Review: Read this book!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2012
What a cool book! I love time travel, but I am pretty picky about my choices. Sometimes it can be so hokey (smart aleck modern day heroine vs testosterone-laced virile hero). This was not the case. This one was done so well - an interesting and unique premise on how the time travel occurred, a beautiful and timeless love story, sweet story of mother/daughter bonds, wonderful history, plenty of action and villainous villains, all written intelligently and artfully.The plot is centered on a modern day scientist/psychologist who, while also dealing with her own brain cancer, becomes enmeshed in testing the premise of using dream research to travel back in time. She finds herself in 1376, now healthy and cancer free, and in the middle of a mystery concerning the death of 2 children and other mysterious occurrences. (There's more, but you'll have to read it to find out.) There are many characters, and it was a bit challenging to keep them straight, but the author keeps them involved in the story so that their motivation and purpose is clear.The dialogue was very clever. Sure, Nedy has a bit of the smart aleck in her, but she behaved the way a modern day woman would react thrust back in time 600 years- you do what you need to survive, try to blend in, and when you can't, you wing it. Humorous but realistic dialogue kept it moving and kept me chuckling. Her occasional slip into modern terminology leaves the medieval characters looking puzzled, but she manages to cover her tracks - most of the time. (Loved when she tells the H she is from "Oz"......)The author transports us back and forth, from the 1370's to modern day, at just the right time, with easy fluidity, just when we need answers to the next set of questions. Nedy's struggle with cancer (and her mother's acceptance of her slipping closer to death) is heart-breaking, and the reader is torn between witnessing the progression of her disease vs her edge-of-the-seat struggles 600 hundred years prior. This could have detracted from the story, but it was done so well.The romance between Fulke (my only objection to the story - his name......) and Nedy was beautiful - slow to evolve, as is their trust in each other. Fulke is a cool guy, and while not without his ghosts, he is an honest and forthright kind of a guy. (For once, the strength of the H was not centered on his manly looks - although I am sure he looked just fine....) Nedy is brave and determined, but is initially convinced that Fulke is the "bad guy."  Their trust in each other takes most of the book to evolve, but it made it much more realistic. And so, so sweet.  There is passion, but no explicit sex - which, to me, takes a real artist to create such heat without graphic anatomical description.  Even the characters' attempts at maintaining modesty were sensual and tastefully done.The epilogue- wow! I was in tears. Great way to end this book - although I was sad to see it end at all. This one is a keeper, and a definite re-read.