads/Twitter/Website / Bookbub

Cecelia Mecca is the author of historical romance and also writes paranormal romance as C.L. Mecca.

Every heroine, from Lady Sara in the Border Series to Alessandra Fiore in Bloodwite, is your best friend– the one who kicks ass and takes names. When these ladies meet alpha-males who try to take control, sparks fly until the very last page.

Cecelia writes the Amazon bestselling Border Series and brand new Order of the Broken Blade series which take readers to an admittedly romanticized time of knights and castles in medieval England and Scotland.

She also has her hands full with the ultimate bad boys– sexy, wealthy and swoon-worthy vampires– a venture not for the faint of heart. Her debut paranormal romance series, Bloodwite, released in 2019.

​Our Highlander-loving, vampire-writing author can be found in Northeast, Pennsylvania​, chai in hand, thinking up new ways to tame both medieval and paranormal playboys. She is firmly House Stark and Gryffindor.

 

Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone are graciously offering an ebook copy of SEDUCTIVE SCOT to ONE (1) commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

IMPORTANT: If you are having difficulty commenting after logging onto the site, please CLICK on the title, and it should take you directly to the post.

2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comment.

3. Follow Cecelia Mecca on GOODREADS

4. Follow Julie Johnstone on Facebook.

5. LIKE us on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.

6. LIKE us on Twitter for an additional entry.

7. Please FOLLOW us on GOODREADS for an additional entry.

8. Please follow The Reading Cafe on Tumblr

9. Giveaway is open internationally

10. Giveaway runs from April 25-29, 2020

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Sexy Scot by Cecelia Mecca & Julie Johnstone-Review & Giveaway

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Sexy Scot by Cecelia Mecca & Julie Johnstone-Review & Giveaway

SEXY SCOT
Highlanders Through Time #2
by Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone
Release Dat: March 31, 2020
Genre: adult, time travel, Highlander, romance

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Released Date March 31, 2020

A ᴍᴏᴅᴇʀɴ ᴍᴀɴ, ᴀ ᴍᴇᴅɪᴇᴠᴀʟ ᴡᴏᴍᴀɴ. Fᴀᴛᴇ ʙʀᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴛᴏɢᴇᴛʜᴇʀ, ʙᴜᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ʜɪsᴛᴏʀʏ ᴛᴇᴀʀ ᴛʜᴇᴍ ᴀᴘᴀʀᴛ?

When his older brother disappears in front of his eyes, Greyson McCaim is determined to find him—even if he has to travel back in time. Because it turns out their “crazy” father was right: their mother didn’t leave them willingly. She’s a time traveler, and someone pulled her back to her original home in medieval Scotland.

Now Rhys is there too, and the other McCaim brothers are stuck in modern-day New Orleans. They keep repeating the chant that sent Rhys back, and it finally works—but only for Greyson. Miserably unprepared for medieval life, he is saved by fate’s choice to dump him at the feet of the uncle he never knew he had. The two set off to learn what happened to Greyson’s mother, but their journey is derailed when they encounter an earl’s daughter in need of help.

Marian is sent from the only home she’s ever known to marry a stranger—a Scottish noble with a poor reputation. But her fear of the unknown is soon replaced by a completely different terror when her group is viciously attacked by reivers. The Scot who saves her is unlike anyone she’s ever met—his accent is strange, his words stranger, and he’s completely ignorant to etiquette. And yet this man awakens something in her, as does her newfound freedom from her father.

Greyson’s secret opens a whole new world for Marian, and her love makes him a stronger man. But can they possibly find a happy ending? Because his family is at the center of a conspiracy that promises to change Scotland forever, and from the perspective of history, he knows it doesn’t turn out well.

••••••••

REVIEW: Sexy Scot by Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone is the second novel in the Highlanders Through Time series. This is the story of Greyson McCaim and Lady Marian, daughter of the Earl of Fife.

If you read the first novel Sinful Scot, you’ll recognize the brothers of Rhys as they try to follow him. Greyson is the next to go through time as the brothers try to perform the ancient chant many times. On the last attempt, Greyson tries hard to say it the way he remembered Rhys saying it. Greyson lands in an English pub just south of the Scottish border, in the year 1286.

He wakes up being nudged by boots. As he stands and stubbles outside, he’s followed by a large man that turns out to be his uncle Ross, his mother’s brother. Greyson manages to convince Ross of his linage, and Ross takes him under his protection and helps him acclimate to the times and place. Ross has volunteered to take a message from the Guardians of Scotland to Quinton castle where the English King’s regent is currently staying. Then they will continue on to Hightower where Greyson’s mother is living.

