Isabella's Airman by Sofia Grey

Time travel student Isabella Gillman is about to embark on her most challenging assignment--leaping back to 1941 to observe World War II. The rules are simple: don’t get emotionally involved, and don’t interfere.

She breaks the first rule when she falls in love with rear-gunner Davy Porteous. The second is on its way out as well when she realizes history says he won’t survive the war. Torn between the fundamental laws of her society and the man she loves, Isabella faces a harsh reality: does she risk both their lives for a future that may not happen?

She can’t predict the results if she corrupts the timelines, but without her actions, Davy is out of time.



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One of the many things I have come to admire about Sofia Grey's work is that nothing is ever formulaic. Even within the same series she mixes things up and throws in unexpected twists so that you never quite know what to expect. Even when you have a fairly good notion of how the story will turn out in the end it is rarely possible to predict how it will get there. This story does not disappoint on those scores, for even though the blurb tells us that Isabella isn't going to be the mild, meek, obedient, and conformist girl that she initially appears to be in the book, it's still a bit surprising to see just how she evolves. Nutshell review: A wonderful read that will take you through a gamut of emotions. Your heart will be warmed, it will be broken, but in the end I think it will rejoice at the clever ways in which the cast of characters works around the obstacles placed in their path.

Lila's Wolf (Revised) by Sofia Grey

When Lila Cammell is abandoned by her time-jump partner, leaving her alone in Britain in the Dark Ages, revenge is the only thing on her mind. She’d trusted Jared Grohl with her life and her heart, and bringing him to justice will be sweet.

Finding him captured and enslaved by the Saxons changes all her assumptions. Now it’s a fight for survival, but the only way to save him, might be to leave him behind.

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I reviewed this title a few months ago, but the author has just released a revised version and I agreed to have another look at it. You can read my previous review here. Overall nothing much has changed with my review because I honestly didn't notice anything major that has changed with the book. The plot is still the same, the characters are largely still the same, though we might get a slight bit more on some of them. I think mostly it's been tightened up so that some superfluous stuff has been taken out and the whole thing flows just a bit smoother than it did. I also didn't notice any of the seeming anachronisms I commented on before, but that could be because I sort of expected them so didn't notice or pay so much attention to them. I don't really know what exactly was changed in this version to comment on things more precisely. I can say that I think this new version is improved a bit and is a smoother read, so I definitely still recommend it and the series as a whole as well.

You may wish to read Marc's Conflict first if you want some background on Marc that helps explain some of his actions here, but it isn't necessary. This one is fully understandable on its own.

Note: I received a free ARC of the revised version in exchange for an honest review. I purchased the older version that my main review was written about.

• Lila's Wolf on Goodreads
• Sofia Grey's website

Marc's Conflict by Sofia Grey

Marc has been accepted as a ghardian, one of the elite soldiers who protect the timelines of the future. He's eager to prove himself and experience combat on his first training op to Ancient Europe: joining the conflict and fighting alongside the Gauls against the Roman invaders.

A true ghardian puts his emotions aside, and functions purely on logic, but that lesson is easy to forget in the heat of battle, especially when Marc's closest friend is in danger.


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This novella serves as a prequel to the rest of the series. It tells the story of how Marc became a ghardian, shows us his first major test in the line of duty, and establishes the beginnings of his relationship with Lila to help set the stage for the next book. In the process he comes to see that, unlike what he's always been taught, emotions aren't always a bad thing and that sometimes rules are meant to be broken.

Lila's Wolf by Sofia Grey

When Lila Cammell is abandoned by her time-jump partner, leaving her alone in Britain in the Dark Ages, revenge is the only thing on her mind. She’d trusted Jared Grohl with her life and her heart, and bringing him to justice will be sweet.

Finding him captured and enslaved by the Saxons changes all her assumptions. Now it’s a fight for survival, but the only way to save him, might be to leave him behind.

