Tag Archives: Time Travel

Persistence of Memory by Winona Kent-a review

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Persistence of Memory by Winona Kent – a review

Persistence of Memory

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk/ Barnes and Noble /

ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date September 17, 2013

Charlie Lowe has two obsessions: saving the Stoneford Village Green from unscrupulous developers and researching her ancestor, Louis Augustus Duran, whose mysterious origins elude her.

When a freak lightning strike and a rogue computer virus send her back to 1825, Charlie discovers she must persuade a reluctant Sarah Foster to marry Duran, or two centuries of descendants -including herself- will cease to exist.

Unfortunately, Louis Duran turns out to be a despicable French count who spends his days attempting to invent the first flushing toilet in Hampshire. That is, of course, when he’s not busy impregnating a succession of unfortunate housemaids.

Combining the language, humour and manners of Jane Austen’s era with charming characters and colorful storytelling, Persistence of Memory is a mystery, a love story and a speculative novel about accidental time travel.

A hopeless romantic, our heroine does her best to encourage the happiness of those who surround her — but will she be able to mend a matrimonial wrong, restore the Village Green to its rightful owner and, most particularly, conclude the tale in the company of the gentleman with whom she was always meant to be?

You may acquaint yourself with the answers, gentle reader, here, within “Persistence of Memory”.

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This is a time-travel mystery type novel with romantic and heroic overtones. A very interesting concept and sometimes perplexing although intriguing time travel theories.

The story takes place in the village of Stoneford on England’s southern coast. This village has been very nearly untouched by renovation for almost 200 years. The central figure, Charlotte Duran Lowe or Charlie to her friends, has lived in Stoneford all her life. Charlie is a young widow who now works as the Historical Guide and Interpreter for the Stoneford Village Museum. Her daily uniform is a Regency frock from the 1825 era.

However, a redevelopment endeavor has begun by two very unscrupulous brothers Ron and Reg Ferryman. They want to line their pockets and don’t care at all about the history of the village. They have in fact resorted to the poisoning of the 300 year old Village Oak in the center of town, so that they can tear it down and rebuild with hotels and the like. The main issues center on lost deeds, dubious ownership, and greed of the brothers.

The time travel theory revolves around Charlie’s laptop and programs, a lightning storm releasing tachyons and sprites (scientific definitions can be found in the book), sending a shocked Charlie (fortunately still in her frock) back to 1825 and bringing one of her ancient cousins Mrs. Collins to this century in her place. The women apparently looked very much alike and so the adventure begins.

An interesting read, as Charlie tries to find out about her ancestors, solve the missing deed issues as well as others, while not blowing her cover. She also finds new love for herself while attempting to ensure her ancestors marry the correct men to ensure her own lifeline.

It’s a very twisty, sometimes comical, sometimes scary tale with many a paradox. To meddle or not to meddle…the “Butterfly Effect” type questions.

Will Charlie succeed in saving the village by finding the missing deed? Will she ensure Sarah marries the right man to ensure her linage? Does Charlie return? Ahhhh….the questions abound! Solve the mysteries by reading the book! Would it be fun to go back in time…you decide…

Copy supplied by author for an honest review.

Reviewed by Georgianna S.

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Kiss Across Time Series review by Tracy Cooper-Posey

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Kiss Across Time Series review by Tracy Cooper-Posey

Kiss Across Time Collage

=>*KISS ACROSS TIME (book 1) will be FREE from July 24 – 28 for Kindle*<=

Kiss Across TimeKiss Across Time – Book 1
by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Release Date: April 2013

About the book:

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk

A single kiss can change more than one life…or two.

Taylor Yates is fired for insisting the 5th Century Arthurian poet, Inigo Domhnall, existed. When she hears Domhnall‘s lyrics in a death metal song, she engineers a meeting with lead singer, Brody Gallagher. An unintended kiss sends them spinning back to the poet‘s time, when Saxons were pillaging King Arthur‘s Britain.

Brody‘s all for kissing her again. More, he wants her to kiss his friend and lover, Veris, to see what will happen. When Veris‘ kiss sends them back to the time of the Vikings neither man is willing to let Taylor simply walk out of their lives.

