12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A good book...but too jumpy, October 25, 2001
This review is from: A Tryst in Time (Timeswept) (Mass Market Paperback)
On Eugenia Riley's webpage, she has tips for suggestions on writing a time travel romance. I believe she should have listened to her own suggestions when developing a Tryst in Time.
Over all, the book was very good. The development of the characters was very good, and very believable. Even the descriptions Ms. Riley did of the houses in both eras were very good, I could almost feel myself there.
The novel begins when Sarah Jennings loses her brother during the Vietnam War. After a nervous breakdown, she inherits Belle Fontaine, a civil-war plantation, from an elderly family member she has never met. While meditating in the old crumbling manor house, she hears and sees a man from the past, Damien Fontaine.
She gets transported back in time to shortly after the death of Damien's brother, Vincy, who was also killed in a war -- The Civil War. Still reeling from the death of his beloved brother, Damien has sheltered himself away from the world, trying to deal with his grief.
The story is very interesting (I read this book in one day). The progression of Sarah and Damien's relationship is very fast, but very HOT. The love scenes leave you squirming in your seat, and the dynamic relationship between the two characters is very touching and most times leave you wishing you could travel back in time to meet Damien yourself.
The complaint I DO have about A Tryst in Time is the believability of the time travel itself. Traveling in time once is one thing. Maybe even traveling back once, getting thrown forward and maybe finding your way back is another. But in this book, Sarah travels back forth so often you must think there is some kind of spiritual revolving door. One of the aspects of time travel romances that most people love is that this is a freaky thing that doesn't happen every day, for some of Eugenia's characters, it is as normal as brushing your teeth. If you have read Eugenia Riley's Phantom in Time, the constant time traveling back in forth is just about the same in A Tryst in Time. That is the most distracting thing about this novel. Just when you're getting into the groove of Sarah and Damien, she jumps back to the future for a few days, then jumps back in the past. *grrr*
If you can get past the annoying revolving time travel part in the book, you will greatly enjoy yourself reading this novel. If you love a classic love story about true love lasting forever, this book is definitely worth a read. ...
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
A miss..., February 15, 2006
This review is from: A Tryst in Time (Timeswept) (Mass Market Paperback)
I've found that this author's stories are either jaw-droppingly good ("Tryst With an Angel", in Lovespell's 'Christmas Angels' anthology), or downright boring ("The Ghost of Christmas Past", in Lovespell's 'A Time-Travel Christmas' anthology).
This book was downright boring, in my opinion. I had to keep forcing my attention back to it, as it kept wandering. I kept waiting for it to "get started". This is supposed to be a romance novel, yet we don't even meet the hero for the first quarter of the book. If I'd wanted to read about a grieving woman learning to enjoy life again, I'd have bought a book of mainstream women's fiction. Is it unreasonable for me to expect ROMANCE in my romance novel?
Like another reviewer, I also found the 'revolving door' aspect of the time-travel to be annoying. Time travel is supposed to be something magical, and it isn't here. I've read lots of time-travel romance, and this one was not on par.
I will try other books by this author, as I know she is capable of writing something that I will love. But as for this book, I wouldn't recommend it.
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