Out of Time: A Paranormal Romance: 1 [Tapa blanda]

Kindle is opening my horizons and Out of Time is a great example of the wonderful treasures you can find if you get lucky. Despite the 'paranormal romance' subtitle, Out of Time is really more of a time travel romance with a paranormal complication as part of the conflict than an actual paranormal romance, since neither of the leads go bump in the night, but it is a really good time travel romance.

An accidental trip to the past, lands Professor Simon Cross and his graduate Assistant Elizabeth West in New York during the summer of 1929. Being stranded out of time with only each other to rely on, allows the unacknowledged attraction between the pair to come to light and I enjoyed the way their relationship slowly -and steamily - builds into something more. (For those concerned with sensuality level, Simon and Elizabeth's relationship does become physical and the first love scene is descriptive but not as detailed as most main stream paranormal romance and nowhere near the paint-by-numbers descriptions of the more erotic stuff.)

All of the characters in Out of Time are interesting and fully fleshed with interesting back stories - even the supporting characters. But I really loved Simon and Elizabeth. The pair couldn't be more different. From a moneyed background, Simon is a man who has held himself back from life and relationships with all of their messy complications, so the accidental trip to the past pulls him way out of his comfort zone. Elizabeth's upbringing was almost on the opposite end of the spectrum, but she genuinely likes people and has a talent for relating to others, so she approaches their `ordeal' as an adventure and an opportunity to experience first hand all that this era has to offer.

Simon of course wants to be careful not to make ripples in time. But since they have to survive until they hopefully will be returned home, Elizabeth wins and they both find jobs and end up immersed in 1920's life - the trials and entertainments of the prohibition era itself add an interesting flavor to their story. But survival is going to be more than just making ends meet until it's time to go home. Simon's prescient nightmares and a more than human monster who has set his sights on Elizabeth, add an element of peril to the tale and provide the means to bring about an ending that takes the whole time travel part of the story full circle, which I always enjoy - it just ties things off so neatly.

So I am happy to have stumbled on Out of Time and if it were paper and not pixels it would be going on my keeper pile - I guess I'll have to start a virtual one. But in any case, I certainly will be keeping an eye out for more from author Monique Martin.

Time travel! YAY!
Simon Cross, a professor of occult studies, and his graduate student, Elizabeth, find themselves mysteriously transported to 1929. In order to figure how to get back, they have to figure out how they found themselves transported through time in the first place. Living under the pretense that they're a married couple, they find employment at a speakeasy and start making friends. It's interesting to see how the past and the present are both similar yet so very different and how the characters react to the differences.

If this had been a purely time travel story, I think I would have liked it more. About half-way through the story, vampires suddenly make an appearance. I found it rather spoiled the mood for me. It's not that I don't like vampire stories, but the fact that it wasn't a part of the story all along was a little jarring.

Fans of vampire stories, detective fiction and sci fi will love this taut, time-crossing, fantasy thriller. There is a great sexual chemistry between the story's Indiana Jones-meets-Dr. Who protagonist and his lady love and fellow adventurer as they battle a sinister vampire crime boss while struggling to meet a tight deadline--their only chance to return to their own time from which they were suddenly and unexpectedly catapulted. A fast paced adrenaline ride with twists and turns and snappy dialogue told with wit and verve.