A Love Beyond Forever (Timeswept)

Rating:
Summary: A dark tale of love and romance in Puritan England
Review: Courtesy of Love Romances

Kristy Sinclair has been dreaming every night a vision of a man with brilliant green eyes, surrounded by evil beings that mean nothing but harm to Kristy. In spite of the vividness of these nightly encounters, she believes they are nothing more than dreams; surely they are not premonitions of things to come. When she comes across an antique scrying mirror in a New Age Boutique, she has to have it, though she can't begin to explain why. She looks into the mirror and sees those same green eyes which have haunted her nights, and suddenly she is seeing a flesh and blood man, with those same eyes. Somehow, Kristy has been magically transported, via her mirror, to a distant past, where anyone even remotely suspected of witchcraft is hunted down and killed as a matter of course.

Jared Ramsey is a successful smuggler of goods forbidden in Puritan England. Imagine his surprise when upon returning to his room one night, he finds a lovely woman of unusual speech and dress already there. Even more surprising are her claims that she comes from another time and place! Witchcraft!! She is beautiful, unlike anyone he has known, so it is only natural he come to her rescue, when she is accused of witchcraft. He takes Kristy with him on his travels to unload his cargo and gather information for his greater mission... to return a Stuart to his rightful place on England's throne.

Witch hunters and the Lord Protector's police aren't all who on their tail however. A powerful witch, Gwyneth, is after them as well, wanting Kristy's dormant powers for her coven. Hers is one of The Left-Hand Path though, practitioners of black magic and Kristy is terrified of the witch. But Gwyneth has one thing that may lure her to them. Kristy has no memory of the first six years of her life, or her parents. This evil witch claims to have all the answers Kristy has long sought, but will only reveal them when she comes to the coven willingly.

Kristy is horrified to hear what the coven wants of her and Jared doesn't know what to believe. He doesn't want to think she is a witch, but.... The more time he spends with Kristy, the more he desires her and wants to believe her, despite his doubts. He finds himself helping her to escape witches and hunters alike. As their journey takes them across England and into Scotland. But there is no escaping such powerful enemies. Will Kristy and Jared overcome the evil they are faced with? And what about her forgotten years? Is she really a powerful witch like Gwyneth claims? Is she descended from a legacy of darkness or light?

This was an interesting, though it had a very dark storyline. Anyone who has a hard time hearing about black magic practices should not read this book. There are references to different kinds of sacrifices the witches make, though no specific details or description. This book is all about the struggle of good vs. evil, with lots of romance thrown in.

Kristy and Jared's attraction is immediate from the moment they meet, even before that, in her dreams. Jared struggles with his attraction to her, since he has a hard time believing her claims of time travel and that she is not a witch. He is afraid of being drawn into something evil, from which there is no escaping. Before Gwyneth is really introduced, when Kristy is just having visions of her and the mysterious red fog she travels in, one can sense the malevolence in her character, knowing there is something about her that is far from right. Just the descriptions of her appearance and silent actions in the beginning are enough to send chills up the reader spine and cause the hairs on the back of the neck to prickle, leading in to a lot of times where that will happen.

This was a good book, giving some interesting details of Puritan life in England, and the time period. It is apparent Ms. Haviland did her research thoroughly for this tale. And fear not, good does triumph over evil in the end, as it should, with an interesting spin on the story line.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad read
Review: I loved the premise of the story and felt that there could have been so much more, but thought the execution was a little lacking. As what always seems to happen to the shorter books, (under 375 pages) the scenes were rushed and jumped from one point to another. Our heroine falls back in time, meets our hero, they make a mad dash across Northern England and lo and behold, after one or two days our hero believes our heroine has traveled through time.

Ms. Haviland does an excellent job of describing the time period of Cromwell's England and the Puritanical thoughts that ruled people's lives. But what happened to Jared? Granted he is a royalist, but he still would have held some fear of that which is different. That he so readily believes Kristy traveled through time, and can accept her as a witch and still love her stretches the imagination a bit. Wouldn't she be thought of as a lunatic? She does have some proof that she is from the future, but to be so readily accepting, defies even literary credibility.

Thus saying, and seeming to come down harshly on the book, I did enjoy reading A Love Beyond Forever. The characters are well developed, though there are some lose ends with the secondary characters. This is a decent book to read in front of a fire on a cold winter night, or out on a beach in the summer. I was just a little disappointed because I felt the potential was there for a great book, not just a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Not a bad read
Review: I loved the premise of the story and felt that there could have been so much more, but thought the execution was a little lacking. As what always seems to happen to the shorter books, (under 375 pages) the scenes were rushed and jumped from one point to another. Our heroine falls back in time, meets our hero, they make a mad dash across Northern England and lo and behold, after one or two days our hero believes our heroine has traveled through time.

Ms. Haviland does an excellent job of describing the time period of Cromwell's England and the Puritanical thoughts that ruled people's lives. But what happened to Jared? Granted he is a royalist, but he still would have held some fear of that which is different. That he so readily believes Kristy traveled through time, and can accept her as a witch and still love her stretches the imagination a bit. Wouldn't she be thought of as a lunatic? She does have some proof that she is from the future, but to be so readily accepting, defies even literary credibility.

Thus saying, and seeming to come down harshly on the book, I did enjoy reading A Love Beyond Forever. The characters are well developed, though there are some lose ends with the secondary characters. This is a decent book to read in front of a fire on a cold winter night, or out on a beach in the summer. I was just a little disappointed because I felt the potential was there for a great book, not just a good one.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: What wonderful characters Jared and Kristy are. They compliment each other perfectly. Whilst reading I couldn't believe Kristy was a witch who had travelled back in time to the days of Oliver Cromwell.

Diana has left the ending with the possibility of a sequel to it. I hope she does write one. Well done Diana on a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Rating:
Summary: Thoroughly enjoyable read
Review: What wonderful characters Jared and Kristy are. They compliment each other perfectly. Whilst reading I couldn't believe Kristy was a witch who had travelled back in time to the days of Oliver Cromwell.

Diana has left the ending with the possibility of a sequel to it. I hope she does write one. Well done Diana on a thoroughly enjoyable read.