This Time Forever

In her debut novel, Claire Hope has written a truly extraordinary book. This Time Forever is one of the best stories I have ever read. The author so involves the reader in the plot that all sense of time is lost. In fact, this booked stirred such a reaction in me that those around me laughed when I was yelling and cursing at the characters. Gloria’s story is one that you won’t want to miss.

What Gloria thinks is going to be a simple Civil War re-enactment becomes something far worse. One minute she’s tending ‘wounded’ soldiers in 1991 and the next she’s treating dying soldiers in 1863, literally in the blink of an eye. As Gloria tries to get a handle on her fear and panic, Colonel Clayton Walker suddenly appears. Clayton had been looking for signs of life among all the dead soldiers when he sees a woman alone on the battlefield. At first thinking that Gloria is a spy, he reluctantly believes her when she says that she’s a nurse. As luck would have it, his regimen is without a doctor because when the fighting started the good doctor ran. Clayton wastes no time in taking Gloria, against her wishes, back to his camp to care for the wounded. Gloria does not want to stay with the unit; instead she believes that she has to get back to the cabin where she came into this era, in order to be returned to her own time. Clayton won’t help her because he doesn’t believe her. Gloria vows to escape and Clayton vows to bring her back each time she tries.

As the sexual tension between them mounts and the depth of her feelings increases, Gloria is faced with a surreal dilemma. As she loses more of her heart to Clayton, does she hope to remain in the past with him or does she hope to somehow return to her own time?

This Time Forever is such a compelling book because you can’t help but get swept up in the story the author is telling. Claire Hope’s descriptions of the battlefield are so eerily accurate, it’s almost as if you can smell the gun smoke or see the wounded. Ms. Hope’s characters are well illustrated; I found myself getting furious right along with Gloria at Clayton’s authoritative demeanor. Equally clear are Clayton’s feelings of frustration when Gloria won’t confide in him. How she can possibly expect him to believe that she’s from the future annoys him to no end. Claire Hope gives readers a passionate love story combined with a wild adventure. Neither this book nor this author should be missed. This Time Forever is without a doubt, a keeper!

Reviewed by: Jaymi