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Beyond Forever is a book that instantly hooked me with its charming characters, began to lose me with its repetitive and often frustrating middle, but then picked up again with a heartwarming end.
Julia Fairfax arrives at Castle Dunmore in the Scottish Highlands with her orphaned niece and her grandmother and plans to spend the summer writing a romance novel. Desperately needing a good stretch after her long trip, she takes a walk among the cliffs and wanders a bit too far out before she realizes that a heavy fog has rolled in, making her return to the castle treacherous at best. Luckily, an arrogant hunk with a sexy Scottish burr pops up in the nick of time and leads her to safety.
Julia is immediately drawn to her rescuer, Gavin MacKinnon, and is more than a little disturbed by the attraction. He’s arrogant and sets her blood boiling, two big no-no’s in her book. After having had one traumatic experience too many, she’s holding out for a shy, reliable man with whom she can spend the rest of her life. But something draws her to Gavin (other than his good looks), and she can’t get him out of her mind after their encounter. Just when Julia’s resolve towards dating Gavin begins to weaken, he reveals that he’s a ghost who needs her to travel back in time to save his son (and his bloodline) from perishing. And Julia thought she was going to have a peaceful vacation!
Julia and Gavin spend the first third of the book getting to know each other and having a great time dealing with their frustrating sexual tension. They develop an easy banter and have all the beginnings of a tender, healing relationship in the works. Too bad he’s dead – sigh – because suddenly Julia is whisked back in time, 1818 to be exact, where she meets the breathing Gavin MacKinnon who is nowhere near as nice as the ghostly version. He’s been betrayed by a former wife, who withheld the fact that he had a son for seven years, and has decided that all woman want from him is his wealth. Naturally he has vowed never to trust one of the deceitful creatures again. It’s here that the ghostly Gavin is whisked out of the story. After 117 pages of getting to know him, this plot twist did not sit well with me!
Sadly, the flesh and blood Gavin, although just as sexy, simply isn’t as charming as the ghostly version. His wounds caused by his deceptive former wife are too fresh and his behavior towards Julia reflects it. His heart and body want her, but his head won’t allow it, and as a result, the two spend a huge portion of the book either lusting after one another or bickering. They also fall into bed after knowing each other for all of one fun-filled day of sniping at each other.
His internal dialogue on page 241 pretty much says it all about their relationship at this point: Even now he wanted her. Even now, when he knew she was a calculating little bitch. He still wanted her.
This kind of thing quickly becomes tedious. Fortunately, Gavin does show glimpses of good humor, tenderness, and self-doubt. The author does a good job describing these two as soul mates, so I really wanted to see how the author would give them their happily ever after.
The ending was sweet, touching and satisfying, and surprising. Still, a part of me wishes that the author had pursued the budding relationship between Julia and the kinder, gentler and wiser ghostly Gavin, magically making everything work out in 1999. Without the element of time travel, this would have been a better book.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Time Travel Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 18/12/99
Publication Date: 1999
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.