On the way, they come across the party of Lady Marian, who is being taken to Pittillock, to be married to seal an alliance her father wants with the English king. She is not happy about the marriage but is duty bound to do as her father says. She has a strange but immediate reaction to the strange man with the group of Scots. The group is set upon by bandits and Marian is told to go into the trees and hide. The men fight, including Greyson. The bandits are killed, but so are Marian’s men. Greyson finds her and their attraction grows quickly. They decide to keep her with them until they deliver their message, then she can decide to return home or go on to her marriage.

That’s the basic setup. I have, of course, left out all the great dialog and many interesting items. I don’t do spoilers. This is a very romantic novel. The love scenes are steamy and interesting. The pace is quick and dangerous. There is a lot of plots within plots as the storyline progresses.

Authors Johnstone and Mecca have done another remarkable job of joining history and romantic fiction into an exciting story. If you haven’t done so already, grab a copy and delve into this marvelous tale.

Click HERE for Georgianna’s review of book one SINFUL SCOT

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Georgianna S

About Cecelia Mecca

Follow: Goodreads/Twitter/Website / Bookbub

Cecelia Mecca is the author of historical romance and also writes paranormal romance as C.L. Mecca.

Every heroine, from Lady Sara in the Border Series to Alessandra Fiore in Bloodwite, is your best friend– the one who kicks ass and takes names. When these ladies meet alpha-males who try to take control, sparks fly until the very last page.

Cecelia writes the Amazon bestselling Border Series and brand new Order of the Broken Blade series which take readers to an admittedly romanticized time of knights and castles in medieval England and Scotland.

She also has her hands full with the ultimate bad boys– sexy, wealthy and swoon-worthy vampires– a venture not for the faint of heart. Her debut paranormal romance series, Bloodwite, released in 2019.

​Our Highlander-loving, vampire-writing author can be found in Northeast, Pennsylvania​, chai in hand, thinking up new ways to tame both medieval and paranormal playboys. She is firmly House Stark and Gryffindor.

•••••••••

About Julie Johnstone

Follow: Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter

Author Julie Johnstone first fell in love with romance fifteen years ago when she picked up her first romance novel in an airport gift shop on the way to Conroe, Texas for a family reunion and spent her whole weekend reading rather than water skiing, which up until then was one of her favorite things to do.

Julie is staying up way too late and typing furiously on her keyboard to finish her next book or blog with her fellow authors at Ladyscribes. Julie is married to an amazing lawyer and when she is not running her two precocious children to one activity or another she is trying to seek out some time to stay in shape and see her dearest friends.

Cecelia Mecca and Julie Johnstone are graciously offering an ebook copy of SEXY SCOT to ONE (1) commenter at The Reading Cafe.

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

IMPORTANT: If you are having difficulty commenting after logging onto the site, please CLICK on the title, and it should take you directly to the post.

2. If you are using a social log-in, please post your email address with your comment.

3. Follow Cecelia Mecca on GOODREADS

4. Follow Julie Johnstone on Facebook.

5. LIKE us on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.

6. LIKE us on Twitter for an additional entry.

7. Please FOLLOW us on GOODREADS for an additional entry.

8. Please follow The Reading Cafe on Tumblr

9. Giveaway is open internationally

10. Giveaway runs from April 5-10, 2020

Share

The Lane Betrayal (Time Box #1) by John A Heldt-a review

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The Lane Betrayal (Time Box #1) by John A Heldt-a review

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 29, 2020

From the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage, American Journey, and Carson Chronicles series comes the first book in the Time Box saga.

Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865.

For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past.

Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark’s betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight.

Filled with romance, suspense, and history, THE LANE BETRAYAL follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.

••••••••

REVIEW:THE LANE BETRAYAL by John A Heldt is the first instalment in the historical, time travel, TIME BOX series focusing on the Lane family.

