Cara Patterson

Time travel with all its pitfalls and potential paradoxes has been known to do my head in, but that is not what made this novel so emotionally exhausting – yet extremely worthwhile - to read. What got to me instead were the carefully drawn characters and the emotions involved as Dieter, a British out-and-proud linguist from 2041, and Janos, an almost-killed Hungarian soldier from WW2, meet and get to know each other. There are so many reasons why they should never have met, and even more show more obstacles of all kinds when they do, that I wasn’t sure they’d make it. Then, in the last third of the novel, the author threw me a curveball of epic proportions and the situation looked very dire indeed. This book is an emotional wringer of the first order, an action/adventure that made me bite my nails, and a thoughtful and thought-provoking story about the difficulties of overcoming fear, prejudice, and cross-cultural boundaries.

Janos is a Hungarian soldier who joined a war he does not believe in so he could hide the truth about his sexual orientation. He has seen more than one of his friends and lovers tortured and killed for loving men, and he figures the best place to hide is in plain sight. Except then his comrades turn on him, and Janos runs – right into a time portal and a world he has no idea how to navigate.

Dieter is a historian and linguist for the Temporal Research Institution, a neutral entity set up to research and verify a range of historical events under a strict code of noninterference. Dieter is not an active agent, not trained to go on missions, but he is the one who briefs the agents who do travel back. He helps them be inconspicuous, and he also knows what documents or events to look for. Imagine his surprise when a soldier stumbles through the gateway – one who looks utterly shocked, does not speak English, and is armed to his teeth. Dieter is the only one in the building who speaks Hungarian, and he decides to try to save the man’s life even though he is scared out of his wits.

From this first meeting, where Dieter and Janos manage to agree on a truce so Janos can receive medical attention, these two men have a rapport that slowly develops into friendship. Both of them soon want more, but Dieter is conscious of the noninterference rules, even though Janos can stay in the future because he was minutes away from death where/when he came from, and Janos is way too scared to admit he is attracted to a man. Despite all the evidence to the contrary Janos discovers as he learns about a future he could never have imagined, he cannot trust the evidence he finds, not for a very long time.

I loved the slow and careful way Dieter and Janos get to know each other. Janos needs to find a new role for himself, and as he gradually begins to understand his new situation and how his talents and historical perspective can help the TRI, he gains self-confidence and a new zest for life. Dieter spends half his time holding back and trying to figure out how he can help Janos without falling even deeper in love. Between the two of them there is enough angst to fill three novels, but I think that every single moment is worth it in the end.

If you like time travel – intelligently done, if you prefer to read about the human consequences of interfering with the past rather than the exact technical details of how everything works, and if you’re looking for a read that is both an intensely emotional love story and a thoughtful analysis of the consequences of messing with time, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s one of the best stories about the human side of time travel that I have ever read.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspiner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. show less

This book is part of the Out Of Time series by C.B. Lewis, but don’t worry if you’re not caught up, this title can be read as a stand-alone. I haven’t read the rest of the series, but I have a feeling I will be reading it now.

Let me start with the characters. I loved Danny! He’s a Scotsman through and through. He’s a coder by trade and resorts to a bit of a drink when he needs to loosen up his brain and work on a puzzle. He’s open, caring and nurturing, funny and I adored him. show more Early on in the book, he accepts a lucrative short-term contract to work on a very secretive project solving a coding mystery.

When Danny arrives at his posting, he meets the man in charge, Lysander O’Donahue. Lysander is another very interesting character! He is all reserved strength and confidence behind his desk but has a tendency to carry too much weight on his shoulders.

Time Turns is a mystery of sorts. Set in the future, when time travel is tightly controlled and inspires awe in most people … it seems that someone is trying to undermine the Temporal Research Institute. Someone has been altering the coding behind the Institute’s work and Danny has been assigned to work out the mystery.

The longer Danny works at the Institute, the closer he gets to Lysander. They have a lovely relationship. Lysander seems to thrive off the nurturing spirit of Danny’s soul… and at the same time craves the control that Danny surrenders to him at times. They’re a very interesting pair because of their differences and the way that they relate to one another. I liked the ease they were quick to find in each other’s presence.

There are a couple of things that stand out… in that they don’t stand out. SPOILER COMING (in a way) Let’s see, about 1/3 of the way into the story, Lysander discloses that he is a Trans man. I say … it’s a spoiler in a way… because it’s just NOT that big a deal. I freaking loved that! Trans is just something that is part of who Lysander is… and Danny doesn’t really react to it at all. It’s just… something that is. THANK YOU, C.B. Lewis! Hopefully, we won’t all have to wait until 2065 to get that kind of inclusion.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it as many times as I’m able to… Queer isn’t the point of this novel… it’s just something that some of the characters happen to be. show less

‘Time Lost’ is the second book in the ‘Out of Time’ series, set three years after the first volume ended. It is now 2044, the Temporal Research Institute is still working on researching past events, and Dieter and Janos have become an established team working in different departments. The focus of this sequel is the mystery of the institute leader’s disappearance, and the two men who are most closely involved in figuring out what happened. Jacob is a police detective who has no show more idea what minefield he has stumbled into with this case, and Kit is one of the lead engineers who works on the time portal technology but gets pulled into trying to figure out what new project Sanders, the vanished leader, was working on. This novel is full of incredible challenges, moral dilemmas, decisions that lead to potential disaster, and a well constructed and intriguing time travel-related mystery that defies description. You have to read it to believe it!