But Brody and Veris are more than lovers and sexual playmates, as Taylor learns when they investigate the kisses that send them across time. The secrets they share have the power to completely alter her life.

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Review:  Kiss Across Time begins with Taylor Yates losing her job at the university where she was up for tenure. Seems her obsession with proving the existence of poet Inigo Domhnal has made her a laughing stock and the university wants to distance themselves from her and all mention of the illusive Domhnal. But, as she arrives at her apartment, she hears the poet’s lyrics, of all places, in a death metal song. She enlists the help of her neighbor in order to attend the concert. A quick kiss from the lead singer, Brody Gallagher, is not only hot, but changes her life forever. Seems the kiss caused a time jump, for not only her, but Brody as well. She is ushered backstage after the concert, where she encounters Veris, Brody’s lover. Once he kisses her, another time jump occurs, and Brody and Veris know that Taylor is theirs. Now, to convince Taylor…….

Taylor soon discovers that Brody and Veris are centuries old vampires and that for some reason they time jump when they are intimate with each other. When they jump, it is always back to a time in either Brody or Veris’ past, or a time when they were both present. Brody and Veris have claimed Taylor as their own and have to present her to their queen, and are nervous as to how the meeting will go. Once they meet the queen, they discover that if anything changes when they travel back in time, it can alter their future. Brody and Veris know that the queen is not keen on them keeping her, but the queen also knows that they’ve marked her and she decides to see how it plays out. Because she knows they’ve decided that nothing, or no one, will take Taylor from them.

Kiss Across Time is a relatively short story. You find out their some of their history as the story progresses. I was a little worried that there was no explanation as to why things were happening as they were, but Cooper-Posey does a wonderful job of revealing their histories as the story moves along. Veris and Brody have been together for hundreds of years and easily fit Taylor into their lives. Maybe, a little too easy. But, they embark on a sensuous relationship, and it works. Yes, they are all three in the relationship with each other…..All for one and one for all!!

 

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00025]Kiss Across Swords by Tracy Cooper-Posey
The Kiss Across Time Series – Book 2
Release Date: March 2013

About the book:

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk Barnes and Noble / KOBO

To save them all they must win back one reluctant heart…again.

Taylor Yates never dreamed growing up she would end up happily living with two drop-dead sexy vampires and time-hopping through their thousand years of personal history. Her life is complete…or is it?

When she finds herself at the siege of Jerusalem during the first crusade, Veris doesn’t know her at all and doesn’t want to. Worst of all, he and Brody are total strangers, and Taylor drives a wedge in deep between them by trying to seduce Veris at their first meeting–not something a lady of the day does if she wants to keep her head.

Taylor and Brody must woo Veris using the customs of medieval England, win his heart and his full commitment before Jerusalem falls in four days’ time–or when they return to their own time, their lives as they know them will be gone…

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Kiss Across Swords begins four years after Kiss Across Time ends. And, oh what a story it is. They have come up with a phrase that allows them to know that everyone is aware that they’ve jumped and are all on the same page. Seems jumping can leave you a little dazed. Imagine that?!

When they jump in this installment, they are thrown back into the time when Brody and Veris met and became lovers, during the First Crusade in Jerusalem. One big problem. For some reason, Veris does not recognize Brody or Taylor this go around. And, to top it all off, if Brody and Veris don’t get together during this jump before they all jump back to the present time, the future will be irrevocably changed and Veris will not be part of their lives. Throw in a female vampire who doesn’t want to share Veris with anyone and their battle with the Fatimids and they have their work cut out for them.

The sex scenes in this book are pretty explicit. After all, Brody and Taylor are having to seduce a man whom they both already love and know exactly how to go about it. Because once they get Veris back, Taylor has big news that will forever change their lives.

 

Pageflex Persona [document: PRS0000026_00025]Kiss Across Chains by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Kiss Across Time Series – Book 3
Release Date: July 1, 2013

About the Book:

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Amazon.uk Barnes and Noble / KOBO

When dying becomes an act of love.