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All Romance eBooks

This book was quite different from some of Sofia Grey's other books I've read. It's less about atmosphere and mystery and more about action and raw emotions. Instead of being a book you want to curl up with on a rainy, gloomy day, it's more edge of the seat, nail biting suspense that keeps you turning the pages anxious to find out what comes next or how they'll get out of the scrape they're in. This isn't a bad thing, as it gives a different reading experience and shows off the range of the author's skill in handling different settings and different types of stories.

Outlander by Diana Gabaldon

Claire Randall is leading a double life. She has a husband in one century, and a lover in another...

In 1945, Claire Randall, a former combat nurse, is back from the war and reunited with her husband on a second honeymoon—when she innocently touches a boulder in one of the ancient stone circles that dot the British Isles. Suddenly she is a Sassenach—an "outlander"—in a Scotland torn by war and raiding border clans in the year of our Lord...1743.

Hurled back in time by forces she cannot understand, Claire's destiny in soon inextricably intertwined with Clan MacKenzie and the forbidden Castle Leoch. She is catapulted without warning into the intrigues of lairds and spies that may threaten her life ...and shatter her heart. For here, James Fraser, a gallant young Scots warrior, shows her a passion so fierce and a love so absolute that Claire becomes a woman torn between fidelity and desire...and between two vastly different men in two irreconcilable lives.

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OmniLit

This is a fairly well-known book, though I wasn't particularly aware of the fact until recently. As such, I'm sure there are any number of reviews done by far more knowledgeable people than me that cover it. Still, I'll jot down a few of my own thoughts about it here, for the sake of writing some sort of review of it.

Waterfall by Lisa Tawn Bergren

What do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Betarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives among the romantic hills with their archaeologist parents. Stuck among the rubble of the medieval castles in rural Tuscany, on yet another hot, dusty archaeological site, Gabi and Lia are bored out of their minds...until Gabi places her hand atop a hand print in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting.




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OmniLit

An enjoyable sweet romance with teen characters that are refreshingly mature about their attraction and don't just get all gushy over one another. Add in the time-travel twist, and a girl that's literally hundreds of years ahead of the time she finds herself in, and this one is well-set to be interesting from page one. The author does a good job of pulling the reader in from the start as well with the way Gabi is written to sound just like any intelligent modern teenage girl you might know. You feel like you know her well from page one, and she's just mature enough that even those of us like me who are well past our teens can relate to her.

A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness

A richly inventive novel about a centuries-old vampire, a spellbound witch, and the mysterious manuscript that draws them together.

Deep in the stacks of Oxford's Bodleian Library, young scholar Diana Bishop unwittingly calls up a bewitched alchemical manuscript in the course of her research. Descended from an old and distinguished line of witches, Diana wants nothing to do with sorcery; so after a furtive glance and a few notes, she banishes the book to the stacks. But her discovery sets a fantastical underworld stirring, and a horde of daemons, witches, and vampires soon descends upon the library. Diana has stumbled upon a coveted treasure lost for centuries-and she is the only creature who can break its spell.

Debut novelist Deborah Harkness has crafted a mesmerizing and addictive read, equal parts history and magic, romance and suspense. Diana is a bold heroine who meets her equal in vampire geneticist Matthew Clairmont, and gradually warms up to him as their alliance deepens into an intimacy that violates age-old taboos. This smart, sophisticated story harks back to the novels of Anne Rice, but it is as contemporary and sensual as the Twilight series-with an extra serving of historical realism.

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OmniLit

Probably one of the best books I've read in a long time. It kept me enthralled from page one all the way to the end, trying to guess which way the twists and turns of the story were taking me. Rarely did I guess right, though, as this book keeps you guessing, and continues to surprise you time and time again. Sometimes I guessed right though, but even then there was usually some twist involved that I hadn't seen coming right alongside the bit that I had figured out ahead of time. To try to sum up my reactions and thoughts about this book in a relatively short review hardly seems possible, but I'll do my humble best.