Book 60, 2023

Love's Labyrinth by Anne Kelleher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



I almost finished my work book today. I brought it home just to read the brief epilogue. The book was Love's Labyrinth by Anne Kelleher. It's a time-travel romance in the "Time Passages" line. The main characters were Olivia Lindsley and Lord Nicholas Talcott.

Olivia has made a trip to England to finish some historical research that her late father had been working on. Her best friend, Allison, accompanies her. While dressed in period costumes for an elaborate event, Olivia and Allison get lost in the maze at Talcott Forest and emerge in the 1580's, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. There, they meet the Talcott brothers, Lord Nicholas and his younger brother Geoffrey. It was Geoffrey whose tinkering with the arcane led him to build the maze in hopes of time travel. Stuck in this era for the time being, Olivia and Allison play the part of distant Talcott cousins from the north. In spite of the circumstances, Olivia is enchanted with the situation, as she has studied this era extensively. While she accompanies Nicholas on a journey, posing as his wife, to intercept some treasonous documents, Allison stays behind and assists Geoffrey with his mathematical calculations as they attempt to send the ladies back to their own time. Unbeknownst to Nicholas and Olivia, however, an enemy has set Nicholas up to take a fall. It will take the combined wits of the others, along with an assist from William Shakespeare himself, to set things back to rights.

This was certainly an intriguing story. Very well-written and researched. The characters were portrayed marvelously, even the Queen when she put in an appearance or two. I appreciated that the author didn't paint the time period as all sunshine and romance and ball gowns. There was mention of the dangers involved, as well as streets teeming with vermin and refuse.

Favorite line: If ever there was an Excedrin moment, this had to be it.

A wonderful example of time-travel romance. Four stars.