Can people really time travel and have experiences without changing history? In this story, Jess does time travel but does not have the impact upon history one would think.
Jessica Neale has lost her husband and the grief and sorrow are overwhelming. She travels to England to try and forget. On the plane she talks with an Englishman – Cole Hawksworth who has a keen interest in English history but one place in particular – Gallimore. Jessica finds herself accepting Cole’s invitation to visit Gallimore, or what is left, and is left on her own. A car accident throws her into the 1300s a time when Gallimore is in a slow decline.
Jess, at first, thinks she is in a re-enactment at the castle and keeps asking to leave but the earl; Tarne won’t let her go and is intent upon seducing her with whatever powers he has. Jess is able to protect herself but she is drawn to Colwyn, Tarne’s younger brother. Of course Tarne is the evil brother and prepared to destroy anyone in his way. Cole has had his issues in the past and it is not until towards the end that the reader finds out what these are. He is prepared to save Jess from what he perceives her own stupidity but realizes she is noble and he needs to rise to her standards.
As always in a time travel, the method of travel back or forth in time can make or break a story and the manner of this time travel is reasonable and acceptable to me as a reader. There is a twist in the end as to how the heroine and her hero get together, so it makes the time travel a little more realistic.
The reader can easily become involved in the story and there is little of the fussing about chamber pots and dirt which could easily occur in time travel stories. The heroine has two issues with the past, the clothing and the lack of medical care so it was a relief not to have a whinging heroine. The hero is a product of his time and keeps his thoughts to himself but we do see his sense of humor in the latter part of the story. This is a good indicator that a character is capable of change. I enjoyed reading this story.
