- Paperback: 308 pages
- Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc. (Faery Rose) (August 23, 2011)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 1601549709
- ISBN-13: 978-1601549709
This book is also available as an e-book.
If you would like to win a copy of one of Ms. McBride's e-books be sure and leave a comment!
Publication Date: August 23, 2011
While on a genealogical research journey through the Midwest, Molly Hamilton impulsively buys a 100-year-old Victorian house in the middle of a cornfield, and falls in love with the house’s owner...the original owner, that is. Can he be a ghost? The handsome, intriguing attorney certainly feels solid—and somehow her soul knows she has always loved him. Darius Ferguson has no idea how he has come to present-day Iowa. The last thing he knew, the year was 1880, and he had just buried his fiancée, who happens to look exactly like Molly. He cannot separate the two women in his heart—to him, they are one. In spite of being drawn to him, Molly thinks Darius is unhinged. Darius wonders if he has joined his fiancée in purgatory. If time travel is possible, will love be enough to build a future together?
My take on this book:
It's the time of year when I really enjoy reading a good paranormal love story, and when the story has a unique twist then that's even better.
Can the pull of love be so strong that it can reach across the span of time? Well whether it can or not, Bess McBride certainly knows how to weave a story that certainly made me believe if just for the span of this book, that it certainly could!
Molly Hamilton and her sister Sarah, are researching family history. In their quest to learn about their ancestors they find themselves taking a trip to the midwest.When she and Sarah find themselves in a cemetery in Lilium, Iowa looking for their great-great-great grandparents graves Molly believes she hears someone say Molly, my love. When she hears the voice speak to her a few more times she wonders if she might be hearing things.When she has dreams later that night of a man in the cemetery she feels compelled to go back, thinking that she might have missed something.On her way back she notices an old run down Victorian House that she is drawn to, and once she gets to the cemetery she meets a man dressed in formal attire, a man who is calling her name. He says his name is Darrius Ferguson, and that she is his one true love. As she questions him further, she learns that he lived in the year 1880, and one of the last things he remembers is burying his one true love Molly. When she meets the owners of the Old Victorian House she decides on the spur of the moment to buy it after realizing it would give her a perfect view of the cemetery.Is Darrius a figment of her imagination, or does he really exist?
I loved, loved,loved this story! It flows so well, that I found myself reading it in a few hours. The characters are so believable, and whether a love can transcend time or not, the author certainly makes it seem very plausible in the pages of this book. Darrius had greived for his beloved Molly, and somehow she had come back to him.It was interesting to see Darrius learn about things in this century. I always enjoy when an animal is included in a story and with this one, there is Marmaduke and Sassy, Molly's cats. Overall I found this a very charming read!
It's the time of year when I really enjoy reading a good paranormal love story, and when the story has a unique twist then that's even better.
Can the pull of love be so strong that it can reach across the span of time? Well whether it can or not, Bess McBride certainly knows how to weave a story that certainly made me believe if just for the span of this book, that it certainly could!
Molly Hamilton and her sister Sarah, are researching family history. In their quest to learn about their ancestors they find themselves taking a trip to the midwest.When she and Sarah find themselves in a cemetery in Lilium, Iowa looking for their great-great-great grandparents graves Molly believes she hears someone say Molly, my love. When she hears the voice speak to her a few more times she wonders if she might be hearing things.When she has dreams later that night of a man in the cemetery she feels compelled to go back, thinking that she might have missed something.On her way back she notices an old run down Victorian House that she is drawn to, and once she gets to the cemetery she meets a man dressed in formal attire, a man who is calling her name. He says his name is Darrius Ferguson, and that she is his one true love. As she questions him further, she learns that he lived in the year 1880, and one of the last things he remembers is burying his one true love Molly. When she meets the owners of the Old Victorian House she decides on the spur of the moment to buy it after realizing it would give her a perfect view of the cemetery.Is Darrius a figment of her imagination, or does he really exist?
I loved, loved,loved this story! It flows so well, that I found myself reading it in a few hours. The characters are so believable, and whether a love can transcend time or not, the author certainly makes it seem very plausible in the pages of this book. Darrius had greived for his beloved Molly, and somehow she had come back to him.It was interesting to see Darrius learn about things in this century. I always enjoy when an animal is included in a story and with this one, there is Marmaduke and Sassy, Molly's cats. Overall I found this a very charming read!
Here is a sneak peek at the story:
“Molly, wait!”
I froze in place for a moment. It was definitely a man under the tree though I couldn’t see his face...and he knew my name.
“Do I know you?” I called in an unsteady voice. It seemed, though, as if my words were taken by the wind. Who was this man? And how did he know my name?
