HaBO:TimeTravelBookExcerpt

by SB Sarah Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 09:45 AM

Bitchery reader Sarah (so many of us, how awesome!) writes:

It’s always pleasant to find people who take romance novels the same way I do—with big grains of salt all around the rim of the margarita glass.  I’ve spent the last few days going through the archives and laughing myself silly over the book cover snarks, hoping all the while that nobody in the house asked me what was so funny.  Then I discovered the Help a Bitch Out column, and knew where I could get a question answered that’s been plaguing me for years.

I’m looking for a book that I only read the preview for in the back of another novel.  I thought the book I read the preview in was a reprint of “A Kingdom of Dreams” by Judith McNaught ca. 2000, but no dice.  The preview in that one is for “Night Whispers”, and what I read was paranormal/medieval.

The preview I remember had the heroine being knocked unconscious in the present day, and somehow transported back to the middle ages.  She awakes to find herself in a huge bed in a castle, with a large and threatening man looming over her.  He’s pretty pissed off by the fact that she was unconscious, and lets her know it.  It appears that the heroine has done a Quantum Leap maneuver and is betrothed to the tall, dark guy with anger issues.  Neither of them is happy about it.

And that’s where my memory peters out, probably because that’s where the preview ended.

The heroine may have been knocked unconscious in a car accident in the present day and in a horse riding accident in olden times as she fled her bridegroom.  Her medieval counterpart may also have been a recalcitrant, uncooperative bitch, and that’s why angry man is the way he is.  Angry man was also pretty clearly the hero.

It wasn’t a serial or category romance, but seemed to be by a major author and was well-written.

I’m currently too confused by my lack of memory and too uncaffeinated by my lack of that demon brew, coffee, to think of a clever alias for myself should this appear in your blog, so if you’d like to manufacture one, feel free.  If you’d like to run wild in the fields of romance and name me after a mineral, vegetable and/or songbird, I quiver (QUIVER!) in anticipation.

Tall dark and medieval? BOO YAH. Anyone know this book?

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Comments

Picture of cecilia cecilia said on...
04.02.08 at 10:00 AM |

Sounds like a Susan Sizemore book - The Autumn Lord, maybe?

I’m discouraged by the spam blocker word - wrong39

Picture of Amy said on...
04.02.08 at 10:03 AM |

I think it’s Shelly Blair’s A Man in a Kilt- modern NY woman moves to Scotland when she inherits a castle that’s haunted and through magic, winds up in said castle with the very much alive ghost man.  It’s a pretty good book!

Picture of Amy said on...
04.02.08 at 10:04 AM |

Eh, sorry.  Sandy Blair.

Picture of MaryKate said on...
04.02.08 at 10:06 AM |

Call me crazy, but I have this vague recollection that it WAS a McNaught book. And it was called Water’s Edge and she published the preview of it and then for some reason, elected not to publish it.

I have a very, very clear recollection of this story too, and thinking “Woohoo, can’t wait to read this one!” I believe that what happened was she decided that there were actually TWO books being written at the same time, and she elected to take portions of the original story and make it into SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME. And the medieval story she decided not to write.

I know that there was a really long period where she published nothing. And for some reason I think this book ended up being a victim of that.

I found this:
http://www.mcnaughtized.com/faqrumors.html

If it helps, I just found that apparently the excerpt was first published in the back of DOUBLE STANDARDS. I’d have to check at home, but I believe I have a reprint of DS and don’t have it.

Picture of KimberlyD said on...
04.02.08 at 10:27 AM |

The storyline sounds similar to one of the P.C. Cast books, except that was set in more of a Greek-like setting.

Picture of rebyj rebyj said on...
04.02.08 at 10:32 AM |

“Divine by Mistake” is what I thought of too.. P.C. Cast.

The heroine is knocked out when she’s driving and an odd tornado hits and she wakes up in another world that is sorta midevil.

If that isn’t right, read it anyway , it’s a great book !

Picture of Katherine said on...
04.02.08 at 10:46 AM |

Awaken My Love, by Robin Schone? The heroine, Elaine, is transported back in time and finds herself inhabiting the body of a younger woman. Charles, the husband of the woman whose body Elaine finds herself in is pretty angry at his wife for witholding sex and generally being a bitch. The book takes place in the late 1800’s though, not medieval times.

Picture of Nina Nina said on...
04.02.08 at 11:02 AM |

Lynn Kurland, “Dreams of Stardust” maybe?  Things sound familiar.

Picture of Lauren Willig Lauren Willig said on...
04.02.08 at 11:03 AM |

Oooh, that sounds familiar!  Was it a Kathy Lynn Emerson called “Echoes and Illusions”?

Picture of Victoria Janssen Victoria Janssen said on...
04.02.08 at 11:08 AM |

I was reminded of THE CHANGELING BRIDE by Lisa Cach, but that opens in the modern day, and she later goes into the past.  It was humorous--the heroine was appalled at things like lack of birth control.  I do recall that the person she replaced was not very nice.

