Tag Archives: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance

Iron and Hemlock by Autumn Dawn

Book Review, , , , ,
Overview
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Title: Iron and Hemlock
Author: Autumn Dawn
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Fae, Griffins, Paranormal romance, Time travel
Dates read: 9th November 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Jordan lowered her head and muttered something non-committal.

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Synopsis

Jordan has been thrust into the past. But it’s not the past that we remember… there’s griffins, fae and a magical house. Will she find true love or head back to a lonely future?

Thoughts

I read this short story really late at night. After a few wines and fighting the effects of insomnia. I tend to write notes as I go to make it much easier to recall my thoughts when I write reviews. But, since this was on a sleep-deprived alcohol fuelled moment. I thought instead of writing my traditional review, I’d share my very excitable notes instead…

  • Time travel, but to a magic land? Whaaaaa??
  • There’s a talking griffin. Who is actually a man.
  • Oooooooooh, she travelled BACK in time – but magic. Still magic.
  • Love a good, stubborn woman mixed up with the fae!!!
  • Griffin’s ancestor becomes house!!! Yaaaaassssssss Queen!
  • Love that she’s resistant to his immediate overtures. But true love wins!!!
  • 😊 😊 😊 😊 😊…
 <- The Troll Bridge ReviewLast Thorsday Night Review ->
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The Troll Bridge by Patti O’Shea

Book Review, , ,
Overview
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Title: The Troll Bridge
Author: Patti O’Shea
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 3 (On the fence about this one)
My Bookshelves: Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 31st October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: That wasn’t what made her uneasy.

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Synopsis

She’s accidentally travelled forwards in time. But, when the decision comes down to it, will she go home to friends and family, or live her new life here?

Thoughts

This story was a little bit bizarre. She only travels about 45 years into the future. But the future is drastically different from the current. Since this was written in 2010, and 9 years have already passed… I don’t think that many of these predicted moments are going to come to pass. I was also a little uninterested in most of this story. I’m not sure why – probably because I spent most of the time going ‘huh’?

The other reason I may not have enjoyed this short story so much was the fact that I just wasn’t in the mood for this kind of flirty mood. Or really anything to do with most of this. It was just weird flirting, and not actually relatable for me. But maybe I’ll give it another shot in the future…

 <- Saint James’ Way ReviewIron and Hemlock Review ->
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Saint James’ Way by Jean Johnson

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
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Title: Saint James’ Way
Author: Jean Johnson
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Anthropology, Historical romance, Time travel
Dates read: 28th October 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: “If my shoes weren’t falling apart, I would hasten in a more seemly manner,” Phinneas countered out loud.

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Synopsis

A time travelling anthropologist is fascinated by one of the men in her study cohort. But she can’t change the past… or can she? Has she finally found true love?

Thoughts

Love, love, love the idea of a time travelling anthropologist! After all, anthropology is all about participating and observing. In studies today, we mostly have to tell our participants that we are actually observing them… but if we travelled back in time? Before anthropologists existed? Well, I can understand not telling people that you’re observing them, after all, anthropologists aren’t something that exists yet.

I thought that the attachment between Anne and James was incredibly cute and sweet. But it wasn’t overwhelmingly lustful. They simply found each other intriguing, and intellectually fulfilling. For me, that’s something that I find far more powerful than physical attraction – the ability to find a partner who will intellectually stimulate you as well as physically. Anne and James are perfect for this. They’re so intellectually in tune, that the physicality comes second.

Really, who doesn’t want a knight in somewhat shiny armour in their lives? James manages to fulfil this fantasy far more than I had ever expected. I’ve never truly wanted a knight, until reading this short story. Now… I can imagine my partner dressed as a knight riding up on a white horse… somehow don’t think he’d go for it though…

 <- Pilot’s Forge ReviewThe Troll Bridge Review ->
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Pilot’s Forge by Patrice Sarath

Book Review, , ,
Overview
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Title: Pilot’s Forge
Author: Patrice Sarath
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Romance, Science fiction, Time travel
Dates read: 16th October 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Edith parked her battered old work truck, with ‘Crane Farrier and Blacksmithing’ stencilled on the side, at the end of the parking lot, got out and stretched.

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Synopsis

Merritt Crane is being nosy and investigating an abandoned ship. But, suddenly he’s thrown into his past, our time. Where he not only saves a beautiful woman, but also starts to fall for her. When he saves her by going back to the future, is there any hope for them?

