Time Travel Paranormal Romance audiobook published by K.L.A. Fricke Inc 13 Oct 20
I listened to this book on Audible and the narration by Samantha Brentmoor is fantastic. This was my first Kelley Armstrong book and WOW, I am so happy that I was in the mood for something creepy and atmospheric with a romance. This hit all my expectations and more. I don’t know how any of you are dealing with the pandemic and life in general, but, for me, audiobooks have kept me sane and reading. I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to all the authors, talented narrators, the romance community, and the great women in group messages on Twitter for making me laugh and commiserating our hopes and fears. Your intelligent discourse and funny sense of humor have kept me from going over the edge many times. So thank you. I hope some days I bring a smile or two to your life.
Now let’s talk about a boy from the past, ghosts, a haunted manor, and a heroine that I loved so hard.
Bronwyn Dale had spent many summers with her aunt at Thorne Manor. As a young girl she found herself thrown back into time where she met William Thorne, a boy the same age as she. Her room at the manor is his room in his time and she can somehow freely travel through a stitch of time to meet him. They did this for many years. While she was meeting William, she confided in her aunt. Bronwyn also would see ghosts and some of them were not so nice. When she turned 15, she had some firsts and also a major tragedy. William and Bronwyn share their first kiss, promises were made, and then she saw a ghost and certain things that happened led to the death of her uncle. Her mother made sure that she wouldn’t ever return back to Thorne Manor and she also put Bronwyn in a psychiatric hospital. No one believed her that neither William nor the ghosts were real.
It’s been twenty-three years, Bronwyn married her college sweetheart and is now a widow. Her aunt passed away and left Thorne Manor to her. While on summer vacation from being a professor in Canada, she goes back to the manor and it’s a bittersweet return. The first night she stays in her aunt’s room and she can’t get comfortable. She decides to sleep in her old room, and as soon as she lays on the bed she is back in William’s time, which is about 175 years in the past. She lands in William’s bed and he’s moaning her name and kissing her, thinking he’s dreaming. When he realizes that she’s really back, he is pissed off. Bronwyn pops back into her time because she was so taken aback about being in William’s bed, seeing him again after so many years. William is devastated that she didn’t keep her promise to always come back to him and he’s been living half a life, pining away for her. They, of course, talk about things and find their way back to their friendship and their chemistry. The cultural differences bring some funny moments.
Meanwhile, back in the present, the ghosts are trying to make contact with Bronwyn. They want peace. What happened starts in the past and Bronwyn has to figure out the mystery of so many deaths. There are red herrings, secrets, tragedy, and crazy people abound. While Bronwyn is figuring out things in the present, her relationship with William is progressing and she is living in the now, knowing that she will have to go back to Canada at the end of the summer. William and Bronwyn’s relationship is truly beautiful. I absolutely love them. The side characters bring another level of creepiness, along with the manor and its bogs and marshes, The journey to who, the why, and the how is mind blowing. Kelley Armstrong knows how to work those twists and turns. I was truly surprised. Of course, things conclude with the ghosts, and now they have to figure out how in the hell are they ever going to be together long term, and Ms. Armstrong did not disappoint.
If you’re in the mood for a time travel book with ghosts, a creepy manor, murders, a hero who is swoon worthy, and a heroine who will rock your world, please give this book a try. The adventure and the creepiness will keep you turning the pages way past your bedtime. The narrator, Samantha Brentmoor, brought the characters to life. Her accents and tones were spot on and for a while she swept me away to Yorkshire and Thorne Manor. A truly memorable book that will linger long after you finish the book. I hope there are more books like this in the future. I will be waiting patiently…maybe.
Grade: A
Summary:
Thorne Manor has always been haunted…and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt’s house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. After a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination.
Now, twenty years later Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor. And when she returns, William is waiting.
William Thorne is no longer the boy she remembers. He’s a difficult and tempestuous man, his own life marred by tragedy and a scandal that had him retreating to self-imposed exile in his beloved moors. He’s also none too pleased with Bronwyn for abandoning him all those years ago.
As their friendship rekindles and sparks into something more, Bronwyn must also deal with ghosts in the present version of the house. Soon she realizes they are linked to William and the secret scandal that drove him back to Thorne Manor. To build a future, Bronwyn must confront the past.
Read an excerpt.