It is four years since Taylor and Brody almost lost Veris during the First Crusade. Now they know how to control time jumps, they have settled into a very nearly perfect, nearly human life, raising their daughter Marit.

When Brody defies Queen Tira to protect Marit, the three of them jump back three days in time to collect evidence the queen set up Brody for a drug bust in retribution. The jump sends them back to Brody’s personal nightmare: Fifth century Constantinople.

While Brody survives as a flogged slave, Taylor masquerades as the wife of an aristocrat and searches for Brody to release him. They must wait for Veris to find them before jumping home and Taylor watches each brutal chariot race, wondering if this will be Brody’s last. Brody once died in the Hippodrome and he is human this time, too….

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Review:  Kiss Across Chains begins four years after Kiss Across Swords. They have settled into their lives and cherish their time with their daughter, Marit. But, once the queen discovers what’s going on, she’s not happy. And, as the blurb says, she sets Brody up to teach them all a lesson. Seems she forgot her lesson in the first book………. No one will intrude upon their family and no one will separate them.

This book has been my favorite so far. The cruelty and torture that Brody endures during their jump back in this one is hard to read. Add to it the fact that Taylor has to witness much of it and the tears fall. Of course they fix the problems that allow them to keep Marit and set things right for their “future”. I loved getting to know more about Brody. And the strength and determination that Taylor exhibits during this jump is inspiring. She’ll do whatever it takes to ensure that her family is reunited. Throw Veris in and these three are unstoppable.

This is a wonderful series. If I’m being honest, the first one was a bit slow, but once I got into the second book, and then the third? I was hooked. I love that we get history lessons through each book. Their jumps back in time do that particular time’s history justice. Cooper-Posey does a wonderful job of filling us in on what’s going on without bogging us down with unnecessary descriptions. You can hear the hooves, hear the chariots and smell the dust. You can also feel the love these three feel for each other and fall head over heels for them yourself. I can’t wait for the next installment!!

Copies supplied by the author

Reviews by Vickie M

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John Heldt – The Show/The Mine – Combined Reviews

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John Heldt – The Show/The Mine – Combined Reviews

The Mine
Northwest Passage series – Book 1
Amazon

the mine

Description:
In May 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can’t use, money he can’t spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of Whirlaway, swing dancing, and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. THE MINE is a love story that follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

Review:
4.5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

The Mine written by John A. Heldt is an incredible book.  This had a different feel to many of the books that I have been reading lately, and I absolutely loved that.  I am not normally a huge fan of time travel romances, but if it’s well composed and realistic than I am sold.  I am SOLD on this book.

We first meet our leading man Joel Smith in year 2000 while travelling with his buddy Adam through Montana.  Joel is about to graduate from college, has the world at his fingertips and intends to live life to the fullest.  Joel is described as a handsome, carefree, adventurous, full of wit soul that generally loves being himself.  I totally fell in love with him, but not for the gushing, swooning reasons I normally fall in love with my heros, but because he was believable and could be the guy next door.  He’s adorable, intelligent, risky in some ways, confident (but not in that arrogant way) and ultimately SO MUCH FUN.

So … while coming into some traffic blocks, he manages to talk his buddy Adam into taking a rough road up to a shut down mine so he can explore.  Turns out this so happens to be on the day that planets are aligned just right and there is some freaky cosmic phenomenon going on.  Joel notices a funky light in the cave (he is a geologist at heart so really the poor guy had no chance ..lol), has an encounter with a snake, a low level beam and somehow manages to come out the cave in 1941.

Joel comes to terms pretty quick with his time travelling ways (despite the fact that the moula and cell phone in his pocket are of NO HELP to him), jumps on a train (yes literally) and heads to Seattle.  After a rough few days, he meets a guy named Tom who befriends him, gets him employment and becomes his new best buddy.  Just so happens, Tom is engaged to his grandmother “Ginny”, but isn’t his grandfather.  Joel becomes completely smitten with Tom’s group of friends and really begins to live the 1941 way of life.

In this group he also meets Grace.  Grace was a bit of a colder fish for me at first but she has much to deal with in her life and as I continued to read I found her to be very “real” and likable.  Grace becomes Joel’s love interest and ultimately a huge part of the choice he has to make of “should I stay or should I go?”

