Love Beyond Time

by Nancy Campbell Allen

Dedication: "To my parents, who always told me I could achieve anything I wanted to and to my husband, who told me to go ahead and do it."

First paragraph: "The tension was thick in the small office. Tyler Montgomery's face was a barely controlled mask of fury. 'I told you never to set foot in this office again. Either of you,' he said through clenched teeth."

Review: Amber Saxton, a bright young LDS doctor, and Tyler Montgomery, an overworked accountant, find themselves in an impossible situation. Amber has a head-on collision with a swinging door and Tyler's head meets the butt of a sawed-off shotgun but neither of them wakes up with anything familiar around them.

They're thrown into a time 137ish years in the past. Both Tyler and Amber want nothing more than to go home but neither one knows what they need to do to make it happen. Instead, they find themselves facing the wounded soldiers straight off the civil war's battlefields and meeting some of their ancestors as well as coping with things from their own past that might rather be left forgotten.

So let's get straight to the point of this stuff - I liked the book. It wasn't completely gripping or oozing with unpredictable plot lines, but it was entertaining. Both characters had a lot going for them and might be a bit on the "mary-sue" side but it worked. There was a reason for it. Plus, parts of their odd relationship reminded me of my favorite fictional relationship. It might be because the girl in that relationship is a smart, young doctor and the guy is a cocky, egotistical soldier. To say the least, their personalities shared a lot of similarities.

Anyway, since it was a LDS novel there were some things in it that might not make sense to people that weren't at least a little familiar with the religion. I think, for the most part, Allen managed to write it without too many unexplained customs and whatnot but I figured I should add that as a prerequisite just in case.

Like I said before, the story isn't really a page turner but you do want to keep reading to find out what exactly happens, or rather how it happens since I called the entire underlying plot before I even read the first page (LDS Fiction is nothing, if not predictable). But it is an entertaining read and I think that the LDS doctrine that it shared was a nice touch. I think that Allen really put her own beliefs out there and that takes some courage and I respect her for that and I appreciate her willingness to share them with the world.

It was a nice, fun, easy read. If you're in the mood for something short-ish and sweet, may as well read this one.

Click here for other books by Nancy Campbell Allen.

The Actor and the Housewife

by Shannon Hale

Dedication: "For the Bryner and Bronson clans - sixty grandparents, parents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and cousins - who lent their names to the characters in this book in a completely random fashion and under no circumstance resemble their fictional namesakes. Except for that one. You know who I mean. No, not you, silly, the other one. Riiight ..."

First paragraph: "Becky was seven months pregnant when she met Felix Callahan. She was on her first trip to California that didn't include Disneyland, and by a twist of luck, selling a screenplay."

Review: Becky, an LDS (Mormon) housewife finds herself falling into a friendship with the famous actor, Felix Callahan after a chance meeting in an incredibly unbelievable string of events. This story is about that friendship, her marriage, her family, her religion, and most importantly, her love.

I felt a lot of things about this story while I was reading. First I felt bored. My first reaction was, "This wasn't Hale's best work". Then I got further into the story and I was thinking, "I'm not even halfway through this story but it feels like it should be ending any minute". Then, the story really started and I was captivated. I will admit that I cried my way through several pages (maybe, 20?) and then there was the ending - didn't see that coming.

I could connect so easily with Becky. I felt what she felt and I cried when I knew she was crying, laughed when she laughed. The other characters didn't have as strong of a presence but I still knew them. I was able to really live the story towards the end.

This wasn't Shannon Hale's best work but it was still great. It was a lot different then what she's done before but it was still enjoyable on so many levels. I loved it.

Click Here for Shannon Hale's website on The Actor and the Housewife.

Lockdown - A Novel

by Traci Hunter Abramson

Dedication: "For the fallen"

First Paragraph: "Riley Palmetta glanced at the classroom door when it opened. She didn't recognize the student who poked his head inside, so she turned her attention back to her German professor. Only one more week of classes, she reminded herself as she battled another wave of senioritis. The birds chirping outside the window only served to remind her of the balmy spring weather."

Review: Riley Palmetta, a survivor of a school shooting massacre, has spent the last two years trying to get rid of her nightmares and the bloody images burned in her memory of that horrible day. In an effort to make that happen she has joined a task force to help educate police officers on hostage and other similar situations.

Unlike other books like Columbine that delve into the why's of the person who committed the crime, it touches on the lives of those who survived it. This book was written as a therapeutic tool for the author to grieve the Virginia Tech tragedy.

The author of this book is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and as such so are several of her characters. I believe it adds a much needed balance to the tragedy that comes with death. I definitely enjoyed the book and the twists to the story that she thought up.

Click Here for Traci Hunter Abramson's website.