Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  Honey From the Lion

SERIES:  Love Across Time #2

AUTHOR:  Jackie North

PUBLISHER:  Blue Rain Press

LENGTH:  300 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 21, 2018

BLURB:  

Soulmates across time. A love that was meant to be.

In present day, Laurie, tired of corporate life, takes a much-needed vacation at Farthingdale Dude Ranch.

The very first night a freak blizzard combined with a powerful meteor shower takes Laurie back to the year 1891. When he wakes up in a snowbank, his only refuge is an isolated cabin inhabited by the gruff, grouchy John Henton, who only wants to be left alone. His sense of duty prevails, however, and he takes Laurie under his care, teaching him how to survive on the wild frontier.

As winter approaches, Laurie’s normal fun-loving manner make it difficult for him to connect with John, but in spite of John’s old-fashioned ways, the chemistry between them grows.

Sparks fly as the blizzard rages outside the cabin. Can two men from different worlds and different times find happiness together?

REVIEW:  

When a week’s vacation at a Dude Ranch turns into much more adventure than he planned for, Laurie quickly finds himself in over his head. Now, lost over a hundred years in the past, Laurie must find a way to fit into a world with very few modern conveniences or social understandings. It is only with the help of John Henton, the taciturn man who rescued Laurie from death-by-blizard, that he has any hope of survival. But John is thawing much more than just Laurie’s hands, which can cause all sorts of problems for both of them. Even if Laurie never makes it back home, can he ever hope to build a new one in this strange world?

Truth be told, if you tell me that the book has time travel, that is all you’ll ever really need to sell me on it. While I tend to prefer stories that land the protagonist in Victorian England, I’m not too terribly picky when it comes to time travel. Give me a story about some poor schmuck stuck in a place out of time, and I’ll probably be all for it.

That being said, I usually run 50/50 when it comes to whether I actually end up liking the story by the finish. I don’t really care for time travel stories where the author, through the main character, actively tries to do as little as humanly possible in order to preserve the timeline. I find those stories at best boring, if not constantly annoying. And you can never really be sure if that is the direction the author is going to take just by the blurb. So while I love time travel I always pick up new ones with a bit of hesitation.

That’s not what happened here though. Not only was I rather pleased with the outcome of the story, but there were large stretches of this book that had me so caught up in the story that I forgot to hold myself back. This isn’t a very plot heavy book, instead it relies on its two main characters to carry the weight of the story. John and Laurie pull this off magnificently. The way they play off each other is probably one of my favorite parts of this book. They mesh so well, even if their wildly differing personalities do sometimes clash, that a reader can easily get lost in their love story.

And I actually really appreciated the fact that the romance, instead of the time travel plot devise, was the main focus here. You never really forget that Laurie is from the 21st century, but the story doesn’t hit you over the head with it constantly. It comes up when needed, and ducks back into the background when it is less important. This is a story, ultimately, about two men who are wildly different falling in love…one of them just happens to be from the future.

Overall this was a very sweet and fun read. I’m still not really sure what the title has to do with the story, but that is hardly something I’m going to ding the book for. Because at the end of the day I enjoyed reading this and am probably going to go back and read the first one at some point. Very highly recommended.

RATING:  

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