Marian is a research scientist who shares a common goal with her father: find a cure for a genetic illness that took her mother and now threatens her sister, Ellen. But her father's solution isn't one that a serious scientist such as Marian can countenance. He believes the cure lies with the life-giving properties of the lost seeds from the Tree of Life; the very same tree that grew in the mythical Garden of Eden. His research into old legends had caused him to believe that several seeds from the Tree were secreted away centuries ago but somehow influenced springs that became known for bestowing miracle cures. Unfortunately, the last miracle cures 'dried up' a couple centuries earlier. But, amazingly, he manages to find (read: steal) a historical artifact that may have held the holy water from a spring in England. And then he lapses into a coma.
Marian travels to England to try and discover what happened to her father, with the assistance of long-time friend Harrison. Someone else is interested in what happened to her father, Arthur; his apartment ransacked and Marian herself mugged outside her father's bank. In his bank safe deposit box, Marian found an antique flask, an ampulla which were used to sell holy water cures in the medieval ages, and notes on his research. She and Harrison come to the inescapable conclusion that the flask had actually contained a drug, if you will, that transported Arthur to the medieval ages. Curious, Marian tasted the dregs left in the flask and instantly experienced a transition to Harrison's estate as it was hundreds of years earlier. She had an unexpected encounter with a fascinating man; an obvious warrior with blue eyes. Later that night, resting in a bedroom on the estate, she experienced that brief transition again, and again encountering the same man.
Further examination of Arthur's research papers yielded a clue that something might be hidden in a crypt at a local church; a church that was centuries old. Indeed, Marian did find two more flasks…and these were full…and a hundreds-of-years-old Rolex. While in the church, Marian and Harrison were attacked and Harrison kidnapped.
Marian then got word that her father's body had finally died. Desperate to save him, she could only think to use one of the flasks to see if it would bring him back. Unfortunately, it had no effect. Now, left with just one flask, she was torn by indecision. Obviously, she should use the remaining flask to cure her sister but…she could see an opportunity to use the water to travel back in time, save her father and find more holy water. And, obviously, that is what she did.
Living in medieval times wasn't something Marian could have prepared herself for. Almost immediately, she was robbed and beaten; and then saved by the same man she'd encountered before, William Durham. And then, in tried-and-true fashion, she is threatened with a forced marriage to a brutal man; and then saved, of course, by marriage to the handsome and well-sculpted Will Durham.
Before she had left, she wrote a letter to her sister with details of all she discovered and a promise to deliver two more full flasks to the hiding place in the crypt in one week. She left instructions that one ampulla be used to bring her back from the past and one was for Ellen. But events in the past did not lend themselves to that promised timeline and Marian was both frantic to find the holy water, convince Will that she had to return to the church, and reconcile herself to leaving Will…forever.
This is an unabashed romance colored with elements of time travel and fantasy. But a romance, all the same. For what it is, it was a fine romance. Not really my cuppa but I could appreciate what the author was after. Marian was a fun character to get to know and Will was sufficiently described as to make any self-professed lover of romances swoon. But, thankfully, the story was not overflowing with purple prose; the author showed admirable restraint in her description of Will and their romantic encounters.
And the end was pretty much as I expected it to be; leaving plenty of room for a sequel. ~~ Catherine Book
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