This is starting out pretty nice. Reminds me somewhat of [b:Fire of the Dragon|17838247|Fire of the Dragon (Bestiary Series, #1)|Lori Dillon|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1366640203s/17838247.jpg|24961405] that is stylewise there are no dragons (as of yet?)

Free on Kindle 2015 22/02http://www.amazon.com/Tales-Traveler-Hemlock-Travel-Romance-ebook/dp/B00JZK3VLQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1424642476&sr=8-1&keywords=traveler hemlock

I feel like my rating of this book is higher than it would be normally. Recently came off of reading a few 1 or 2 star books and I REALLY wanted something fun and easy that I know would entertain me. And that's what reading is for right? At least for me.

This was NOT Outlander, which I loved. *But*, I did enjoy this book, much to my dismay.

Things I liked:
-The general story. It started out borrowing from Outlander quite a bit (which annoyed me slightly), but after she finally makes it back in time, the story can stand on its own.
-The supporting characters were great and I enjoyed the character of the main guy.
-The writing was decent. For a self-published book, I thought the editing was really good, too. Her descriptions were immersive, although she did use a few phrases a few times too many (can't think of what they were off the top of my head).

Things I didn't like:
-I wished there was more depth to Martha's character - she often acted like a 21 year old rather than a person who was almost 30. I never felt very attached to her POV sections (told in 3rd person, though). Her personality was one I resonated with and I found her kind of juvenile. She didn't really grow much, emotionally. She DID realize some things that made her move on, but it wasn't something that changed her.
-The names were weird; especially the main interest. I still couldn't get into his name and didn't really know how to say it (VA-dum / Vuh-DEEM?). Wasn't exactly a name I'd associate with a typical romance, but that's just me. Also, Martha's name was a bit too mid-20th-century for me to believe she was 29 in the 21st century with a smart phone. I suspect the author chose that name so she'd fit in a bit better in the middle ages.
-We we never told exactly WHEN this was. This is not something that was a big deal, but I like knowing the context. "Medieval Times" (aka the Middle Ages), was a LONG period; about 1000 years. I'd love to know if this was closer to the year 400 or to 1400. I want to estimate between 1000-1200, but I could be way off. I'm not an expert in this time period, but I feel like it wasn't so close to 1400's. The late 1400's is when the Tudor reign started, for reference. I do not think it was too near this time.

Besides that, it followed usual things that these types of books do, but I enjoyed the story so much as well as the sub-characters, I didn't put it down and finished it in 2 days (with about 8 hours of reading, probably). ( )

Thank you to Anne for the recommendation.

Well, this had the unfortunate timing of being read after an amazing 5 star read, it probably only had a hope of paling in comparison.

It kind of felt and read like slight Outlander fan fiction; the author got inspired after reading Outlander and tried to craft a story like it. The world the heroine time travels to is like a medieval Europe but suppose to be a different dimension. I'm not really sure because it is not truly explained. Honestly, it gives the feeling that the author wanted to set it in a medieval time period but didn't want to do research and work to make it feel authentic.
The characters and main couple's relationship felt shallow and while this ends on a cliffhanger, I think I'm going to stop here. ( )

This book started out strong. Yet, as it got closer and closer to the end, it fell into a melodramatic soup that it never really escaped from. So a bit mixed on this one.

I liked our main heroine, Martha, for the most part. She’s feisty and thinks on her feet. Where another girl could get caught up in the whole “transported to another world” thing and have a melt-down, she keeps her head and comes up with plans and strategies to survive and make a life for herself. Sometimes her actions are not as well thought out as they could be, but she does stuff! Not your normal damsel in distress here.

I liked that the world felt real enough. We didn’t get to explore more than a medieval village or Edgeway but what we got was very detailed and nice to go through. I got enough of a vibe of medieval to make the setting believable. The people that inhabited those settlements also added depth to both the setting and story.

I also enjoyed the romance. It wasn’t immediate love; it developed over a space of weeks and months. There was an immediate attraction, but the relationship took time to get on the level of romance. That gave it an air of believability which I enjoyed.

Where this story started to lose itself was when melodrama reared its ugly head. At one point, Vadim seems to think that Martha is a traitor, agent of the Evil Earl, out of nowhere. The only thing this may have come from was that she was coming from the direction that the Earl was in. I mean, really?!?! That’s all it took to trip Vadim’s “untrust” meter?? Better not be traveling from the direction the Earl is in, folks! Means you’re in cahoots with him!

It only went downhill from there. Alternately, Martha or Vadim would assume that one party was thinking one thing and so act in illogical or stupid ways. Many times, this led to life threatening situations or the Earl getting onto them. These two could do with a serious case of “communication”, pronto! And don’t get me started on the whole “Evil” Earl thing…. I mean, did it need to be capitalized EVERY time?? You know what, I think this is our bad guy!! *eye roll*

So starting out well but finishing with a whimper, this book had its ups and downs. I enjoyed certain elements but found the overall air of melodrama tiring. I’m interested enough in maybe reading the second book someday, but I’m not heading out right away to buy it. Still, not a bad effort for a first time author. I hope she grows more and produces more works.

Note: Book received for free from author via GoodReads FirstReads giveaway in exchange for an honest review. ( )

An exciting read

Martha is a perfectly average modern woman who wakes up in a foreign land and era. Vadim is the leader of a band of outlaws, running from one danger to another when he happens upon a very strange woman near death. A very interesting and well written story, I look forward to starting the next book in the series. ( )