He moved away from the tree with a tentative step. His clothing was formal—a dark suit and white shirt—as if he had just been to a funeral. I hadn’t remembered seeing a canopy for a funeral on the grounds, but I wasn’t about to take my eyes off the stranger for one instant to confirm that suspicion.
I thought I saw a flash of white teeth from under his dark mustache, but he was still some distance away. Golden highlights in his chestnut hair caught the sunlight, and my mouth dropped open. He was undoubtedly one of the most handsome men I had ever seen in my life. My stomach rolled over at the sight of him, though not with admiration of his good looks. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead, and I put my hand to my mouth as if to hold back the morning’s breakfast...if I’d had any.
For here—in the flesh—was the man of my dreams. Not just any dreams. More specifically, my dreams of the previous evening. Yet I couldn't for the life of me remember ever seeing him before until this moment.
“Be careful what you wish for,” I muttered behind the hand that covered my face.
“Molly, don’t be afraid. I can see that you are. I don’t want to frighten you.” He took another step forward and held his hands up palms out...as if to show me he wasn't armed, I thought hysterically, or to calm me down. Either way, it wasn’t working.
About the author:
Bess McBride made her first serious writing attempt when she was 14. She shut herself up in her bedroom one summer while obsessively working on a time travel/pirate novel set in the beloved Caribbean of her youth, but she wasn't able to hammer it out on a manual typewriter (oh yeah, she's that old) before it was time to go back to school. The draft of that novel has long since disappeared, but the story is still simmering within, and she will finish the adventure one day soon.
Bess was born in Aruba to American parents and lived in Venezuela until her family returned to the United States when she was 12. She couldn't fight the global travel bug within and joined the U.S. Air Force at 18 to "see the world." After 21 wonderful and fulfilling years traveling the world and gaining one beautiful daughter, she pursued her dream of finally getting a college education. With a license in mental health therapy, she worked with veterans and continues to work on behalf of veterans. She writes romantic suspense, contemporary, light paranormal/fantasy and time travel romances and currently has eight novels published. She can be contacted through her web site at http://www.bessmcbride.com.
Connect with Ms. McBride @ her
On to the giveaway!
Bess will be giving away the winner's choice of a backlist eBook to one commenter at every stop, and a $25 Amazon gift card to one random commenter during the tour.
Be sure and leave a comment, for your chance to win!
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Thank you so much for the review, Brenda. It was lovely, really lovely. I have a few quirks in my writing, and one of them is trying to incorporate family names from genealogical research of my ancestors. In this case, Darius was a great-great uncle, a Union Civil War veteran, who traveled from Vermont to Wisconsin to Iowa, and spent his remaining years in Wyoming in the 1800s. I was able to visit his grave in Wyoming, and I just love his name. Ferguson was my great-great grandmother's maiden name, and her father was from Ireland. It's just a small way I can pay homage to my ancestors. :-) During my genealogical travels throughout the Midwest, I did in fact find a rather magical cemetery in a small town in Iowa just as I describe in "Across the Winds of Time," as well as an old dilapidated Victorian house-both of which are central to the story.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for hosting me. I'll pop back in tomorrow.
Bess McBride :-)
Bess, stories about cemeteries fascinate me to no end, there is so much history that often goes untold. I have to ask what it was that you found so magical about the cemetery in Iowa, and I have to know whether you got to peek inside the Victorian house? Thank you so much for writing such a wonderful story. I am certainly going to be reading more of your work.
DeleteNo, I didn't get to look in the Victorian house, Brenda. The cemetery seemed special to me because of the tall firs blowing in the wind, it's location on the top of the hill overlooking undulating fields of corn and the wind blowing up from the valleys. I'm a sucker for wind. I love the sound of wind in the trees.
DeleteThanks again for hosting me and for the lovely review!
Bess
I am sure all your travels have really enriched you as an author since you have the ability to create a wide variety of different scenes. Thanks for sharing the novel. Also it is really sweet that you encorporated family names into the book, what a great idea
ReplyDeletefencingromein at hotmail dot com
Hi Shannon! Yes, my travels have been my life. I'm not sure that I'm not party gypsy! :-) Thanks for stopping by Brenda's blog and commenting. :-)
DeleteBess
I really enjoyed the review. I mean I REALLY loved it. I can't tell you how much I want to read this story. It sounds wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for visiting MomJane, I hope you get a chance to read it, because it was such a wonderful read.
DeleteMomJane! You always say the nicest things. It was a lovely review from Brenda, wasn't it? :-) Thanks for stopping by her blog today!
DeleteBess
Very nice review.
ReplyDeletebn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)Com
Your review just confirmed what I thought. I'm looking forward to reading ACROSS THE WINDS OF TIME.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com