Timeless Wish
Timeless Wish by Barbara Sheridan is part of the excellent Time Passages
series and continues the high standard readers have come to expect from
the series.
This particular novel begins in the year 1898 when on New Year's Eve Sheriff Corby Hillhouse wishes on a star for "a woman my love won't kill". And that woman is Laura Bennett, a 20th Century woman who is about to find herself travelling into the past after a bang to her head.
Laura is a woman who thought she had found the man of her dreams, that is until he left her for someone else. Her best friend Galen is the sister of her ex Jake, and she soon finds that she cannot avoid him forever when she accepts the job of making over a historic building which is going to become a bed and breakfast. While looking through old photo albums of the house for inspiration Laura finds more to spark her imagination than she ever thought she would when she sees the photograph of Sheriff Corby Hillhouse.
Laura is unable to resist a little self-indulgent wishful thinking as she harbours a copy of the photograph. But when a blow to the head sends her back in time she is sure she is still dreaming and when Corby Hillhouse comes across her lying in the bushes it is only natural to indulge herself a little more, this time with a kiss.
Corby Hillhouse carries the guilt of the deaths of two wives on his shoulders. Blaming himself for both their deaths he keeps himself distant from the daughter he loves in the mistaken belief that he is saving her from himself.
His close and extensive family all rally round to help him out with raising Sabrina but now they are starting to believe that Corby should try to become closer to his daughter. Star Hillhouse is the main instigator in the events that follow as she hires Laura as a housekeeper and nanny to Sabrina without the knowledge of Corby himself.
While Corby is attracted to Laura he does not believe that she is the answer to his wish. He is more likely to believe that she is trouble, just as an anonymous writer has told him. But while his head tells him this, his heart is saying that she could be the answer to his wish and the mother to his daughter.
Laura finds it hard to believe she is in the past but there can be no other explanation for the fact that she has found herself living with the ancestors of Jake and Galen. Taken in by the family Laura soon makes a place for herself with Sabrina, and the more reluctant Corby.
However, each time Laura receives a bang to the head she finds herself travelling back to the 20th Century and when she returns to Corby and his family it is getting harder and harder to explain her disappearances without revealing the impossible truth.
Timeless Wish is a story with characters that touch your heart from the moment you meet them. With Corby's heartfelt wish and Laura's lonely dreams about a man from the past, these characters appear destined for each other right from the start. A delightful assortment of characters enrich the plot and the reader finds herself drawn into an extensive family from a small town that you won't want to leave.
Set in Oklahoma 1898 this story has a strong plot and endearing characters which combined make for wonderful reading. Timeless Wish is the first novel from Barbara Sheridan but if she can keep up this high standard it certainly won't be her last. A new author and definitely one to follow.
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Also by Barbara Sheridan: Silver Rain.
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