Trapped in Victorian England, Emma is determined to find a way home, back to her fiancé and the life he’s mapped out for them. That is until she meets the captivating Lord Henry Drake, son to the Earl of Pembrooke. Handsome and gallant, he quickly challenges her understanding of love and duty.
But Emma is hiding a terrible secret. She knows of Lord Henry’s untimely death, a date which is fast approaching. And before long, she will be forced to choose between saving the man she loves and returning to a life that seems so far away.
Comment: I got interested in this book because the cover caught my eye. I think the color tones are very appealing. Then, reading the blurb I was even more eager to try it because it says the heroine will travel back in time and fall in love and I imagined how angsty but romantic this story would be. However, sadly for me, this didn't live up to its promise...
In this time travel story, Emma Clayton is a young woman who traveled to England with her fiancé Ben but their relationship seems to not go anywhere. Nevertheless, Emma has followed Ben and hopes a new place can be the change that they needed.
One day, while biking from one village to where they were staying, Emma somehow crashes and when she wakes up she realizes she went back in time to the 1850s.
While in the past, Emma's biggest concern is to return to her own time and to understand what happened. While trying do so, she must act as if she belonged, which can be quite tricky among so many different things and especially because she can't help but admire and enjoy the company of lord Henry, the son of an earl, and the man she fears might be the love of her life. However, between her circumstances and the lack of regard from lord Henry's family, can Emma get any normalcy in her life again?
Not having read Outlander but listening to enough comments and TV references, it's not difficult to see where the author got her inspiration. I don't really know this, of course, but as the other novel so in this one we have a heroine with a relationship who goes back in time and falls for someone else. I assume the likeness ends there but it still made me think of it.
I had some expectations of this novel, especially regarding the romance and the time-travel situation. I thought the main goal would be for the story to stress out these things. But I confess I got disappointed because the writing wasn't very appealing to me. Sadly, the biggest peeve I got with this story is the fact the narrator is first person so everything is seen through Emma's eyes. The problem is that she isn't that captivating and her "voice" (or the author's) was very constant and not like I imagine someone actually thinks for themselves. Emma related everything she did and so that we could understand other things, she described and told a lot, so I didn't think the atmosphere of the story got the right vibe. I think the first person narrator was a mistake.
Emma travels back in time, she is scared and eager to get back but her behavior, from a certain point on, is so unlikely... how can she behave like that in a completely weird and unlike any other scenario she could imagine. She makes mistakes in dealing with others but I still found her actions to be too obvious and no one seemed to demand questions sooner. The explanation for this was a very weak but convenient one. I didn't like how Emma behaved so future-like and somehow things worked out. Her state of mind was also a little unbelievable... and considering the type of story and tone, there wasn't any whimsical vibes as in other author's wok with time travel.
There were several situations where convenient details would help Emma along... like finding herself at the house of a noble. What a lack of detail, she never commented on her situation, on her relationship with those with her, unless the closest ones and she never contemplated her situation to who she was as a person, for instance there was a woman helping her and she talked about her but not the fact Emma herself was dealing with someone from another time and how different and complicated t could be. Emma rarely wondered about what she was doing and that made me a little suspicious of who she is. I ended up concluding I don't really care about Emma's personality and fate.
As the plot moves along (and in my edition the page count wasn't that much), there are constant clues bout what's going on that, by how those things are inserted in the story, I can't understand how the supposed secret of who is behind what happens to Emma isn't immediately obvious. Because it is obvious and got me thinking the author had all these ideas and wanted to use them all, to better increase the chances of drama. However, for me this tactic failed and things felt rushed and exaggerated. It felt as f there wasn't time to enjoy the story with so much going on and not that well played.
In the end, the romance was only a prop to a combination of missed calls and I wasn't that eager about the main couple getting together. The book doesn't have the depth and structure I thought and not even closure, which can be explained by the fact two more stories exist after this one.
There are positive aspects, like the how the time travel happens but this wasn't fully explained of course. I really think I won't read more by the author.
Grade: 5/10
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