Told from several third person perspectives THE LANE BETRAYAL follows in the wake of Virginia physicist Mark Lane’s attempts to stop a madman in the year 2021. Having created two time machines known as the Time Box, Mark Lane discovers that his business partner, billionaire Robert Devereaux, wants to use the Time Boxes for questionable purposes. Having prepared for weeks, Mark Lane and his family pull up roots, and send themselves, along with the Time Boxes, back in time to 1865, just weeks prior to the end of the Civil War, Lincoln’s re-election, and eventually the president’s assassination but travelling back to a time where history Is about to repeat itself, means the Lane family must struggle with the knowledge of what is going to happen and when. As the family settles into life in 1865, Robert Devereaux back in 2021, hires a hit man, that he will send back in time, to destroy the Lane family, and take back what he believes belongs to him.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful secondary and supporting characters including many historical figures like Abraham Lincoln, John Hays, US Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, as well as John Wilkes Booth. We are introduced to the Lane family: Mark and Mary Lane, their children Jordan, Laura, Jeremy and Ashley; Mark’s co-conspirator Randy Taylor; Mark’s business partner Robert Devereaux; assassin for hire Silas Bain; injured soldier Sergeant Thomas Nye; former slaves Jane and Lewis, and Jane’s employer Miss Julia Albright; and widow Rebecca Maine.

THE LANE BETRAYAL is a story of family, friendships, history and love. When eldest son Jordan falls in love, the family is caught unaware, as they find themselves on the verge of changing history, in an effort to outrun a modern day assassin in 1865 Washington DC. From vengeance and murder, imprisonment and heart break, the ugliness of war, and the abolishment of slavery, THE LANE BETRAYAL is an intriguing and imaginative story deeply rooted in historical fact and fiction.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

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Sinful Scot by Julie Johnstone & Cecelia Mecca-Review & Giveaway Tour

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Sinful Scot by Julie Johnstone & Cecelia Mecca-Review & Giveaway Tour

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

Don’t own a Kindle? Download the FREE Amazon Kindle App for your mobile device or pc

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 28, 2020

In a time he doesn’t belong, in an alliance she shouldn’t have made, they’ll fall dangerously, hopelessly in love.

New Orleans, 2020. Billionaire Rhys McCaim doesn’t believe for one second that his missing mother is a time traveler. Still, his father insists that she didn’t leave them willingly but was pulled through time to her true home in medieval Scotland. But when he and his three brothers test out an ancient time-traveling spell to appease their dying father and Rhys is catapulted to thirteenth-century Scotland, he can’t exactly deny it anymore. Suddenly he’s a Highlander in a land on the verge of war. He needs to get back to his time before all hell breaks loose, but first he must find his mother. Luckily, fate drops the perfect guide in his path. She’s brilliant, beautiful and bold, and he’s drawn to her in a way he’s never been drawn to anyone or anything before. But he can’t afford to be distracted from his mission or lower his carefully constructed guard.

Scotland, 1286. Maggie Irvine is betrothed to a vicious man who cares only of wealth and power. Marrying him will restore her family’s reputation, however, saving her siblings from lives of misery. She has resigned herself to her fate, but when a mysterious, handsome stranger magically appears before her out of thin air, her plan—and the stranger’s life—are in jeopardy. And the only way to save him is to risk everything. As she comes to learn the shocking truth of what he hides, Maggie discovers what happens when duty collides with desire and long-abandoned dreams rise to the surface.

Bound by secrets and lies, Maggie and Rhys are entangled in the brewing battle for the Scottish throne. With his knowledge of the future, Rhys possesses the powerful ability to alter history. Yet, to do so successfully, he must let Maggie past the defenses he’s spent a lifetime building. Now, an alliance that began in desperation becomes a need that will leave them both torn between what they should do and what love demands.

•••••••

REVIEW: Sinful Scot is a historical/time travel/romance novel. I don’t intend to miss a single part of this wonderfully written new series. I eagerly await the next novel.

I don’t do spoilers, and I certainly wouldn’t want to spoil a second of this exciting series. So, I’ll give you the basic set up and let you salivate over the rest! (I’m writing this while chuckling evilly.)

The story starts with a prelude of King Alexander in Fifeshire, Scotland in 1286. Shona MacKinnish has just witnessed the death of King Alexander, and it was not an accident. She is being pursued by one of those who planned and carried out the deed. They scared his horse and he was thrown over a cliff to his death. There are many more details, this is just the basics of what happened. She reached Hightower castle and tells her healer sister what has happened and that she’s being chased. They mean to kill her to silence her. Her sister is a powerful woman and attempts to send her to their home and clan to protect her. She uses an ancient silver cross the fae gave her with special powers for traveling. However, Shona gets the chant wrong and disappears, no one knows where she has gone.

The first chapter sets the premise and deepens the plot and it’s so cool. Okay, here’s the setup for the actual story. The first chapter is set in the year 2020, New Orleans.

