Managed to finish this audiobook with a lot of fast forwarding. Some interesting elements in the foundation story but far too many plot holes and too much...well, too much book. ( )

My rating for this book is 1.5, so I will round it up to 2 stars. Where can I start? I will not say I hate it because I did not. However, I did find my mind wondering on the episodes of Mrs. Browns Boys that I wanted to watch next.
I never review book for grammar, punctuation, choice of POV, or the authors choice of voice. Please stop reading here because I will give Spoilers.

This story was stuffed like a Christmas turkey with different genera characteristics. I do not know how to categorize this book. Is this a historical fiction? Is it a paranormal fantasy? It has time travel, but also romance. It was like a chuck-full-o-nuts cereal. If I were to classify the characters as chess pieces, they all moved like a Queen. I could not believe the muddle of disparity. The title made little sense, but okay, I overlooked it.

How does this book start? I am thrown speck in the middle of the story. Allison was overwhelmed on a modern road, shocked and lost. My first impression, this is when she arrived in the modern world. But no, I spent a few paragraphs just like Allison in confusion. When she goes on about her work and sex life, then a realize, nope this old Alison. My next reaction is What the fudge? By the way, I am a Veteran, more comfortable with Soldiers, Marines, and Sailors. So, I keep reading, but I am taken to the past. There the story is less confusing. But then when we jump back to the future, I get lost without a compass.

For now, Let’s take Mary and Alison. If they dislike each how they become friends to the point to make a promise for one to look for the other’s son?
I wasn’t sure if Alison was aware, she was going to time travel. That point made me cringe a little, and if she wanted to take her son with her, why go without him in the first place? Okay, she got stuck. A woman from the 16 century raised in the culture of the 16 century, how was she going to survive with a child in an unknown place? I am to believe she is ignorant. She has an illegitimate child, that is a big sin at the time, but the best part is that Arthur is a time traveler also, and turned into a virtuous man that traveled to the 1800s. And do not let me start with Alex and his all easy acceptance of time travel.

Let me move forward because I am getting annoyed with this story. Diane, which just happened to be the one therapist in the WORLD who has ever worked and treated time travelers, is this down to earth believer of the whole thing. Really? Hello, the woman is dying, off course. To make this story even more out of this world, “wait this is where the Paranormal comes to play,” the therapist comes back as a spirit, not to mention that Mary has a psychic connection to an evil weirdo.

My goodness, it took me a while to read this story, and as I said, I did not hate it. I did not love it either. I love time travel stories when they make sense, but this one gave me headaches, specially when I was reading stuff from modern times. I will not reread it. I will only recommend it if you are a fan of miss Nicola Cornick.
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Wow, this book pulls you in from the first page. I love historical fiction with multiple time lines and a mystery to solve. Nicola Cornick is one of my favorite authors. Great characters and I felt immersed in the time period. Could not put this one down. Highly recommend and 5 stars. ( )

Wow, this book pulls you in from the first page. I love historical fiction with multiple time lines and a mystery to solve. Nicola Cornick is one of my favorite authors. Great characters and I felt immersed in the time period. Could not put this one down. Highly recommend and 5 stars.
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More on Chill and read

I thought I would not like time travel stories, but it seems that ever since I listened to Outlander, I became very fond of them. History was always one of my favorite subjects and the going back to the sixteenth century is very welcome to me!
Out of the blue, Alison Bannister comes across a portrait of a young lady she thought long gone. The antique shop claims it to be the portrait of Anne Boleyn, the Tudor Queen. But Alison knows better. This is Mary Seymour, the daughter of Queen Katherine Parr, former wife of Henry VIII, with her second husband. Alison knows Mary very well, as she had to share her bedchamber with her, when she arrived at Wolf Hall, more than four hundred years ago.
Mary's painting is the key to the connection with the past. They had made a pact before Alison comes to the future and she is certain that Mary has kept her part of the bargain and the answer awaits her. All she needs to do now, is to find what Mary left for her. The way to reunite her with what she left in her own time, back in the past.
The fact is that Thomas Seymour and Katherine Parr had a daughter, Mary, who is nowhere to be found in the history books, past the age of two and so she has presumably passed away in such an early age. There is a theory that Mary lived longer than that, but there is no strong evidence to support it. Nicola Cornick bases her book in this second theory and creates a whole life for Mary Seymour. The girl is to be transferred to Wolf Hall upon the death of her father; her mother already gone by then. In this house of relatives, Mary gets to know Alison, a very beautiful girl, and they love to hate each other. All that, till the time that things get ugly and they have to help one another. Alison gets pregnant and Mary is accused of witchcraft as she has visions of the future. Their only hope is to be transferred to another relative's manor until they are married. Somehow Alison travels to the future and she stays there, but not before she has given birth to her child and it is taken away from her. Now she has to find a way to get back to her son, but she cannot travel back to her time.
The writing was so compelling I could not put it down. I regret I haven't read it earlier. Cornick knows very well how to describe a scene to make you feel part of it. She can transfer you back and forth in time and you won't be confused at all. I was able to see Wolf Hall and Middlecotte in my mind as if I was there myself. I could feel Mary's and Alison's feelings, their heart beating as if I were them. That is one very well written book! ( )