Review: Strong Characters
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 18, 2013
David Stewart's wife and daughter had been dead for five years, and he was still having a hard time moving forward. When he meets Lisette Westmoreland on a riverboat excursion in Memphis and finally figures out she is from the 1800's, he decides perhaps he needs to move backwards. They had an instant connection. When he reads that both of them were assumed killed in a riverboat explosion in 1885, he has to figure out a way to save them.Lisette Morgan Westmoreland had married James Westmoreland, because her father lost her hand in a poker game. James was a cruel man, who loved no one. His stepson, Andrew, was even worse. When James died of yellow fever, Lisette moves back home to Memphis from New Orleans, but Andrew follows her. He's determined to make her his wife.I enjoy time travel stories occasionally, but this one had some unbelievable and hokey parts. The plot even had a few contradictory elements. What saved the novel for me were the characters of Lisette and David. Both were very likeable, although how easily Lisette accepted the changes of the modern world was unrealistic. The sex scenes were sensual but not overly erotic, as some are. Profanity was widely used, especially "d-mn" and "b_st_ard," and they seemed just randomly added. I agree with Barbara G. Hunsberger that I would have enjoyed it more without either of these. I wish I hadn't paid money for it, but, when I bought it, I didn't know it wasn't a clean read. However, I did finish it to see how the couple might manage to be together. Because of the memorable main characters, I was torn how to rate the book. In the end, I gave it 3.5, which rounded up to a four. Despite some weak areas, it did hold my interest.