Review: Warning:  Page-Burner.  Don't Plan to Sleep Until You Finish This Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 22, 2014
Unfortunately, Gail Roughton sent two of her books to me at once, so now I’m truly sleep-deprived.  Maybe I can catch up on some sleep before I read another one of her works.  ;-)Fortunately, Tess is not the first American to find herself crashing in the Bermuda Triangle and landing in Trusca.  Johnny McKay is with the Truscan patrol that finds her wrecked Cessna.  He translates for Dalph, the patrol leader, as they whisk her away to the walled city of Trussa, where she is required to pledge “her life and her fealty” to Dalph, who’s actually the king of Trusca.  Don’t eat anything when you read that part.  You’ll choke laughing.Tess eventually settles into Trusca, and accepts their struggles against the war-mongering Prians as her own, as she realizes why the door chose to bring her into Trusca.  Of course, she doesn’t necessarily comply with all of the rules—she makes a few of her own.Time travel fantasies aren’t normally my cup of tea.  I will camp out when I absolutely have to, but I really hate having to use porta-potties, let alone out-houses and I couldn’t imagine having to use a chamber pot.  Twenty-first century women settling into medieval castles in the name of love just make it difficult for me to suspend disbelief.  If I tried to use the bushes for certain things (as Tess does) I’d make a complete mess, and with my luck, I’d end up with poison ivy, oak or sumac.  Not to mention ticks or chiggers.  Nope—I like my creature comforts.  Of course, most of these heroines manage to fall in love with nobility and have servants to handle the most distasteful tasks.It takes a great writer with a really kick-derriere plot to distract me from my objections to this genre and engage me enough to suspend disbelief.  It takes a Gail Roughton.  I laughed, cried, sat on the edge of my seat, yelled at the book and at Ms. Roughton, at Tess, Dalph, Johnny…  And again, I stayed up all night reading when I had to be at the VA the next day.  Then I overslept.  It’s okay, though—I still made it.  I highly recommend this book.  Just—if you’re going to read more than one of Ms. Roughton’s books, try to space them out.  They will keep you up all night.