There are four brothers in total. Rhys, Reikart, Greyson, and Ian. Their mother, Shona, just disappeared five years ago. They had made extensive efforts to find her, but there was literally no trace of her. Tonight, is the anniversary of her disappearance. Their father, Colin, was heartbroken and is now seemingly mad. He believed she’d gone through time and spent all his time with books and charts trying to find a way to get her back. He spent a small fortune on an ancient book of spells or chants in hope of getting his wife back. The police and the brothers believe she just walked out. It just doesn’t make sense to them, because they’d always been madly in love.

When their father collapses and is taken to the hospital, the brothers investigate his study to try to find out what he was up to when he got so sick. What they find is both amazing and truly a bit crazy…and the fun and adventure begins!

Rhys is the focus of the first novel and what a wonderfully exciting story it is! There is so much adventure, romance, love and more here. However, you will need to read the rest for yourself. I can only tell you it’s worth both the time and the price of the book. I think this series is a must read!

Kudos to Julie Johnstone and Cecelia Mecca on what I believe will be a very lucrative and popular series.

I just want the next one soon! PLEASE!

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Georgianna S

About Julie Johnstone

Follow: Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Newsletter

Author Julie Johnstone first fell in love with romance fifteen years ago when she picked up her first romance novel in an airport gift shop on the way to Conroe, Texas for a family reunion and spent her whole weekend reading rather than water skiing, which up until then was one of her favorite things to do.

Julie is staying up way too late and typing furiously on her keyboard to finish her next book or blog with her fellow authors at Ladyscribes. Julie is married to an amazing lawyer and when she is not running her two precocious children to one activity or another she is trying to seek out some time to stay in shape and see her dearest friends.

•••••••••••

About Cecelia Mecca

Follow: Goodreads/Twitter/Website / Bookbub

Cecelia Mecca is the author of historical romance and also writes paranormal romance as C.L. Mecca.

Every heroine, from Lady Sara in the Border Series to Alessandra Fiore in Bloodwite, is your best friend– the one who kicks ass and takes names. When these ladies meet alpha-males who try to take control, sparks fly until the very last page.

Cecelia writes the Amazon bestselling Border Series and brand new Order of the Broken Blade series which take readers to an admittedly romanticized time of knights and castles in medieval England and Scotland.

She also has her hands full with the ultimate bad boys– sexy, wealthy and swoon-worthy vampires– a venture not for the faint of heart. Her debut paranormal romance series, Bloodwite, released in 2019.

​Our Highlander-loving, vampire-writing author can be found in Northeast, Pennsylvania​, chai in hand, thinking up new ways to tame both medieval and paranormal playboys. She is firmly House Stark and Gryffindor.

Julie Johnstone is graciously offering an ebook copy of SINFUL SCOT to ONE (1) commenter at The Reading Cafe.

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Camp Lake by John A Heldt-Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

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Camp Lake (Carson Chronicles #5) by John A Heldt-Review, Guest Post & Giveaway

 

CAMP LAKE
The Carson Chronicles #5
by John A Heldt
Release Date: September 30, 2019
Genre: time travel, romance

 

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk / Amazon.au /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date: September 30, 2019

Phoenix, Spring 1983. For the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, it has come down to this. Find the parents they have chased through time for more than two years or go home and resume their lives without them.

While Adam and Greg remain in Arizona and Natalie searches the country for leads, Cody and Caitlin travel to a summer camp in Maine, where their mother and father met as counselors. The twins, now 19, hope to intercept the older versions of their parents even as they work beside the younger ones.

All of the Carsons prepare for a reunion that seems inevitable. Then tragedy strikes one family member and seductive strangers pull two others in unhelpful directions as a summer of promise turns into one of uncertainty and sacrifice.

Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, CAMP LAKE, the poignant conclusion of the Carson Chronicles series, follows the lives of several spirited adults as they confront choices and change the era of big hair, space shuttles, and video arcades.

••••••••

REVIEW:CAMP LAKE is the fifth and final instalment in John A Heldt’s CARSON CHRONICLES time travel romance series focusing on the Carson family.

SOME BACKGROUND: The Carson Chronicles focuses on the Carson siblings, a family of time travellers, as they search for their missing parents Tim and Caroline Carson. Months earlier, the siblings discovered their parents had disappeared but an itinerary of places and timelines found the family on a journey of their own. Starting in 2017, the siblings travelled back in time to 1889, 1918, the tumultuous era of 1943-44, 1962 where the Cuban Missile Crisis is about to unfold, and presently arriving in 1983.

