Customer Reviews

Time And Again: Time Was\Times Change

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

These are two stories of brothers who love each other and their parents very much and live in the 23rd century. The sisters they will meet live in the 1980's and were brought up by parents who married very young and were part of the "hippie/flower child" movement.

Any time (no pun intended) you see a book about time travel, you really MUST suspend your belief system as this is FANTASY and science FICTION. I think many reviewers have forgetten that fact! For me, I enjoyed the wonderful character development in these two stories as we get to know Caleb and Libby before they get together and also Jacob and Sunny. We also get to meet a learn a little about Libby and Sunny's parents.

The fun of the future and time travel makes a great vehicle for these stories but what really makes them stick with me are knowing and rooting for the characters!! I have re-read these a couple of times just for the enjoyment.

Lighten up and have fun with these stories!!

I am an avid Nora fan and I love everything she writes. Some stories are exceptional; others good, but always entertaining. Time and Again was entertaining to a point. Stories of Caleb and Jacob Hornblower crashing down to the 20th century from the 23rd century and each meeting up with the Stone sisters - Liberty and Sunbeam. The first story concentrates on Libby & Caleb and the second story is a carbon copy of the first with the other two siblings. My main objection was the repetitive storylines and the fact that in the first story, there seemed to be more sex than story. It was an okay read but certainly not up the to the high standards and excellent writing that I know Nora is more than capable of providing even the most critical reader. I finished the book, but definitely would not pass it on as a "must" read.

There's more time travel than orginially intended since the reader goes back a full decade and a half before cable news, internet mania, pre-emptive strikes, genetically altered foods, etc. References to the heroines' parents as 60's flower children-made-good adds additional refreshing texture. Best of all, this is powerhouse romance with love scenes about love in two stories requiring the transcendence of time for the love to prevail. The black hole concept is very credible. I preferred it to Michael Crichton's disembodyment through time machines that never made sense and the details of which were distracting to the story. Having heroes from the 23rd century come back to early 1990's America beats a trip to medieval chaos any day.

This is an omnibus re-issue of two titles (Time Was and Times Change), they were originally written in 1989 and 1990, which occasionally shows in the depiction of what the people from the future use as slang.

The first, Time Was, is a story of a man, Caleb Hornblower, who finds himself in the past after an accidental encounter with a meteor storm. His ship crashes and he finds himself sheltering from a snow storm with Liberty Stone. As he tries to work out how to get back to his own time he finds himself torn between his own time and her time.

The Second, Times Change, is the story of Caleb's brother Jacob when he comes to find his brother in the past. He finds the cabin and Sunny Stone, Liberty's sister.

These two stories play with some SF themes but are more Romance than SF and are earlier Nora Roberts so they're not as sure or as polished as newer works, still they're fun and there are many younger writers writing worse.

This is one of my all time favorite Nora Roberts books. I have read these two stories at least five times each. They are captivating and absolute page turners. What I find truly interesting is the fact that even though these were written some years ago some of Nora's predictions about the future are coming to fruition (for example, taking medication by tabs on the tongue). The stories are of two brothers that travel through time, the first one by mistake and then the second brother to find the first and each finding their "match" outside their own century. As always, Ms. Roberts paints such vivid tales that the reader is truly taken on a journey with each story. I cannot recommend this book enough.

This is one of my favorite books from this author. The story line is romantic and yet not so maudlin as some time travel novels Ive read. After reading this book I renewed the feeling that love and romance is eternal and it can trascend time ..... you just 'gotta believe' !

Classic Roberts - and when one collects Roberts, an easy one to get. It's hard to find good copies of the singles and this is one of the rare times that the 'new title' (Time and Again) actually relates to the two or more books enclosed; ie one isn't purchasing books one already has under the original title - one of my pet peeves. Great story line - I always enjoy re-reading this one

I've never really been a fan of Nora Robert's books with more than one story in it, they've all felt rushed and poorly written. While Time & Time Again does slightly better than some of the others I've read, it's full of typos and is very predictable. The story follows 2 sisters through a rather dull and predictable story about brothers who come back from the 23rd century and fall in love.
What bothered me the more than anything, was the absolute lack for any science fiction elements. This story deals heavily with science fiction themes, so it would have been nice to see her make an attempt to include a little bit of explanation. Sure, she'll throw in the occasional reference to a black hole, or a space ship, but for the most part whenever the boys are questioned about anything, they shrug it off with "you wouldn't understand" or "there's no time to explain now."
Time & Time Again Time Was\Times Change has the same problem her murder mysteries have. She's not a science-fiction author.
There were also several cases of rather blatant grammar and editing errors riddled throughout the book.
Though she has some very sweet romantic moments, she has done much better work.

I have searched and searched for a time-travel love story that is not only believable but moving also. BINGO!! Found it! Nora Roberts did a spectacular job of explaining her time travel concept without giving her readers a headache by over doing it. She always does an exceptional job with her romance stories so of course that part of the book was perfect. All in all...an excellent book that I am going to read many times over.

I am a long-time fan of Nora Roberts. Somehow I missed the 2 novels in Time
and Again (Time Was, pub.1989and Times Change, pub. 1990). As usual I really
enjoyed both. One of my favorite things about Amazon.com is that I can
find books that are out of print or unavailable elsewhere.
I also appreciate your timely delivery.