Indiana Belle by John A. Heldt

Genre: Adult, suspense

Source: I purchased a copy.

This is the third book in the American Journey series. This time the author takes us to the Roaring Twenties. You don’t have to read the first two books to read and enjoy this one. They read just like stand-alone books. In this book we are presented with a problem that any time traveler fears. What happens if something can and should be prevented in the past and you know it will change the future if you do anything to change it? This is this situation that faces our main character. Cameron Coelho is completing his dissertation on life and the social implications during the 1920s. He buys the journals of Candice Bell who is a reporter and is murdered. He gets to meet Candice and sparks begin to fly. But what happens when you fall in love with someone and you know the date and manner in which they will die?  Do you stop it knowing the possible consequences? 

In this book we not only get to relish the entire time travel experience, but we get to live vicariously through the author in the time of the 1920s.  I love that the author always spends so much time in research s that the reader feels they are a part of the time period. This one is a little different and has some wonderful twists. I highly recommend it and the rest of the series.

Mercer Street by John A. Heldt

Genre: Adult, suspense

Source: I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

My Thoughts:

Give me a good time travel book any day and let me live in my own fantasy world. John Heldt has created two wonderful worlds. First we are in present time where Susan Peterson’s husband has died while having an affair. To ease the pain she goes to California with her mother and her daughter. Things take a real quick turn when the three of them time travel back to 1938 after meeting a professor.  Susan’s mother gets to meet her parents and herself as an infant when they were new refugees.

Susan and her daughter each fall for a different man. The problem is they must be careful not to change things that will alter their future. This means they will be forced to make some very tough decisions. That is okay because the author has given us three very independent and tough women. This has everything I could want. Time travel, history and some romance that is not all mushy.  The amount of research that went into this novel is what makes it so authentic and believable. I enjoyed the first book in this series. I highly recommend it to you.

The Burning by D.E.L. Connor

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Source: I purchased it

This is the third book in this wonderful series. The characters in this series are connected to animal spirits. For those who love to read Native American stories, then this is the series for you. These teens have done battle before.  They have been fighting the evil spirit of Machayiwiwi, who was at one time a very powerful medicine man. The teens are guided and helped through visions given them by ancient chiefs.

This book is full of real life. Each of the teens deal with personal things in their own life. There are so many things happening that any reader will find something t identify with. There are many teens who deal with divorced or alcoholic parents. These teens deal with their feelings of love and jealousy. This author really knows how to keep the story real, but include the elements of magic in just the right does.

This book doesn’t have teens just jumping in trying to fight the evil. You see them actually live their life and get involved in things that aren’t always right or best for them. In other words it is todays reality.   If you haven’t read the other two books in the series you need to do just that. Make sure you have plenty of tissues handy. The author doesn’t sugar coat her plot. People die and teens must deal with it. Pull up a chair and prepare to read a book you can’t put down. Join Emme, Ollie, Charlie, Bets and their friends for an adventure you won’t soon forget.