Title: THE WATER IS WIDE, Book 3
Author: Laura Vosika
Publisher: Gabriel’s Horn Press
Pages: 451
Genre: Time Travel/Historical Fiction

Synopsis

After his failure to escape back to his own time, Shawn is sent with Niall on the Bruce’s business. They criss-cross Scotland and northern England, working for the Bruce and James Douglas, as they seek ways to get Shawn home to Amy and his own time.

Returning from the Bruce’s business to Glenmirril, Shawn finally meets the mysterious Christina. Despite his vow to finally be faithful to Amy, his feelings for Christina grow.

In modern Scotland, having already told Angus she’s pregnant, Amy must now tell him Shawn is alive and well—in medieval Scotland. Together, they seek a way to bring him back across time.

They are pursued by Simon Beaumont, esteemed knight in the service of King Edward who has also passed between times. Having learned that Amy’s son will kill him—he seeks to kill the infant James first.

The book concludes with MacDougall’s attack on Glenmirril, Amy and Angus’s race to be there and Shawn’s attempt to reach the mysterious tower through the battling armies.

Trailer

Review

I have to state this right off the bat – this is the 3rd book in a series, if you have not read the first two books, do not pick this one up until you do.  Or you will be like me and thoroughly confused because you didn’t know it was part of a series and the beginning of the book makes absolutely no sense!  Ok, so once I realized I was jumping midway into a series I changed how I looked at the content of the book as I was reading.

I have always enjoyed time travel novels and this one was even more interesting due to the time periods that it covers.  The story jumps from the 1300s to the present.  I think the first two books would give the reader a better grasp on what is happening in this book and how Shawn and Niall jumped about 700 years.  Amy is on a mission to find signs of Niall (who really belongs in the 1300s) by marks he might have left at various sites.  Shawn is from the present and is in the 1300s with Niall and coincidently they are mistaken for each other all the time.  Twins separated by centuries!  Amy is pregnant and I’m sure she is doing a lot of the searching so she can tell her child about its father.  However, there is another man in the picture, Angus, a Scottish Police Detective.

I loved reading the Scottish history and the details. I have never been to Scotland, and while I hope to perhaps visit one day, the descriptions of the various sites held me captive and I was able to imagine each historic site.

The characters are a mixed bag as I mentioned above – Shawn is arrogant, Niall is loyal (perhaps overly so), Amy can be wishy-washy, and Angus just wants to do whatever he can to make Amy’s life better, and to be a part of her life.  But all the personalities round out the book and make even the unlikeable character tolerable.

Overall I enjoyed the book but the only thing that bugged me is that when the story would flip to the present it would sometimes be italicized (which makes sense when Amy is thinking to herself) but other times not.  There was no consistency to the formatting.  And of course, the way the book started, I was very lost and had no idea what was going on in the story.  As I mentioned above, if you read the first two books and then this book, you probably won’t be lost like me.

Overall we give it 3 1/2 paws up.

About the Author

Laura Vosika is a writer, poet, and musician. Her time travel series, The Blue Bells Chronicles, set in modern and medieval Scotland, has garnered praise and comparisons to writers as diverse as Diana Gabaldon and Dostoevsky. Her poetry has been published in The Moccasin and The Martin Lake Journal 2017.

She has been featured in newspapers, on the radio, TV, has spoken for regional book events, and hosted the radio program Books and Brews. She currently teaches writing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College.

As a musician, Laura has performed as on trombone, flute, and harp, in orchestras, and big bands. She lives in Brooklyn Park with 5 of her 9 children, 3 cats, and an Irish Wolfhound.

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