Son of the Morning by Linda Howard

I don't remember how I stumbled across this book, but the back blurb hinted at time travel, so I went for it. It was.....okay.

I cannot lie, I skimmed a lot of this book. It had an intersting premise, Grace, a married researcher, gets involved in her work with some ancient papers and her husband and brother end up getting killed - by her boss! She goes on the run, and this is where I started skimming. She's on the run, and brought her laptop with her (she had it with her at the time of the murders), so she's continuing to research the papers while running from city to city and changing identities like underwear. It just seemed like a lot of time was focused on her fleeing from her boss, who had trained killers out looking for her.

I know the author had to get across what the papers were, and why her boss was trying to kill everyone who knew about the papers, but it was 2/3 of the way through the book before Grace finally travelled back in time. During the time between her husband's death and her travel through time, she became obsessed with and fell in love with the man in the papers, Black Niall, The Guardian. It seems she was dreaming of him and he was dreaming of her, and it seemed real to both. When she finally got into the 14th century, she was immediately kidnapped by Niall's rival, but she managed to escape and find Niall. Their romance was sort of rushed, and suddenly they were traveling into the 20th century! Then Niall was gone again! How could he leave her?! The end was a satisfying conclusion.

It was an enjoyable story, but I felt like the author could have shortened the first half and spent more time on their getting to know each other in the past. The ending just seemed to be too quick. I did like the characters, and wanted them to have a happy ending. So, I liked it, but it's not going on my keeper shelf.

Time Travel Tuesday

(I'm sure I've seen that title before, so my apologies to you if I stole it!)

I'm very excited about Diana Gabaldon's Echo in the Bone coming out September 29. I only own her first two books (will eventually get the rest) and I've been reading them randomly now and again, and I keep thinking to myself, if I went back, what would I bring?

I first thought - my Ipod, of course, but it would only last a few hours. But I wonder if I would remember any of the songs I like? Or just snippets? I barely know the words to half the songs on the radio now, let alone when there's no radio to sing along to. Then I imagine a scenario something like this:




I love that scene from Black Knight! If you haven't seen the movie, it's typical Martin Lawrence. He's an amusement park worker who accidentally travels back into Medeval England and the king thinks he's a court jester, or something like that. If you like "low-brow" humor (I do), you'll like it; if not, don't bother...

Back to the question at hand: What would I bring: Definitely a toothbrush and toothpaste, more than one if possible. My next choice would be shampoo/conditioner. Maybe a compact mirror and tweezers (I think they'd come in handy for more than just eyebrows!)? I thought about some kind of shoe insert (are you gellin'?) because I would imagine shoes in the past were not at all comfy. I wonder if a photo album would get me burned at the stake? Or my tattoo, for that matter...it's pretty visible. I would want to bring medicine, of course, but what kind or how much? Or maybe chocolate? Neosporin? So many choices................