Customer Reviews

Time For Eternity

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Time for Eternity by Susan Squires
Vampire Paranormal Romance- Sept. 1st, 2009
4 ½ stars.


This book combines 2 of my favorite genres vampire and time travel. Susan Squires guides the reader through a complex story that is sure to capture the imagination.

Frankie is vampire hardened and alone. Cruelly abandoned after being turned a vampire, she had to learn to tame her blood thirst the hard way and she has never forgiven her maker the Duke, Henri Foucault. If she could find him she would kill the selfish bastard herself! By lucky circumstance she is given the chance to travel back in time and Frankie is determined to find her maker, Henri and kill him before he turns her into a vampire and avert her suffering. Frankie arrives in France during the French revolution but in the wrong place! As she desperately travels to find the Duke she sees herself just before her past self meets him and discovers why you shouldn't meet yourself in time. Once she sees herself, her essence is absorbed into her innocent and naïve past persona. This wouldn't be a problem except her younger self is mesmerized by the Duke and will not listen to the pleas and warnings her future self tries to warn her of.

This was an exciting book as I tried to figure out how this story could be resolved. I enjoyed the heroine's journey. It was intriguing as Frankie discovers new depths to the Duke and we find the true reasons behind his actions. The heroine was extremely likeable and gutsy and I enjoyed how the author delicately balanced the time travel within the storyline. The future Frankie changed the past Frankie developing her into a stronger and more intriguing woman. One who transformed history for the better. Henri is: handsome, bold, and noble. He is also very lonely and needed Frankie's light and belief in him to feel human after so many years alone. I particularly loved how the story reveals a different side of Henri and how he changes and grows even as Frankie does. Unlike some stories where I feel the time travel aspect is thrown in, this story needed the time travel for the true potential of both main characters to be realized. Rarely do you read such a large alteration in one character, much less 2. And for my part, this was the best part of the story. This is a novel that will certainly keep you intrigued and wanting to finish it that day to find out how it will end.

Reviewed by Steph from the Bookaholics Romance Book Club

I have been a fan of Susan Squires "Companion" vampire romance novels for a while now, so I was very excited to get this book. "Frankie" Suchet is a bartender that also happens to be a vampire. A chance encounter with another vampire leads to a discovery of a machine that can take her back in time to meet her vampire maker, Henri Foucault. Frankie hates Henri and life as a vampire-she decides to travel back in time so she can kill Henri before he makes her into a vampire. An intriguing beginning to a romance....

Squires has always enjoyed writing about history, and this book really does seem to take the reader back in time to 18th century Paris. The descriptions of the streets, main places and churces of Paris, France are incredible. She also enjoys using historical characters to tell the story. It takes place during the revolution, and Robespierre and his mistress Marta Croute are both characters. The time machine is by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Both of the fictional characters Frankie Suchet and Henri Foucault are well drawn and depicted, so much that a reader can imagine themself in the background watching everything. I also love how Squires interweaves some of the characters of "One with the darkness" ( Jergen and Donna Poliziano ) into this story.

I intended to read this book over a few days and then review it, but I was so entranced by the characters that I found myself reading it over the course of a few hours. It is a riveting and unpredictable tale. I can't wait until Squires next story in the series, "A twist in time," is released in March 2010.

Bitter vamp lady time travels to the French Revolution to kill the guy that made her--but crap--she totally forgets the mission when she gets there. I really liked the premise of this book; the french revolution and vampires--they were totally made for each other. But this was disappointing... Even so, the first half of it was good enough to make me go the distance. This is one of those books where the protagonists are required to be blind to the most obvious solutions for the plot to work, and man, it got really old. I was also sort of confused at the end, it was really convoluted and it went on for way too long. Then again, I didn't really care much by the time I got there; maybe you wont either. I've only read one other book of this lady's (One with the Shadows) and I remember it had some of the same problems (great premise, but turned out really mediocre). That said, it didn't suck, so maybe look for it, or that other one, at the library.

In San Francisco, vampiric bartender Frankie Suchet was made during the French Revolution by Henri Foucault who deserted her soon afterward. Donna Poliziano enters the bar because she sensed a vamp inside. They discuss Henri but disagree as Donna thought he was good while Frankie believes he was evil. Donna sends her a book written by Leonardo Da Vince who built a time machine that needed the power of a vampire to work. It is under the Baphistery in Florence. Donna suggests she go back and correct the wrong as she did it to save her beloved Jergen (see ONE WITH THE DARKNESS). Frankie travels to Italy with plans to kill Henri before he changed her.

Frankie arrives in 1794 and sees naïve Francoise. Unable to stop Frankie ends up inside a bewildered Francoise. However, the young woman has no time to worry as her elderly companion Madam LaFleur was arrested and their house is on fire. She pleads with Duc Henri D'Avignon to save her life. He does by claiming her as his ward. Robespierre accepts Henri's lie, but his companion Madame Croute is irate. Henri takes his new ward home and tells her he will place her on his ship going to England next week. Henri thinks of making love to Francois as she seems a weird mix of innocence and experience. He knows he cannot save LaFleur but foolishly tries; however, her heart gives out. Meanwhile as naive Francois sees Henri's kindness; Frankie inside her head keeps telling her he is cruel and needs to die while Croute wants to execute both of them.

The intriguing premise of two Francoise essences sharing one body comes across as plausible while Henri is a sort of vampiric Scarlet Pimpernel although Frankie takes a long time to overcome her bitterness; in fairness she had over two centuries to build it up. Still fans will relish this exciting vampiric romance that mostly brings alive the deadly dangerous French Reign of Terror.

Harriet Klausner

This is not a bad read by any means, but I did not enjoy this as much as the other time travel books by Susan. There were some really good parts, but some of it really slogged along, and by absorbing Frankie into her mortal counterself it took the book in a completely different direction then I thought it would. The change of perspective without even any hash marks or anything was really jarring too. It would do well to reprint the book with distinctions to show who the speaker is. This is still worth picking up though. I am enjoying learning about and expereiencing different periods of history with Susan's time travel books. They are a delight!

This was the first book I read by this author. I enjoy her writing. She held my interest from start to finish. The characters were likable and all through the book I truly cared what would happen to them next.
A quick, easy read.

Vampire Frankie (Françoise) has spent two centuries reviling her maker, Henri for turning her into a monster even though it was an accident, and Frankie can hardly believe it's even possible when she is offered the opportunity to go back in time to change her past. Frankie has fantasized that scenario over and over and knows just what she'll do, she'll kill the vampire before he can steal her humanity. But things don't go quite as planned when Frankie travels back to tumultuous time of the French Revolution, Frankie violates the basic rule of time traveling to one's own past - don't meet up with your past self.

I am not a big fan of Squires' Companions, but I may just have to rethink that statement, because Time for Eternity was simply wonderful. Without getting into too spoilerish detail, the melding of Frankie's past and future selves was really interesting way to handle the journey to the past and so much better than having the bitter future Frankie in full control able to execute her 'perfect' plan. Instead, giving Frankie just enough influence to open naïve Françoise's eyes to what she had missed the first time round - but leaving Françoise with her pristine heart in the driver seat - is really what made the story work so well. I also liked the way that Henri ends up a great hero as he is revealed to be not the devilish villain Frankie remembers but instead a noble immortal trying to make his endless existence count for something. And to add the finishing touch, the excellent development of the attraction between the pair delivered a satisfying romance with heart as well as plenty of steam.

I really loved Time for Eternity and now I am hooked and will have to watch for the next pair to get a second chance at happiness in a A Twist In Time coming March 2010.