Thoughts

This is a lot less romantic than many of the other stories in The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance collection. In fact, there’s a hint of incest. Just a hint. And not enough to be icky (and believe me, I have read some icky tales lately…). But, mostly, the romance within it isn’t really gushy… they hook up and there is a little lust, but it’s only just glossed over. Which makes it different and refreshing compared to many of the other tales throughout the collection.

The dystopian, space future represented in this short story was intriguing. The loss of Earth; the existence of the rich and poor clans; and the existence of a man on the wrong side of the law – these all were kind of reminiscent of our life now. But highlights that we can’t keep treating our world like garbage. After all, our ancestors too might find a life and a reality in which they no longer have Earth.

The name of this story is kind of cool – originally I thought that it was about the spaceship and process of being involved with this. Yet, it’s actually about a small, tiny town on Earth in our modern day. The match up of the names and the hints about what this means are amazing. I feel like in the name alone, I would pick up more nuances as I reread this story.

 <- The Eleventh Hour ReviewSaint James’ Way Review ->
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The Eleventh Hour by Michelle Maddox

Book Review, ,
Overview
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Title: The Eleventh Hour
Author: Michelle Maddox
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 3.5 (Liked this)
My Bookshelves: Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 30th September 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: I found myself seated in a hard chair and my hands bound behind me.

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Synopsis

Sophie’s chance meeting with an eight year-old boy has consequences that she never thought were possible. But, when a time traveller saves her at the eleventh hour, she might find all of her dreams come true.

Thoughts

Fate is always an interesting thing to deal with. Especially when you’re talking about time travel and keeping the lines of fate together. However, I never really thought of how unfair fate could be. Particularly for a woman who manages to survive, and then is forced to face her demise when two time travelling soldiers come to kill her…

This isn’t my favourite ever short story. It was just a little sluggish and difficult in places. Although it was still quite enjoyable. Mostly I felt a little too weirded out by the fact that the love interest ends up being from the future but had met her as a child in the present. Had a little bit of trouble getting my head around that one…

The Eleventh Hour is an easy read. A little bit fun. But not the most memorable short story I’ve ever read. It was a nice stroll through someone else’s imagination and a nice introduction to a new author.

 <- The Wild Card ReviewPilot’s Forge Review ->
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The Wild Card by Sandra Newgent

Book Review, , ,
Overview
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Title: The Wild Card
Author: Sandra Newgent
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 4.5 (Amazing, but not quite perfect)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Time travel
Dates read: 5th May 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: The fellow across from him folded.

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Synopsis

Cami is just coasting through life, unsure of what her next step is. But when a chance encounter with a man promises to bring all of her fantasies alive, she is thrown back into a world that she knows nothing about, and a man she wants to know everything about.

Thoughts

At the beginning I really loved this story. And I even loved it in the middle. The end though was just a little too open for me. It meant that I could imagine a happily ever after, but I still wanted just a little bit more to cement that idea for me. Something that made me understand a few of the plot holes and made me feel that sense of happy anticipation that I felt at the very beginning of this tale.

Not many stories that I read start in a casino. Even less of them begin in a casino and are a time travelling romance. Which makes this a thoroughly enjoyable, intriguing way to start a story. My first thoughts considered whether or not she would be going backwards or forwards in time. I actually assumed forwards when she met her mystery man. But that really wasn’t the case.

The part of this story that I loved the most was the fact that although Cami absolutely adored the man she found in the past, she didn’t ever want to stay. A man wasn’t enough for her to give up her life and happiness in modern times. This seems to be frequently missing from a lot of time travel romances – they’re all about women who don’t have much in their current lives, so they choose to find their homes and happiness in another time, leaving everyone and everything behind.

 <- Sexual Healing ReviewThe Eleventh Hour Review ->
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Sexual Healing by Margo Maguire

Book Review, , ,
Overview
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Title: Sexual Healing
Author: Margo Maguire
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Time travel
Dates read: 28th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: She nodded against him.

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Synopsis

D499 is sent back in time to stop the potential future extinction of the human race. But when he finds the boy responsible, he isn’t quite sure what he’s supposed to do. Or how he’s supposed to feel about the alluring woman who is his mother…

Thoughts

Most of the time travel romances and books that I read tend to be about travelling back in time. Romanticising a past that we can’t truly fathom and removing aspects of history that just don’t quite fit with our ideal. This is the first of the time travel romances in which the time jump involves the future. Like a thousand years into the future.