Picture of Rebecca said on...
04.02.08 at 11:10 AM |

I immediately thought of Lynn Kurland, too. But I’m not sure…

Picture of Kanigget Kanigget said on...
04.02.08 at 11:17 AM |

I agree with MaryKate. I’m pretty sure that Judith McNaught originally was planning to write that plot for Someone to Watch Over Me, but ended up taking it a different direction. Heroine still gets knocked-out but doesn’t go to the past.

Picture of Kismet said on...
04.02.08 at 11:23 AM |

I agree with Victoria. It sounds like The Changeling Bride.

http://www.amazon.com/Changeling-Bride-Timeswept-Lisa-Cach/dp/0505523426/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207164074&sr=1-1

hope the link works.

Change16: spam word agrees with me ;_

Picture of MaryKate said on...
04.02.08 at 11:28 AM |

For God’s sake, I’m s’posed to be working today, and yet now I’m obsessed. I finally tracked down the excerpt that I read:

http://romance.narod.ru/mcnaught/15Ehtml.htm

Picture of EmmyS said on...
04.02.08 at 11:53 AM |

I’m pretty sure this was a category novel, in particular a Harlequin Blaze, called Highland Fling.

According to Amazon:

“Dr. Kate Wexford though she loves her job as an ER physician something is missing. She finds herself drawn to a painting in the local museum of a man that is well over 250 years old. One night Kate is pushed into the painting, next thing she knows she is naked in a bed and its 1744.

Darach MacTavish, Laird of Glenagan cannot believe the bonny lass naked in his bed. He finds her tales of the future a bit much to take. But the attraction between them is undeniable. When nothing they try sends Kate back to present day, something has to be done for Darach is in grave danger. They both go back to future to find out what they can to help Darach and his clan survive. “

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0373792662

Picture of Spider (@ work) said on...
04.02.08 at 12:10 PM |

Oh, now I’m dying to know what this is.  It sounds at least halfway good!

Picture of Jill Myles Jill Myles said on...
04.02.08 at 12:16 PM |

I know one! I know one! *jumps up and down*

No horses, but I’m almost 100% sure she’s talking about The Wishing Chalice by Sandra Landry:

http://www.amazon.com/Wishing-Chalice-Berkley-Sensation/dp/0425194582/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1207167220&sr=1-1

In a nutshell: homegirl finds some goblet and goes back in time. She’s inhabiting the body of a noblewoman estranged from her husband (I think she cheated on him) and he’s all emo because she doesn’t love him anymore. She was a total bitch to him too.

Am I right? Am I right?

Picture of ksquard ksquard said on...
04.02.08 at 12:17 PM |

Though you’ve since put my theory to shame, my first thought was of Jude Devereux’s A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOUR. Oh, how I loved that book.

Picture of Ocy Ocy said on...
04.02.08 at 12:28 PM |

Ah, Jill beat me to my suggestion.  I was going to say it sounded a lot like The Wishing Chalice, too.

Picture of Madeline Madeline said on...
04.02.08 at 01:02 PM |

I thought of Awaken, My Love by Robin Schone immediately too. The major problem is that it is indeed actually set in the 1800s - but that’s not really clear for the first part of the book, or anyway, it wasn’t to me (the woman whose body the protagonist is stuck in is named Morrigan, and she has a crazy, super-old-fashioned nurse, so they’re kind of living in a backwards environment). Also, they’re actually married, not betrothed…

So probably not the Schone book. But, if you like that kind of thing, I think Robin Schone is my favorite romance novelist - so you should check it out - very good stuff.

Picture of DS DS said on...
04.02.08 at 01:16 PM |

I liked the Autumn LOrdby Sizemore.  In fact I loved the heroine’s reaction to medieval cusine.

Picture of Dagny said on...
04.02.08 at 01:19 PM |

ksquard, it actually reminded me of a different Jude Deveraux, Remembrance.  The heroine, a romance novelist, travels back to a former life (in like the 1800s) as the wife of an angry husband and then back again to their former (medieval) life where their star-crossed love was thwarted.  Then back to the first former life and then back to the present for an awful, tagged-on meet up with the present version of him.  I recall thinking the older version of the love was tragic, the middle version was random, and the present was too short (just like in A Knight in Shining Armor).

Picture of coco cupcakes said on...
04.02.08 at 01:20 PM |

Like Mary Kate I have this as an excerpt but in Night Whispers. I’m not sure if you’re looking for this book or something like it but if its this one then you’ll have to join the rest of us in wailing at judith ms creative door as judith rewrote this into her contemporary novel someone to watch over me. As far as we her fans know the original historical time travel was scrapped. Although on her message board I believe there are murmerings of a historical novel in the works but I’m a bit out of touch with that board.

Coco

Picture of Deb Deb said on...
04.02.08 at 01:38 PM |

Well, I’m clueless about what it might be but now have a number of books to track down to read!

