This post is part of a virtual book tour organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Nancy Fraser will be awarding a $15 Amazon or B/N GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour. Click on the tour banner to see the other stops on the tour.
When Matthew McAlister pulls a nearly-drowned woman from the mucky waters of the Mississippi, he has no idea what’s in store for him. Or, how easily he’ll willingly give up his carefree, love-em-and-leave-em lifestyle for a chance at real happiness.
Kathryn (Kate) Lowell can’t believe her bad luck. Or the fact she’s somehow been transported from the twenty-first century back to the post Civil War south. Worse yet, into the arms of the one man she grew up hating. The man she blames for her father’s recent demise.
Can these two off-kilter and infinitely stubborn individuals fight their mutual attraction? Or, will they give in to the inevitable? And, when the time comes, will Kate choose to stay with Matt in the past, or return to her former life?
Read an Excerpt
Kate moaned softly, and lifted a heavy hand to her aching forehead. “Where am I?”, she wondered aloud.
“Just rest. You’re safe, everything is fine.”
The muffled sound of a man’s voice penetrated the throbbing in her head and she struggled to open her eyes, to identify the source. A dim light shone on the man’s handsome features and Kate realized she’d come face to face with the devil. His intense expression, an expression she felt certain could stop rush hour traffic in Times Square, seemed to mock her. Haunt her.
I must be dreaming. That’s it, I’m dreaming. I didn’t really drown, I’m just asleep.
Kate closed her eyes and waited, certain that at any moment she’d awaken. Until then, she’d allow this ridiculous dream to run its course. She’d let this man who looked suspiciously like Matthew McAlister sit at her bedside without so much as a single complaint. After all, it was only a dream, a dream most likely resulting from the trauma of her father’s death. A dream in which her subconscious had conjured up a man who’d been dead himself for nearly a hundred years.
Cautiously, she reopened her eyes and met the man’s darkened gaze.
“Oh my gosh, it is you. And just like my father’s sketches, and the way he described you, right down to the scar above your left brow.”
Unconsciously, Kate suspected, he reached up and ran his finger across the scar. “Someone described me?”
As soon as he spoke, Kate recognized the voice from her dreams. Either she had totally lost her mind or, like Matthew McAlister, she was dead. “I’ve got to be dreaming. This can’t be real. And, you can’t possibly be Matthew McAlister.”
Nervously she scanned her surroundings, taking in the beamed ceiling, the heavy wooden furniture and the brocade coverings. The dim light, she realized, came from an oil lamp on the bedside table.
“Lady, I don’t know who you are, or where you came from, but I can assure you, I am definitely Matthew McAlister.”
She shook her head in disbelief, regretting the quick motion when a shooting pain radiated from back of her head forward. “Where am I? Never mind, don’t answer that. I’m dead. I must be dead because that’s the only way I could be seeing you.” She scrambled for the edge of the bed, saying, “I’ve got to get out of here. I can’t…”
Rather than free herself, her legs tangled in what seemed like yards of bed linens. In her haste to get away, Kate slipped unceremoniously off the edge of the bed and landed flat on her backside, the thick carpet cushioning her embarrassing attempt at escape.
“Are you all right?”, he asked.
Bracing himself on the foot rail at the end of the bed, he reached out and offered his free hand. His gaze settled on her bare legs. A man’s shirt, most likely his Kate realized, rode high on her thighs, exposing far more than she was willing to show.
“All right?”, she repeated nervously. If being insane is all right, then I’m fine.
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m not hurt. I’m just in a room that looks like something off the set of Maverick, and any minute now a young and rakish Mel Gibson will burst through that door with someone shooting at him, and I’m talking to Matthew McAlister. Other than that, I’m fine.”
Matthew McAlister looked positively baffled by her insane rambling. Yet, when he spoke, his voice held firm conviction rather than confusion. “First of all, you are not dead. And second, who is this Mel Gibson fellow who’s going to burst into my stateroom at any moment?”
I hate starting a review with “this book is so cute” but trust me, it really is cute. It’s a time travel, fish out of water story but Ms. Fraser doesn’t spend too much time on the fish out of water angle. What she focuses on are the characters themselves, which I appreciate it. I can use my imagination when it comes to the time period. Of course, now I wish to be on a river boat but that’s for another time and place.
Ms. Fraser does an excellent job with Kate and Matthew. She lets them be together and lets them be apart for a time to really let them grow and come into their own. To be honest, at least for me, Matthew had the most to grow in the relationship. Kate had some things to go through also especially with her hatred of anything related to the Lady Luck riverboat. Feeling abandoned by her father for most of her life and then to be thrown into the time period that her daddy loved, the issues were aplenty for her. Her attraction to Matthew is the least of her worries.
Matthew was a great character for me. His loyalty to his family, the boat and his employees is top notch. He is willing to work just has hard beside them even if his cousin, Jake, doesn’t see it that way. The relationship between Jake and Matthew is hilarious. At times, I really wondered if they would come to blows over Kate but once again, Ms. Fraser does an excellent job with the little triangle that is teased at in the beginning of the book.
I wish I could tell the HUGH plot twist but it would spoil the entire book. I never saw it coming and I loved it. It explains so much and it really ties into the time travel element and how Kate got to where she is and how she could possibly get back home. And trust me, the ending…grrrr. Now I have to wait a couple of books before I find out what happened to a character. I hate waiting but seeing that this isn’t my first book by Ms. Fraser I should have seen it coming. But noooo, I didn’t. My bad.
There is plenty of smexy times together but there is a point to it. It shows the emotional growth between Kate and Matthew which Ms. Fraser nails. Again, I wish I was on that boat.
I adored this book and can’t wait to dive into Jake’s story next. Hopefully some threads will be sew up and I get a glipse if not a scene of what in the heck happened to…
About the Author:
NANCY FRASER—Jumping Across Romance Genres with Gleeful Abandon—is an Amazon Top 100 and Award-Winning author who can’t seem to decide which romance genre suits her best. So, she writes them all.
Like most authors, Nancy began writing at an early age, usually on the walls and with crayons or, heaven forbid, permanent markers. Her love of writing often made her the English teacher’s pet which, of course, resulted in a whole lot of teasing. Still, it was worth it.
Published in multiple genres, Nancy has published over thirty-five books in full-length, novella, and short format.
When not writing (which is almost never), Nancy dotes on her five wonderful grandchildren and looks forward to traveling and reading when time permits. Nancy lives in Atlantic Canada where she enjoys the relaxed pace and colorful people.
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Sounds like a great romance. I love the setting!
Great excerpt, thank you for sharing.
Wonderful review for a great story!
Thank you so much for the lovely feature on the first book in my Love’s a Gamble series. Good news for those who are impatient, Book #2 comes out on the 16th of this month, and then Book #3 in March.
Thank you also (and especially) for the wonderful review. It made my early morning and likely my day.
I’ll check back later for comments.
Thanks for hosting!