"Past, Present, and Future Collide in this action/adventure time travel romance"
In this sequel to Time Rogues the year is 2152, a future in
which mankind is confined to the Earth's Core, unless you
are a Time Rogue, like Maude Kincaid, who are genetically
suited to travel to past to heal temporal rifts. Insuring
the future by saving the past is their motto. A Rogue has
time for nothing but the next mission, and especially not
romance, but Maude's last jump had brought her into contact
with 21st century cowboy/PhD Preston "Gil Gillespie and
sparked a connection she had not wanted to forget. Of course
it had been necessary that he forget her, and he would
courtesy of a memory purge, but she had chosen not to submit
to one but rather download the memory of their brief moment
in time to a memory chip to be revisited in her down time.
Little did she know that triggering that chip was also
triggering Gil's episodes in the past. The strange and recurring episodes in which Gil had waking
dreams of a somehow familiar bald beauty had the newly
appointed museum curator questioning his sanity. That is
until he spotted her in the flesh visiting with his boss
Mackenzie Cates Mason (Time Rogues). As a result Gil finds
himself back in the future and in need of further memory
modification. Although it is determined that Gil's genetics puts him off
the charts in both the Scio and Rogue spectrums he is denied
permanent residence in the future, designated as an EE (era
essential). After yet another mind purge he would be sent
back to 2008 once more to live out his life, but not before
he and Maude rock each other's world for one last time.
After a night of unbelievable passion Gil knows without a
doubt that only a total purge could erase the memory of this
woman who had stolen his rough and ready heart. But their
time together is cut short when Maude's fails a routine body
scan. Soon the pair will be forced to defy inviolate
protocol and make unauthorized transits in a race against
time to save her future. As with most titles from the SHOMI line the fantasy plot is
far stronger than the romance development. In this case the
connection is fait accompli pretty much from the get go. But
for the record it works just fine (the line is labeled
"action/adventure" after all). The question becomes how much
are these two willing to risk to ensure that they will have
a future and will it be together or in their own respective
times? The story moves somewhat slowly until about two
thirds of the way through, it is just enough to keep the
reader engaged while providing necessary clues that one
won't realize they need until the critical plot twist
catches them unaware and then it's off to the races. What I
like best about this story is that in spite of the future
society's advancements the human factor cannot be discounted
as Maude's friends break every rule in the book to keep her
in their lives.
Reviewed by Leslie Tramposch
Posted June 15, 2008
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