Waltz In Time by Eugenia Riley

I joined a site called Book Machine which allows me to get free books in return for reviews. My first book was a pleasing surprise. Here is my five star review of it

First let me say that I’m a Time Travel buff. It is my favourite genre. So when I got the opportunity to read Waltz in Time I jumped at it. And I wasn’t disappointed.

This is a well written, deeply involving story about family love. It has ghosts as well as time travel, and a lot of history about Natchez Post-Civil War, an era I find fascinating.

Stephanie is a widow who settles in the house her great-aunt left her and her sister. But her aunt hasn’t moved on after her death, in fact she’s haunting Stephanie, along with the ghosts of a bunch of children and a governess who plays the violin badly. Our heroine finally agrees to help the restless spirits find peace, but doesn’t realise that involves going back in time to do it.

At first I really didn’t like the ‘scamp’, (the use of this word intensified the childishness of the hero for me,) Andre, whose children Stephanie has come back to help. Yes, he’s gorgeous, but he really is a player of the worst kind, and irresponsible as well. So it was easy to support Stephanie’s stand to reject his none-too-subtle attempts at seduction. But the more he fell under her spell, the more I fell under his. Although I’d never call him one of my favourite fictional heroes, I came to like him and wanted the couple to find happiness together.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, especially the children, who quite stole my heart. I stayed up late at night reading to find out what happened next, and it was a wonderful world to escape to.

If there was one criticism, it was that Stephanie took to life in the 19th Century too easily. Except for one comment about the chair commode and a few modern terms drifting into her language, she was remarkably adept at adapting to this very different era. She even commented that wearing boys clothes was odd but liberating. Does that mean she never wore jeans in the modern world? For this reason, this was more historical romance than time-travel, which I still enjoyed immensely.

So if you’re looking for an easy, relaxing, escapist romance that warms your heart, whether you’re into time travel on not, then this is for you. I will definitely be looking for other books by this author.