In many of my reviews, I love to indulge the romance of the book, and while the romance was beautiful in this book, it was not the highlight nor the most enticing part for me.  It was Joel and his dilemmas about how to not intercede in history in the event he changes the future and perhaps his own existence.  He develops a true friendship with his grandmother, falls in love with her best friend and is best buddies with her fiance who he knows will not be his grandfather (nor why he won’t be).  Can you imagine having all this kind of knowledge and not being able to stand up and say “I KNOW WHAT’S COMING!”  Especially something as pivotal as a countries entrance into a world war.  That isn’t a small thing to carry on one’s shoulder’s.  Mix into the equation finding your soul mate and good grief, I am surprised this guy didn’t self com-bust!

I am going to leave the story explanation at that .. seriously so much happens, and chunks of the story are just way to good to spoil for you. The only reason this was not a solid 5 out of 5 for me was because I did find Joel’s reaction to time travel a little too accepting.  There was no freak out just a simple “yah okay I’m in 1941!”  I did find that a little far fetched.  I also am not in love with this book cover!  This is such a great book and that cover is way too dull.  

Leaving this review on a super happy note though, I add that this is an adventurous, page turning read that is hard to put down.  John A. Heldt is an honest to goodness very talented author.  From the beautiful descriptions, tidbits of history, the conversations between characters and the relationships formed, I was completely drawn in.  Do yourself a favour though, grab some tissues is you plan to dive in .. I sure needed them! 😉

HAPPY READING!

 

The Show
Northwest Passage Series – Book 3
Amazon

the showDescription:
Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In THE SHOW, the sequel to THE MINE, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.

Review:
5 out of 5 for this reader folks!

Oh John A. Heldt, how you write a beautiful story.  I completely loved this book and how it all tied together into a continuation of the first book in this series called The Mine.  The Show is a continuation of Joel and Grace’s story but this time it is told from Grace’s POV.

This book begins with Grace’s determination to make her way to year 2000 to be reconciled with her soul mate Joel.  She has come to terms that he was in fact from the future and her journey through the mine was an absolute joy to read.  It was wonderful to have some pieces filled in and revisiting little details that where mentioned in the first book and how she interacted with all these details.

Once Grace finds herself in year 2000 she is befriended and cared for by other kind souls (much like Joel was in The Mine) and is assisted in her reconciliation by none other than the very friend she had in 1941.  Reading Grace’s and Joel’s realization that they get their happily ever after was a bit of a tearjerker!  LOL  Fast forward a couple of years, they are now married, have twins and they are madly in love.  Grace has adapted to the future beautifully .. all is well!

One night Grace and Joel attend a retro movie night (kinda funny considering it doesn’t feel so retro to our couple) AKA “The Show” and Grace finds herself traveling through another time portal landing her in 1918.  Well let me tell you, our Graceful Grace isn’t so graceful when she realizes paradise is no more.  She FREAKS OUT!  Can’t say I blame her as now nothing is certain.  She has a husband and children in the future and tries desperately to return to only to find out it’s pretty much impossible.  She is thrown into an epidemic (Spanish Flu), and reunited with family she thought she had lost forever.  She gets to experience her parents young and falling in love (her parents died too early in Grace’s life) and become close and in love with another man (although not her soul mate) Captain Walker.  Captain Walker seems to ease the ache that Grace feels in her tornado of a life and it was quite endearing reading these two together.  BITTERSWEET!

John A. Heldt is so eloquent in his words.  His writing absolutely flows and captures a beautiful picture in the reader’s mind.  I dare say he is the best self published author that I have ever come across.  He effortlessly weaved a continuation of a time travel story from one book to another and added more depth to it all the while keeping the reader completely captivated.  

Once again, like The Mine, this isn’t just a love story.  I appreciated the love story, but again it was the history and the cast of characters that kept me intrigued and that were highlighted in this book.  Once you start reading, you will have a trouble putting it down! WINK!

