Mercer Street by John A. Heldt

Blurb:

Love, honor, and courage take center stage in the second book of John Heldt’s American Journey time-travel series as three women from the present become entangled in the past in the tension-filled months leading up to World War Two.

Weeks after her husband dies in the middle of an affair, Susan Peterson, 48, seeks solace on a California vacation with her mother Elizabeth and daughter Amanda. The novelist, however, finds more than she bargained for when she meets a professor who possesses the secret of time travel.

Within days, the women travel to 1938 and Princeton, New Jersey. Elizabeth begins a friendship with her refugee parents and infant self, while Susan and Amanda fall for a widowed admiral and a German researcher with troubling ties.

Filled with poignancy, heartbreak, and intrigue, MERCER STREET gives new meaning to sacrifice and commitment as it follows three strong-willed souls on the adventure of a lifetime.

About the Author:

John A. Heldt is the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage and American Journey series. The former reference librarian and award-winning sportswriter has loved getting subjects and verbs to agree since writing book reports on baseball heroes in grade school. A graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Iowa, Heldt is an avid fisherman, sports fan, home brewer, and reader of thrillers and historical fiction. When not sending contemporary characters to the not-so-distant past, he weighs in on literature and life at https://johnheldt.blogspot.com.

Review:

Mercer Street was the second book by John A. Heldt that I read and was just as compelling as The Mine. In this time-travel romance, three generations of women travel back to the pre-World War Two era when they meet a professor while on vacation who has a time-travel machine. They’re each given a list of don’ts, such as “Don’t tell anyone you’re from the future.” “Don’t alter history in any way.” “Don’t bring back any living thing,” etc.

They travel to Princeton. Elizabeth, the grandmother, wants to see her devoutly Catholic parents from whom she was estranged when she married a Lutheran man. She meets her parents and her infant self and all three women bond with them. Susan, the daughter, meets and falls in love with a retired Navy Admiral who wants to convince not just the military, but the public, that the US needs to build up our arms—especially aircraft and carriers. And Amanda, the granddaughter, falls in love with the son of a German diplomat. He’s grown up mostly in the US, but where do his loyalties really lie? And who is the Old Man who lives down the street and always seems to have lost something when Elizabeth walks past?

Like The Mine, I had difficulty putting down Mercer Street. It was well-written with wonderful grammar, characters who were easy to like, great pacing, and a twist I never saw coming at the end. I thought I had it figured out, but boy, was I wrong! Thank you, Mr. Heldt.

Author Website:  http://johnheldt.blogspot.com

Warnings:  None

Length:  431 Pages

Digital Price:  $4.99

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Mercer-Street-American-Journey-Book-ebook/dp/B0170DP9TQ

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The Mine by John A. Heldt

Blurb:

In May 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can’t use, money he can’t spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of swing dancing and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his twenty-one year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. The Mine is a love story that follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

About the Author:

John A. Heldt is the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage and American Journey series. The former reference librarian and award-winning sportswriter has loved getting subjects and verbs to agree since writing book reports on baseball heroes in grade school. A graduate of the University of Oregon and the University of Iowa, Heldt is an avid fisherman, sports fan, home brewer, and reader of thrillers and historical fiction. When not sending contemporary characters to the not-so-distant past, he weighs in on literature and life at johnheldt.blogspot.com.

Review:

The Mine was the first of two books by Mr. Heldt that I read. At some point in each book, someone “sank” into a chair. “Sank” is a verb I have not seen in a book in so long, I was beginning to think it had disappeared from the English language. Thank you, Mr. Heldt, for reintroducing me to an old friend! I was beginning to think I was the only person left who remembered sink had a past tense and not just the perfect past tense “sunk.”

Now, to the rest of the book. When Joel Smith gets caught in traffic on his way home from a trip to Yellowstone just before graduating from college in the year 2000 with a degree in geology, he sees a sign for an abandoned gold mine. Despite his buddy’s protests, he decides to check it out. Inside he encounters a glowing room where he hits his head. When he stumbles out his friend is gone, along with a lot of other things. He discovers it’s June, 1941. He meets a young man who is dating an impressive young lady. I almost fell out of my recliner Joel realized she was his grandma.

The Mine was a page-burner. I actually took time off work to read this book because I couldn’t put it down. I really liked Joel and Grace and wanted them to have a happily ever after. Have tissues ready at the end of The Mine. You will cry!

Author Website:  http://johnheldt.blogspot.com

Warnings: None

Length:  297 Pages

Digital Price:  $3.99

Buy Link:  https://www.amazon.com/Mine-Northwest-Passage-Book-ebook/dp/B0078S9B6G

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White Stripe, Dark Deeds by Stella Wilder

Blurb:

Can an immortal-possessed assassin accustomed to dealing in death and deception lower her defenses enough to work with a disowned deckhand and an urban denizen? Will dropping her guard lead to heartbreak and betrayal?

Yaz wants to be human again. Or dead. She pretty much doesn’t care which. Or didn’t care, until she met Sloan. One thing she sure as hell doesn’t want is to care for that freakin’ deckhand and that weird-ass brat from the ghetto with the white stripe in his head. Torn between what she wants to do and what she needs to do, she’s faced with choices. And consequences…

Sloan’s more than a deckhand on a charter boat. He’s on a mission, too. But damn if that sexy, cold-hearted bitch that throws knives wasn’t effing it up all the time. What he can’t figure out is why he’s helping her and how to keep her from finding out his own deepest and darkest. He derails his mission, his plan, his life for Yaz…

G-Mail doesn’t need much. Or so G thinks. Until meeting an assassin with the gift and skills G wants—the gift of immortality and the skill to kill. Can G trust the assassin when it’s time to reveal an identity and a secret, or will the assassin join the pile of bones G-Mail leaves in the past?

What happens when three forces converge on the hot and humid Houston docks? What happens when they travel back in time to a parallel past?

Review:

I hate the kind of time-travel books where the heroine goes back to the past, meets Prince Charming and stays in the medieval castle with no running water or electricity. Is she nuts? This is not that kind of time-travel. This is the sort of time-travel in which Yaz, the heroine goes back to her past to get answers and then returns to the present—back to the land of electricity and sophisticated plumbing. And the answers she gets in the past put her life and a few others into some very interesting perspective. Now if Ms. Wilder could learn to stay in one point-of-view in each scene, the book would be perfect.

Length:  187 Pages

Price:  $2.99

Buy Link:  http://www.amazon.com/White-Stripe-Deaths-Disciple-Series-ebook/dp/B00INKDYEI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1400357506&sr=8-1&keywords=white+stripe+dark+deeds

Thanks for visiting. Rose & Rochelle