A Blast to the Past

Rating:
Summary: Very well done!
Review: Bombs are not normally creative, but a blast from one creates a new life and new hope in this tale. Brian Skelley rockets back from the present day to the days of Braveheart in Scotland. The ancient Scots are not sure what this sooty, burned man is. He might be an English Sassenach, and a danger. On the other hand, he could be one of the Wallace's men, and as such would help get rid of the English.

Brian at first, of course, can't believe he not only was not blown to bits, but is back in time. Once he adjusts, he secures a place for himself as a bard and sets out to make a bomb, hoping to reverse the process. The hitch in his plan is that Caira Mackenzie is the loveliest woman he's ever laid eyes on, and going back to the future would leave her behind.

*** Ms Farmer has well used familiar elements to create a romantic version of Connecticut Yankee, with a happier ending. Caira is a strong and admirable heroine, longing for both love and independence she can only have simultaneously with a man like Brian. Though the story is one we know well, it's also well done. ***
Amanda Killgore

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful Scottish time travel!
Review: Brian Skelley has been working in the United Kingdom for the past year as part of an exchange program with the US Navy as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Expert. When a training exercise literally blows up, he awakens to find himself in the year 1301, where he is taken to what should have been the ruins of Kilbeinn Castle. Except instead he finds a village and a very enchanting miss. Caira doesn't have time to deal with the deranged man that two of her clansmen bring back for her to heal. With the death of her husband and father she has a castle to run and the English to keep away. However, the man whose odd clothing identifies him as a storyteller does bring some joy back to her people with his fanciful stories. While adamantly denying he is both English or a member of William Wallaces' men, Brian decides the best thing for him to do would be to try and recreate the explosion that blasted him into the past. Getting involved with Caira isn't something he should do, but when he learns her secrets and her fears, he can't help but get involved.

A BLAST TO THE PAST is different with our hero going back in time rather than the heroine. So as a reader we get to experience a unique time travel all together. Brian is a man of strength and honor thrust into a situation he isn't really prepared for as a supposed storyteller. I really think it is funny to think about how our movies today are just fanciful tales and the idea of retelling them to a group of people who live in a time of knights in shining armor is funny. The two clansmen Malcom and Callum are a hoot as they bicker their way through the story over whether Brian is a member of Wallace's renegades. Caira is a woman desperately in need of a miracle if she is going to keep her clan and home safe. Getting used to the dialect took me a while and I found myself reading it out loud; but the brogue is consistent throughout the story and was easy enough to pick up. Ms Farmer has written a wonderful novel that combines time travel and Scottish history that shouldn't be missed! While her previous two novels were light and fun, with A BLAST TO THE PAST she has proven her ability to weave an enchanting tale.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a blast.
Review: Chief Brian Skelley is supervising a bomb search and diffusion training exchange exercise in Scotland when a strange relic is discovered. One that explodes and sends Skelley man back in time to 1301, the time of William Wallace's rebellion. Caira Mackenzie is struggling to keep her secret (both her husband and her father are now dead and Castle Kilbeinn is without a laird) from the nearby British. Can the recently discovered Skelley help or hinder Caira? A Blast to the Past is brisk, breezy fun, with the adventure aspects getting just as much attention as the romantic story. All in all a short and satisfying read. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Definitely a blast.
Review: Chief Brian Skelley is supervising a bomb search and diffusion training exchange exercise in Scotland when a strange relic is discovered. One that explodes and sends Skelley man back in time to 1301, the time of William Wallace's rebellion. Caira Mackenzie is struggling to keep her secret (both her husband and her father are now dead and Castle Kilbeinn is without a laird) from the nearby British. Can the recently discovered Skelley help or hinder Caira? A Blast to the Past is brisk, breezy fun, with the adventure aspects getting just as much attention as the romantic story. All in all a short and satisfying read. Recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent!
Review: Chief Petty Officer Brian Skelley, US navy bomb expert, had been on his last assignment in a remote training area of the Scottish Highlands. Brian had planted several different types of inert bombs for his men to locate and identify. However, they found one planted by someone else...and it was live!

Brian woke up to find himself in the year 1301. Kilbeinn Castle, which had been only ruins before, had somehow become tall, sturdy, and full of life. The Clan Mackenzie dwelled in the keep. Callum and Malcolm had chanced upon Brian and took him to the castle for treatment by Caira.

Caira Mackenzie was Laird of the clan. Her father and husband were dead. All the able-bodied men had left to join the notorious William Wallace when Caira's father had signed a treaty of neutrality with King Edward. Thus all the care and protection of the clan fell on her slim shoulders. Caira had no way of knowing if Brian was part of the foul Englishmen in the fort nearby or not. Wisely, she kept wary and sent him to the fort, by way of Callum and Malcolm, when he was well. Upon finding out Brian was NOT with those from the fort, and seeing him stand up to the cruel English, the two escorted Brian back to the keep. Caira allowed Brian time to "experiment". She never understood what the black powder was that Brian was experimenting with or what he meant to do with the foul smelling powder.

Brian wanted only to return to the year 2004. He was positive that if he made the powder just right the blast would send him back home. However, he could not ignore the plight of Caira and the clan. In the process of helping them, he and Caira began falling in love. Now he must decide whether to stay in 1301 with Caira or return to his own time.

***** Ah, this story is pure bliss! The characters are so easy to care for and the ending was an act of genius! Brava, Virginia Farmer! I enjoyed every minute of this time travel romance and highly recommend it to all. *****

Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

Rating:
Summary: exciting time travel romance
Review: US Chief Petty Officer Brian Skelley is a bomb expert providing training in a remote section of the Scottish Highlands. In support of the exercise, Brian placed inert explosives for his crew to locate and identify. However, someone added a real bomb that explodes.

Brian awakens from the blast in the year 1301 to see a thriving Kilbeinn Castle not the ruins he had observed just before the explosion. Callum and Malcolm of Clan Mackenzie find Brian and take him inside the castle to meet Caira, clan chieftain since her father and husband died and most of the remaining males are fighting for William Wallace. Though she is attracted to the outsider, Caira does not trust him as he might be a spy for the nearby English post or even Wallace. When Brian refuses to back down to English cruelty and abuse, she takes him back in to the keep. As the twentieth-one century explosive expert works on a black powder to send him back to the future, he wonders if that is what he really wants, as he now loves Caira.

This is an exciting time travel romance starring a wonderful male protagonist who adapts perhaps a bit too easily to the early fourteenth century even if he is a navy survivor expert. Caira is a courageous soul struggling between her desire and what she feels is good for her clan. The English are very malicious so that it is becomes too easy for the hero to support the victims of their mistreatment. Still fans will appreciate Brian's dilemma as she wonders whether he really wants to go home when Caira is what he desires.

Harriet Klausner