Jacob is an excellent police detective, but this case has him confused from the beginning. Of course, as an outsider, he has no idea time travel exists and what the TRI is up to, but he isn’t stupid. The questions just keep piling up, he is sure the TRI people he talks to are hiding something, and then there’s Kit, the quirky engineer they send to help him figure out the cybernetic eye they found on the dead intruder. Jacob is interested from the moment they meet, and despite the rules against getting involved with people who are part of an ongoing investigation, Jacob falls right into bed with Kit.

Kit just wants to work on the technology of the time portal, and when Sanders vanishes, he is shocked. But it isn’t just the loss of a mentor he respected that has him worried, it’s the fact that he is suddenly right in the middle of trying to solve a crime while not allowed to tell anyone outside the institute what they are really up to. Kit is also extremely attracted to the older detective, and pushes for more without thinking about the consequences.

Kit and Jacob are in so much trouble from the very start. Initially Kit tries to help Jacob solve the case as much as he can, but there isn’t much he can do. Jacob tries to hold back because he knows that if he gets caught sleeping with Kit his career is over – yet he can’t stay away from him because Kit is the only engineer who can deal with the extremely advanced technology they keep finding. The emotional push and pull, the back-and-forth in their developing relationship is intense, and added to the increasingly complicated mystery this made for quite an exciting read. To see the human side to time travel, once again, presented in such stark terms was heartbreaking and fascinating at the same time.

If you like time travel and the associated headaches that seem to come with it, if you’re interested in the human side of what happens when you start to mess with time – no matter how careful you are, and if you’re looking for a read that is an intensely emotional love story and a fascinating mystery with lots of clues and an unexpected resolution, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s a great story, and I can’t wait to see what happens next!


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. show less

Privacy is something most of us take for granted, at least where our personal lives are concerned. I know I’d never miss mine unless it was threatened – and then I’m sure I’d realize quite quickly that it is a treasure to be protected, especially when it comes under attack. Lack of privacy is something celebrities and politicians face on a daily basis, but how they deal with it varies from person to person.

The two main characters of this novel, Army vet Jack and aristocrat Edward, show more are both in the public eye, if for different reasons, and have accepted it as part of what they do. But when they become involved and their relationship might be exposed with adverse consequences for the work they do, it is a different matter. This novel is the story of not just their romance, but also their dilemma: will they deny what is going on, break up, and continue their charitable work or will they accept living their life in the public eye so they can be together. Not an easy decision in any circumstances, but it is far more stressful since they have to make it while the press haunts them and public pressure almost crushes them.

Jack is an Army veteran, has dealt with addiction, and has found new purpose working for Those Returned, a charity for veterans. He is just trying to do the decent thing, helping those who have fallen on harder times than he did, and he is excellent at it. Good enough to have garnered a reputation with the press, and for his boss to send him to gala events so he can collect much-needed donations. When he is tasked with “recruiting” a celebrity aristocrat for their cause, he not only captures the man’s financial contribution, but his personal attention, interest, and dedication as well.

Edward is an aristocrat, has dedicated his life to charitable work, and is used to living in the public eye. His carefully constructed public persona has almost nothing in common with the man he is underneath the cover, and that is exactly how he wants it. Meeting Jack and falling for him is not part of the plan, but Edward will not deny his feelings either. While coming out was never Edward’s intention, lying about who he is, now that he has a man to love, is not in Edward’s character. I loved how steadfast he is, how undeterred by a situation he never envisaged.

The secondary characters deserve mention as well. Edward’s parents are wonderfully eccentric English aristocrats in the traditional sense and not phased by much. Jack’s boss is supportive, knows what he wants, and just the right man to run the charity and keep Jack occupied. The villain is a truly hateful individual and I was tempted to strangle him more than once – which is as it should be. The setting of contemporary England was utterly believable, and the relentlessness of the paparazzi exactly as I have seen it play out multiple times over the years.

If you like stories about men from different worlds who meet and need to figure out how to live together, if you enjoy a suspenseful, exciting contemporary story that carries a touch of fairy tale magic (gorgeous “prince” included), and if you’re looking for a heartwarming read about amazing men who have to fight for the right to live their lives the way they choose, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s going in the reread file for sure.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. show less