
Forever, Lately; A Regency Time Travel Romance by author Linore Rose Burkard brings us the character of author Claire Channing, a moderately successful Regency Romance writer who has struggled with her last two books. Living in her missing grandmother’s, deserted cottage in Maine, Claire is determined that this time she will write the Regency Romance of the century and cement her reputation as one of the best in the genre. When strange things begin appearing around her cottage and she finds an old, beautiful shawl belonging to her grandmother, Claire suddenly finds herself swept away into the past, back to 1816, to be exact, where to her astonishment she appears to be inside her own novel. When she meets the hero from her book, Julian St. John, she slowly comes to the realization that perhaps this is all real and her characters truly are historical figures from 1816. After returning to the current day, Claire does some research and discovers, to her horror, that Julian St. John, according to the history books is about to be tragically killed in a coach accident a few weeks from when she was transported to. Claire knows she has to do whatever is within her power to stop this occurring and thus begins the first real adventure of Claire Channing’s short life, to date.
It’s often hard to find a new angle for a time-travel adventure but author Linore Rose Burkard has certainly hit on one with her novel, Forever, Lately; A Regency Time Travel Romance. As a reader, I appreciated the novelty of the approach and enjoyed the intricate and often unexpected time shifts. The author successfully, it seems, managed the time-travel paradox well and the story flowed fast and smooth. The characters were both believable and well-developed. I particularly liked the antagonist Clarissa who gave the story that darkness and tension that even a good romance requires. Claire, as a modern woman, thrown into an alien society, albeit one she thought she knew extremely well through her writing, was both strong and independent as any good, leading lady character should be but was well-rounded enough to still feel the need for romance and the electricity between her and the good gentleman, Mr. St. John was a highlight of the read for me. My only gripe about the story would be the length of the chapters; in my opinion they were just way too short and didn’t allow the reader to settle into and relax in a scene before a jolting chapter end stop. That having been said, this story was an excellent read and one I really enjoyed and can highly recommend.
