Forever MineBy Monica Burns
Blurb:
Her future lies in the past
When a bomb explosion thrusts Victoria Ashton backward in time to 1897, she’s forced to
impersonate the Countess of Guildford. Despite Victoria’s attempts to convince the earl she’s not his wife, her counterpart’s infidelity, lies, and ill-tempered personality makes the task almost impossible. Worse, Victoria finds herself falling in love with a man who loathes her. Only when the earl learns to trust her does she realize her future lies in the past. But love always comes at a price, and she must make a painful sacrifice in order for them to be together.
Her love is what will save him
Nicholas Thornhill, Earl of Guildford has been searching for his missing wife for three weeks. Rumors of him being guilty of murder make him unwilling to believe his wife’s latest in a multitude of lies. But the changes in Victoria continuously surprise him. Despite his best intentions, he finds the contempt he once felt for his wife turning into something deeper and stronger. But when danger threatens to separate them forever, he must forge a bond with her that crosses the boundaries of time.
A passion to last forever
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Excerpt
Despite the way he unnerved her, it was impossible to avoid noting how wonderful he smelled. It was a spicy, potently male scent. Deep inside her, a voice cried out for her to press her fingers against his beautiful mouth. The thought made Victoria suck in a quick, sharp breath of air. Nicholas’ eyes darkened with an emotion she didn’t even want to consider defining.
Slowly, he lowered his head until his mouth lightly touched hers. Fire streaked across her skin, its warmth sinking into her pores until it heated her blood like molten lava. She sighed then parted her mouth to lace his lips with the tip of her tongue. A dark sound rumbled in his chest as his tongue swept its way into her mouth and imitated an act her body suddenly craved as if she were starving.
Pleasure swept its way through her. The fiery sensation of it settled into every inch of her body. He said she’d bewitched him, but she was the one under his spell. His lips teased and seduced hers until her body screamed for more.
She wanted him to touch her. Needed him. She arched her hips upward in a silent plea for his touch, and a dark growl vibrated on her lips as he tugged the covers off her. His tongue swirled around hers, teasing and taunting her with each tantalizing stoke. The hot taste of him made her nipples grow hard until they ached with a pleasurable, tantalizing sensitivity. Eager to assuage the need for his touch, she caught his hand and pressed it to her breasts. A growl rumbled out of him as he rubbed his thumb over the rigid peak. The sensation of soft linen between her skin and his hand made her moan softly as his mouth worked its way across her cheek to her neck where he gently nipped at her skin.
Need spun through her, and as he lifted his head to stare down at her, she saw desire darkening his green eyes. A knot of anticipation tightened in her lower body as his hand left her breast and slid downward to her stomach where the heel of his hand pressed into the sensitive spot at the apex of her thighs. The simple pressure made her suck in a sharp breath, and a small smile curved his lips.
“I want to watch you as I make you shatter from my touch, Victoria.” His words whispered across her senses as his hand pulled the hem of her nightgown upward to expose her completely.
Forever Mine by Monica BurnsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Forever Mine by Monica Burns is a 2014 publication. I was provided a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is mainly a historical time travel romance and is one of the best I have read in long while. This is not steampunk in the way you may be thinking, but it could fit there. For me the story was romantic to the nth degree, suspenseful, sad, mysterious and classic in many ways.
Present day: Nick is astounded when a beautiful woman enters his art gallery looking identical to a woman in a very old portrait he is nearly obsessed with. He is so smitten with her the two nearly share a kiss , but a bomb explosion violently sends Victoria back into the 1800's.
Nick is devastated and keeps a constant vigil by her side while she lays in a coma. His sister, Nora had been trying to convince him he might be the reincarnation of someone from the past, an idea he vehemently refused to consider. But now? How else could he have made such an instant connection with a woman he just met?
Victoria awakens to find herself thrown way back into the past and discovers she is thought to be a woman named Vickie, the Countess of Guildford, who is married to Nicholas, a rather stodgy Earl. In this reality, Nicholas can barely stand Victoria. He calls her Vickie, a name Victoria loathes. When Victoria attempts to explain to Nicholas she is NOT his wife, he thinks she is merely acting. After all the Vickie he knows is an expert liar, cheater, and actress. He has no intention of falling for this charade.
After a lengthy disappearance, it looks as though Nicholas's cold wife has returned home with no memory of where she has been or what her true identity is. If she really doesn't know what happened, the nasty bump on the head she came home with could explain her change in personality. It takes a while but slowly Nicholas begins to believe Victoria really has changed, but he simply can not believe this woman is not his wife. In the meantime, it would seem not everyone is thrilled by Victoria's return home and she could be in danger.
This story focuses primarily on what takes place in the past with a periodic check in with present day Nick. I adored the slow turn around Nicholas took with Victoria, from being weary of Vickie's affairs and of enduring the humiliation she caused him and dealing with her cruelty, to slowly opening his mind to the the fact that Vickie is gone and in her place is Victoria, a woman he could really fall in love with. However, nothing, but nothing can convince Nicholas that Victoria and Vickie are not one and the same person, despite some glaring differences. But despite that, he is ready to start over from scratch with her, leaving all the pain she caused him in the past.
Victoria's situation is very different. She knows for a fact she is not Nicholas' wife, because she is from the future. His inability to see she is not Vickie is painful at times. But, she still feels a deep connection to Nicholas and although she continues to search for answers she only wants to be with Nicholas here in the past. But, the burning question is... If Victoria is not Vickie...then where is Vickie and will she show up out of the blue someday? Or is there another more sinister explanation?
The author did a great job of mixing the past with the present without a lot lame methods for hopping in and out of the past. The secondary characters helped to soothe and ease the raw emotions at play and Nicholas's sweet brother nearly stole the show a few times. The way Victoria and Nicholas manage to meet back in the future and the bittersweet letters Nicholas wrote to Victoria will have you swallowing back a big old lump in your throat.
This one was more like the time travel stories I read back several years ago and have really missed this style of storytelling. Many newer time travel romances can become altogether too silly.
I liked how the author made Victoria so vastly different from Vickie, but Nicholas in the past was similar to Nick in the present. Both using similar phrases and both stubbornly refusing to believe in anything that defies logic, but both knowing when they are in love and hanging on to the lady they both loved with all their might. I really enjoyed this one, it was engrossing from start to finish. 4.5 rounded to 5.
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About the Author
A bestselling author of spicy historical and paranormal romance, Monica Burns penned her first short romance story at the age of nine when she selected the pseudonym she uses today. Her historical book awards include the 2011 RT BookReviews Reviewers Choice Award and the 2012 Gayle Wilson Heart of Excellence Award for Pleasure Me. She is also the recipient of the prestigious paranormal romance award, the 2011 PRISM Best of the Best award for Assassin’s Heart. From the days when she hid her stories from her sisters to her first completed full-length manuscript, she always believed in her dream despite rejections and setbacks. A workaholic wife and mother, Monica believes it’s possible for the good guy to win if they work hard enough.You can find Monica here:
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