D499 travels back to our time, kind of like in the terminator. To right a wrong and stop a young boy from changing the world. I was actually expecting him to go a little terminator on the family in his quest to save the human race. Luckily, he didn’t. And this story was a happy, easy read that left me feeling content about the potentials of the future.

It really didn’t hurt my enjoyment of this story that it dealt with the sciences. And, more particularly a woman who was attempting to get her PhD in neurobiology, a son who will follow in her footsteps and a hunk of a man who is a physicist.

 <- Stepping Back ReviewThe Wild Card Review ->
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Stepping Back by Sara Mackenzie

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
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Title: Stepping Back
Author: Sara Mackenzie
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Australian authors, Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 28th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: He was gone, the valley was gone, and when she turned back to the homestead, it was nothing more than a derelict ruin.

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Synopsis

Helen wants to run away from a bad husband. Claire just wants to remember her past. Two women, one hundred years apart, and their lives are about to intersect.

Thoughts

The telling of parallel storylines is something that has been growing on me more and more as I’ve expanded my reading knowledge and obsessions. So finding one that involved time travel, the Australian landscape and a woman willing to find herself a new life worked brilliantly for my latest literary fascination.

This almost read like a murder mystery. The woman in the present is desperately trying to figure out the history of the past. The woman in the past is trying to escape a grasping, evil man. Yet, the villain isn’t quite who you think he is. And neither are the women. They are both similar, yet different in so many ways. And neither are able to rest until the truth is finally revealed.

 <- Lost and Found ReviewSexual Healing Review ->
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Lost and Found by Maureen McGowan

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
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Title: Lost and Found
Author: Maureen McGowan
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Romance, Time travel
Dates read: 26th April 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: Well, here it is.

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Synopsis

Jake has woken up on the same day in a different year since he turned 32. But, when he suddenly wakes up and finds a familiar face from the past, he begins to hope that his curse is over.

Thoughts

I kind of liked this version of time travel. Rather than being two people from entirely different periods in history, it’s two that are born just far enough apart to make their relationship impossible. And it features the damage that time travel could do to a person. The ways in which being thrust from your time and place, everyone you know and love can destroy some of the hope and happiness in a person.

Age gaps in relationships generally bother me. Even when it’s vampires. (What twenty-year-old wants to date an 800-year-old? It just seems wrong.) Yet this age gap wasn’t too bad, alright they did meet for the first time when she was fourteen and he was thirty-two. But the fact that his time jumping doesn’t slow down until they are actually at the same age and it’s less… icky was kind of nice.

Most of the time travel stories I’ve read focus on jumping through a large gap in time. Something a little more permanent. Yet, this is the repetition of a day again and again. Just in a different year each and every time. There is no really forwards and backwards movement, but a stagnation of time for the poor sap.

 <- MacDuff’s Secret ReviewStepping Back Review ->
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MacDuff’s Secret by Sandy Blair

Book Review, , , ,
Overview
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Title: MacDuff’s Secret
Author: Sandy Blair
Series: MacKinnon #0.5
In: The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance (Trisha Telep)
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary romance, Scottish romance, Time travel
Dates read: 26th April 2019
Pace: Slow
Format: Short story
Publisher: Robinson
Year: 2009
5th sentence, 74th page: And sad that only I get to enjoy this place.

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Synopsis

Sarah is the teacher of a group of spoilt, rambunctious boys. When a bomb goes off, they finds themselves thrust back in time to the home of MacDuff. Love, understanding and a new future might be about to open up to them.

Thoughts

I really loved the little adventure that this story took you on. It’s a cute, easy read that takes you from modern times to a more ancient way of life. The fact that it’s a teacher who travels back in time with her students just makes it a little more fun. Especially since the inclusion of young children stopped this from being a clear cut and opaque story line.

This story follows a pretty typical trope – man meets woman, they fall in love, they want to live happily ever after. The fact that it’s the woman who travels back in time also kind of works – we don’t want to read about submissive women after all. So is the fact that they become attached to an orphan and decide to take him home with them. It still works beautifully. And the fact that it is entirely see through doesn’t mean that it isn’t an incredibly sweet and enjoyable storyline.

 <- The Key to Happiness ReviewLost and Found Review ->
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