So… do Joel and Grace once again reunite or has Grace resigned herself to the fact that she has time traveled twice in her life and it’s all for a reason?!  Does she concern herself with changing anything in the past only to negate the future??  You’ll have to pick up a copy of The Show to find out!  LOL

HAPPY READING! 🙂

Reviews by Rachel

Copies provided by Author

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The River of No Return by Bee Ridgway-a review

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THE RIVER OF NO RETURN by Bee Ridgway-a review

The River of No Return

Amazon.com / Amazon.ca / Barnes and Noble / KOBO / The Book Depository

ABOUT THE BOOK: Released April 23, 2013

In Bee Ridgway’s wonderfully imaginative debut novel, a man and a woman travel through time in a quest to bring down a secret society that controls the past and, thus, the future.

“You are now a member of the Guild. There is no return.” Two hundred years after he was about to die on a Napoleonic battlefield, Nick Falcott, soldier and aristocrat, wakes up in a hospital bed in modern London. The Guild, an entity that controls time travel, showers him with life’s advantages. But Nick yearns for home and for one brown-eyed girl, lost now down the centuries. Then the Guild asks him to break its own rule. It needs Nick to go back to 1815 to fight the Guild’s enemies and to find something called the Talisman.

In 1815, Julia Percy mourns the death of her beloved grandfather, an earl who could play with time. On his deathbed he whispers in her ear: “Pretend!” Pretend what? When Nick returns home as if from the dead, older than he should be and battle scarred, Julia begins to suspect that her very life depends upon the secrets Grandfather never told her. Soon enough Julia and Nick are caught up in an adventure that stretches up and down the river of time. As their knowledge of the Guild and their feelings for each other grow, the fate of the future itself is hanging in the balance.

REVIEW: THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is the first storyline in Bee Ridgway’s new time travel series that is unlike any time travel series you will read. This is not a foray into the realm of science fiction, but more of a fantasy where emotions and thoughts pull the characters into another era.

The focus is on Nick Falcott who facing death ‘jumped’ forward two hundred years and found himself in the twenty first century with a new identity and everything he ever wanted at his disposal. The fact that he wanted to return to 1815 and to the woman with whom he was falling in love, was of no consequence. The Guild, the ruling time-travel elite and cult-like overlords, had given Nick his orders and in doing so have once again placed his life at risk. The Guild needs to stop the Ofan from bringing about the end of the world or so they say, and Nick is the man they option for the job.

THE RIVER OF NO RETURN is a storyline that takes the reader on a journey from the Spanish battlefield of 1815 to modern day America and London England where intrigue meets romance and, spy vs spy. The story is awash in philosophical speculation about time travel and the inherent possibilities of changing the course of history. If you could go back, what would you do to stop a catastrophe in the making?

Bee Ridgway introduces The Guild and The Ofan-two warring factions of time travellers each with a hidden agenda. The world building is continuous and intricately detailed throughout the storyline-but at times went above and beyond what I thought was necessary. The book is over 500 pages long and, filled with back-story, history and reflections about the philosophical aspects and conundrum of the time travel directive. Like a river that flows in one direction, the journey will take you far but can you ever go home again? The river is a symbol of time–flowing forward; it can speed up or slow down and in some cases, be stopped, all together; it is a river of emotions and one that will pull  our hero as well as the reader into another time and era.

The character development changes on many occasions such that we are never sure if the character we currently know is the same character we will meet at another time. The dual-personalities and counter-espionage make for a storyline that keeps the reader in suspense until the very end and the end most definitely leaves room for a continuation of the story.

There are numerous characters that overlap from one era to another. The Guild has been around for thousands of years and in each incarnation, there is a battle between for the right to control time. Not only do we see time travel, but the ability to stop time-completely.

Bee Ridgway has written an interesting storyline that will see one man pulled between doing what he knows to be right and what he knows he has to do. The philosophical look at time travel is detailed, with unanswered questions at every turn. And for some reason, the hero and heroine are kept in the dark through much of the storyline and must discover exactly who and what they are, on their own. Part of the storyline takes place in modern day and the remainder is set in the early 1800s. If you like a story with time-travel elements, historical fiction and a little romance, The River Of No Return is for you.

Copy supplied by the publisher.

Reviewed by Sandy

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