Picture of Gail Dayton said on...
04.02.08 at 01:48 PM |

I remember reading a time travel once upon a time that sounds vaguely like this one, where the heroine...maybe falls on the hero, in a dungeon? Or maybe a stone grain-storage building/silo… Of course I can’t remember the name of this book either, but I do remember her bemoaning the absence of dental hygiene. And no, it wasn’t by Kurland, or McNaught, or Devereaux. It was somebody Not A Big Name. And she didn’t go into somebody else’s body--but nobody go looking for this one. It wasn’t that memorable. It was good for a one-time read, but again? Not really…

Picture of Esri Rose Esri Rose said on...
04.02.08 at 03:43 PM |

Boy that sounds soooo familiar, like I might have read that excerpt, too.

JD’s “A Knight in Shining Armor” is one of my favorite romances EVER. I owned a copy for a long time and finally read it so many times that I gave it away. I should get it again.

Picture of Jackie L. said on...
04.02.08 at 03:51 PM |

It seems odd that whenever a female travels through time and space she magically winds up in some highlander’s bed.

Picture of Amie Amie said on...
04.02.08 at 04:24 PM |

Esri...me too! I still have a first ed hardcover--it’s the prize of my meager *cough* book collection.

I would have said Kurland too but maybe it’s one of those obscure books that now you’d find at the dollar store.

Picture of Nik Nik said on...
04.02.08 at 04:28 PM |

I’ll third (fourth? fifth?) the suggestion that it was the teaser for Judith McNaught’s Water’s Edge.  My circa 2000 copies of Double Standards and Something Wonderful both have the extract.

Picture of Pam P said on...
04.02.08 at 04:33 PM |

This sounds like it may be the one, Forever His by Shelly Thacker:
http://www.wereallydig.com/romancenovels/tt/foreverhis.htm

Picture of Brandyllyn said on...
04.02.08 at 06:14 PM |

I remember being so pissed that she never actually wrote the book your excerpt was from.  While those books people are talking about sound similar (and I am making a list to read them all), I’m going to be the umpteenth person to say it was a Judith McKnaught called Water’s Edge.

And it does not exist.

God dammit.

Picture of Terri Jones said on...
04.02.08 at 06:16 PM |

this is why i never read previews in the back of books unless they are previews of already published book...a girl can only have so many slips of paper with to be read titles...and now i have some more

Picture of hollyn hollyn said on...
04.02.08 at 07:02 PM |

my first thought was the first Lords of Avalon book by Kinley MacGregor (Sherrilyn Kenyon) “Sword of Darkness”

http://www.dailyinquisitor.com//lords/sword.htm

there was an excerpt released that made it seem like the whole knocked unconscious time travel thing.

But this is probably not what you’re looking for.

Picture of Lady Narcissa said on...
04.02.08 at 07:06 PM |

It is (as others have suggested) Judith McNaught’s never finished and never published Water’s Edge.  It featured a heroine named Leigh and a cruel warlord named Blaine (lol) and Leigh’s car went off a cliff and she woke up in medieval England.  JM never finished it and instead transformed the plot into a contemporary romantic suspense novel called Someone to Watch Over Me.  She isn’t planning on ever finishing the original version.

Picture of LiJuun said on...
04.02.08 at 08:49 PM |

My first thought was that this was The Wishing Chalice - and I’m glad to see at least two other people think so, too!

Picture of Dawn Dawn said on...
04.03.08 at 03:14 AM |

I think it’s the Wishing Chalice as well.  There were two in the series, I think.  The lady from the past goes forward.

Picture of Lorelie Lorelie said on...
04.03.08 at 04:38 AM |

I remember reading a time travel once upon a time that sounds vaguely like this one, where the heroine...maybe falls on the hero, in a dungeon?

Gail, I would think that one was Kiss of the Highlander, by Karen Marie Moning (she used to be a solid mid-lister, but she seems to be moving up lately), except that I disagree about it being not worth a re-read.

Picture of Gretchen Harrison said on...
04.03.08 at 09:35 AM |

I knew I remembered seeing the Water’s Edge excerpt on the old Judith McNaught Bulletin Board but it took me a little while to track it down.  If you scroll down a little in the following link you can check and see if the bit you remember matches with the excerpt that was released for Water’s Edge:

http://bbs.simonsays.com/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=502616#Post502616

Then you will know for sure.  It was included in the back of JM’s books that were printed in 2000, starting with Kingdom of Dreams.

Picture of Stephanie said on...
04.03.08 at 09:58 AM |

This actually reminds me of a Linda Howard book.

Her husband is killed, she’s got a laptop she’s using for research. She’s a history professor or something… then zap she’s back in the middle ages with a hot pissed off guy.

Can’t remember the title though. Sorry.

Steph

Picture of MaryKate said on...
04.03.08 at 10:03 AM |

Steph - I think you’re referring to Son of the Morning.

Picture of Another Damn Sarah said on...
04.15.08 at 08:57 AM |

I’m the Sarah who made the request of Bitchery.  (Oh my god, there’s so many Sarahs in their 20s and 30s in this world.)

Mary Kate (and many others) nailed it.  I can’t believe she’s not going to finish writing it!  I feel kind of grumpy and betrayed now.  I really wanted to read this book, and I was sure the Bitchery could pull through for me.

At least I have plenty of the same variety to read now, though!  Thank you very much, everybody!

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