Told from several third person perspectives CAMP LAKE is the culmination of twenty-eight months ‘on the road’ as the Carson siblings search for their missing parents Tim and Caroline Carson. The year is 1983, and the family have crossed paths on numerous occasions without running into one another. At Camp Lake, a summer camp where Tim and Caroline Carson first met and fell in love, twins Caitlin and Cody Carson, as well as Caitilin’s lover Dennis Sawyer, find themselves working as camp counsellors, where they will meet the younger version of their now missing parents. But things don’t go according to plans when their parents’ romance is threatened by someone else.

At Camp Lake, Cody, the lone single sibling, believes he has met his future, in the past. Karen O’Reilly, the camp botanist, pulls Cody in like a moth to a flame, but not all is well in Karen’s world, and Cody is about to discover that his previously shattered heart is about to be broken, once again.

Meanwhile, Tim and Caroline Carson believe they have located their children but once again, paths will be crossed, as the siblings continue their search one step ahead of, or behind, their missing parents.

CAMP LAKE and the Carson Chronicles is an imaginative and original series; a cleverly written story of family, struggle, memories and love. Unlike the previous instalments, 1983 is but a year wherein the family takes center stage-history is barely afforded a mention. An engaging and enchanting story line, CAMP LAKE and the Carson Chronicles is an energetic, animated and brilliant addition to your reading library.

Reading Order and Previous Reviews
River Rising
The Memory Tree
Indian Paintbrush
Caitlin’s Song

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

As one who has written fifteen novels that blend both fact and fiction, I know firsthand the importance of getting it right. Writing about time travel, after all, requires more than describing the means of travel. It requires accurately depicting the past. It requires meeting the standards of quality historical fiction.

The challenges are often daunting, particularly when writing about the recent past, as I have done on multiple occasions. When writing about places and times that are in the living memory of many readers, you have to make an extra effort to get even the little things right.

When I wrote my first novel, The Mine, a story set mostly in Seattle in 1941, a few older readers gently reminded me that chocolate-chip cookies were more commonly called “Toll House cookies” and that aluminum foil was generally called “tin foil,” even after aluminum replaced tin as its primary component. Since that time, I have done what I could to ensure the historical accuracy of my books, which have spanned eras ranging from the 1880s to the 1980s.

Like many writers of historical fiction, I favor primary sources, such as newspapers, documents, letters, photographs, and oral histories. I generally find eyewitness accounts of events and eras, produced by those who lived through them, to be more compelling than even the best research compiled decades – or even a few years – after the fact.

Even so, I don’t limit myself. When preparing to write about times I did not experience, I will often sample the movies, music, and literature of the day. I find it easier to describe Americans of the 1950s and early 1960s, for example, if I immerse myself in the very things that drove them to theaters, concert halls, and libraries.

On some occasions, I look closer to home. When writing The Journey, set in 1979 and 1980, and Camp Lake, my newest book, set in 1983, I relied mostly on memories of — and mementos from — my senior year of high school and my experience at a summer camp in Maine.

No matter where I turn for answers, however, I follow advice that has been around for decades. When writing historical fiction, even in the context of time travel, pay attention to details. Note the nuances and the particulars. Sweat the small stuff.

~~John A Heldt~~

Follow John: Goodreads / Facebook / Website/Blog/ Twitter / Amazon / Instagram / Tumblr

 I’m a married father of two grown daughters and a son and, as of August 15, the grandfather of a delightful little girl named Stella. Before turning to novel writing in 2011, I worked as a sports writer and editor for several newspapers in Oregon and Washington, where I was born and raised, and several more years as a reference librarian in Montana. I love traveling around the western United States, watching sports, cooking, and experiencing the great outdoors. I currently make my home in the Las Vegas, Nevada, area.

 

 

John A Heldt is graciously offering the complete CARSON CHRONICLES 5 ebook time travel  series (mobi or epub)  to ONE (1) lucky commenter at The Reading Cafe

1. If you have not previously registered at The Reading Cafe, please register by using the log-in at the top of the page (side bar) or by using one of the social log-ins.

NOTE: If you are having difficulty commenting after logging onto the site, please refresh the page (at the top of your computer).

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3. Please follow John A Heldt on Facebook .

4. Please follow John A Heldt on Twitter.

5. LIKE The Reading Cafe on FACEBOOK and then click GET NOTIFICATION under ‘liked’ for an additional entry.

6. LIKE The Reading Cafe on Twitter for an additional entry.

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9. Giveaway open internationally

10. Giveaway runs from October 6 to 11, 2019

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