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Sapphire Dream is a time travel romance with an interesting, even (dare I say) believable premise. It’s a pleasant read, even if I occasionally found myself liking the idea of the book more than the actual book.
Brenna Cameron travels to Scotland at the age of 25 to fulfill a long ago promise to her aunt. She doesn’t really know or understand why she is there, but she hopes to find some answers. She remembers leaving Scotland as a child, and leaving behind her father – but she’s not sure why. Her only lead is that her departure had something to do with the Earl of Slains, so Brenna takes a tour of his castle, sneaks away from the group and confronts him. She is startled by his anger – and his contention that she was responsible for the burning of his castle 300 years ago. But Brenna’s surprises are only beginning; when she wakes up, she finds herself on what looks like an authentic pirate ship. While fighting off overly-enthusiastic sexual advances from the crew, Brenna is injured and brought to the captain’s cabin, where she is healed by a dwarf. The captain, Rourke Douglas, seems a little more civilized than the crew, but nonetheless Brenna starts plotting her escape.
There’s rather a lot of chasing and escaping in this book, but I’m getting ahead of myself. The gist of it is that Brenna has traveled to the late seventeenth century, more or less summoned by the dwarf with the aid of the sapphire she wears around her neck. Her destiny is intertwined with Rourke’s, and both of them have unfinished business with the (17th C) Earl of Slains. Before they can get to that, Brenna starts running. And before they can truly connect or understand each other properly, both of them are on the run from the Earl of Slains and his men. Most of the book consists of running, chasing, avoiding capture, etc. While they are doing this, they sort of fall in love, and start calling each other irritating nicknames, both of which I disliked (Pirate and Wildcat). They keep this up until the bitter end.
On top of this, Rourke has his own private demons. He has been away from his own home and family as long as Brenna has, and many of them believed he was dead. His actions in the past (all very spoilerish) have caused him to feel tremendous guilt, which he has avoided by sailing around the world. But just as Brenna must face her past and her destiny, so must he.
I really did enjoy the premise for this book. It’s well-thought out, and the answers, when they come, make sense. Time travel books often verge on the silly; it’s a risk you run when you’re writing a sub genre that is of its nature fantastical. I found the ideas and the concept interesting, which is really saying something. The characters aren’t really bad either; for the most part I liked them (though I did tire of Rourke and his guilt, which often deteriorates to self-pity). On the plus side, both find themselves able to accept the reality of time travel, and their reasons were well-explained.
My problems were more with the execution than anything else. I tired of the chasing early on, and thought Rourke and Brenna could really have benefited from more time alone – time to really fall in love. During all of this, I found the book really easy to put down, so it took me much longer than average to read. Eventually, they arrived at Rourke’s childhood home, and the book really improved at that point. I couldn’t help thinking that it would have been a better book had they arrived there sooner.
And this may be a somewhat personal quibble, but I think some character names are so tied to one fictional individual that they are virtually unusable elsewhere. As far as I am concerned, Roarke (however you want to spell it) is a 21st Century gazillionaire, married to New York City’s best cop.
That said, I tend to give big points for a good idea. This book clearly has some sequels in the mix, and I would be interested to see where Pamela Montgomerie goes with them – even if I can’t give Sapphire Dream an unqualified recommendation.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Time Travel Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 04/08/09
Publication Date: 2009
I've been at AAR since dinosaurs roamed the Internet. I've been a Reviewer, Reviews Editor, Managing Editor, Publisher, and Blogger. Oh, and Advertising Corodinator. Right now I'm taking a step back to concentrate on kids, new husband, and new job in law...but I'll still keep my toe in the romance waters.
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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.