Book Review: Sea Spray (Time Box, Book 3), by John A. Heldt

Summary from Amazon:

Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of seven, seek peace and safety in 1927, the latest stop on a journey through time. For a while, each succeeds.

Parents Mark and Mary find housing in affluent East Hampton, New York, where a gracious elderly couple offers use of their mansion. Son Jordan and his new wife, Jessie, plan a family. Siblings Laura, Jeremy, and Ashley pursue fun and adventure. All form strong friendships with the Prices, a mysterious mirror-image family that lives next door.

Billionaire Robert Devereaux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends a hit man to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan.

Randy Taylor, who programs the machines, is determined to stop him. He tries to undermine his boss and save the Lanes, even as he tries to help his mother beat a deadly illness. He pines for the day he can join his fugitive friends and rekindle a promising relationship with Laura Lane.

Filled with romance, humor, and heartbreak, SEA SPRAY follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through the exciting and often dangerous world of Lindbergh, Gershwin, and Fitzgerald.

Review:

I am never at a loss for words when it comes to discussing John’s books, he always manages to somehow nail every little detail of his books.  I know he does extensive research into each era and sometimes location before he begins writing and that is evidenced by the way a reader is able to delve into the books and just get lost in the story.

Having been on the edge of my seat for months waiting for Sea Spray I was so thrilled when this book finally came out, he used his quarantine time wisely 😉 The Lanes have now landed in the time of F. Scott Fitzgerald and The Great Gatsby and think they have finally found a time period they can set roots in and begin to settle down.  As each family member melts in with their neighbors the Prices, the story begins to unfold.  Two young couples anxiously awaiting their first-born children, two young men navigating the world as older teens doing the things teenage boys do while finding new love with two girls, the second oldest children coming together and finding love, Laura and Tim – this time the story centered around them and the push and pull Laura felt for both Randy and Tim, ultimately having to make a decision that alters the family and pushes the story forward.  Two young teen girls who favor themselves detectives and find that they are really detectives and solve the case.  Finally, the heads of both families, Mark, Mary and Mr. and Mrs. Price, both sets of parents are trying to guide their children and help them make the decisions that help determine who they are.  Sometimes these decisions are not easy to make.

I often found myself wanting to reach into the pages of the book and just strangle Robert Deveraux and Bane, but I know like many readers that both will get their comeuppance eventually when karma catches up to them.  And, I have been assured both will eventually get that!

Again, John has knocked it out of the park and put his reader front and center to the action!  Definitely not disappointed and cannot wait for the next installment!

Five out of Five Stars for Sea Spray.

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

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Purchase Your Copy of Sea Spray:

Amazon.com

Book Review: The Fair (Time Box, Book 2), by John A. Heldt

Summary from Amazon:

Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of six, seek safety and contentment in 1893, the latest stop on a journey through time. While parents Mark and Mary find relief at Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition, an extravaganza of science and splendor, children Jeremy, Laura, and Ashley find romance, friendship, and thrills.

Older son Jordan, meanwhile, heads west in search of answers. Grieving the loss of a lover from 1865, he travels to Virginia City, Nevada, where he integrates himself into a storied mining community and the heart of a pretty library clerk.

Billionaire Robert Devereux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends an assassin to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan.

Filled with humor, heartbreak, and suspense, THE FAIR follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through an unforgettable year in American history.

Review:

WOW oh WOW John picks right back up where he left off with The Lane Betrayal finding the Lanes time-hopping again in order to prevent Robert Deveraux and Baine from finding them.  Though they manage to leave some minor breadcrumbs behind (via comment made by Mark to the innkeeper they meet in 1793) for Baine to follow, it is only a speck of one.

This time we delve more into the family and the way they interact with one another, all the while meeting new members of the storyboard, Ivy Trudeau, Jessie, and Prudence, characters that will help shape and move the story forward.  Jeremy’s relationship with Ivy is a secretive one full of romance, childlike awe, and just those teen years when we are free and whimsical to move about our worlds as we see fit.  Their relationship reminds me of one in John’s previous series The Carson Chronicles, where one of the main characters falls in love with a teen girl from the 1800s and they continue to loop back to her through their travels, I have to wonder if we haven’t seen the end of Jeremy and Ivy’s relationship in some manner.

Jessie, the shy and quiet librarian that steals and heals Jordan’s broken grieving heart is just as sweet and sassy as he needs; all the while we find Laura & Ashley making their mark with their new friend Prudence, they too met at the Chicago World’s Fair!

Once again I am blown out of the water by John’s storytelling and I will say this time I chose to savor the book versus sitting down and reading it all at once.  This time, I wanted to know what happened, yet at the same time I wanted the adventure to last as long as it possibly could.  I am on edge and anxious to see where the Lane’s next adventure will lead them and I am secretly hoping that Robert Deveraux and Baine both get their just desserts, though Karma and the changing of time table events is already beginning to come into play in this one, I just want to see them lose and lose BIG!

Again Five out of Five Stars for The Fair.

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of The Fair:

Amazon.com

Book Review: The Lane Betrayal, John A. Heldt

Summary:

Borrowed from Amazon.com

Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865.

For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past.

Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark’s betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight.

Filled with romance, suspense, and history, THE LANE BETRAYAL follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.

Review:

I am going to preface this with saying that John has come a very long way in developing both his characters and the antagonists he creates.  I have to say he’s crawling into the mind of the antagonist quite well, and this time around he certainly did that with both Robert Devereaux (RD) and his assassin, Bain.  When I was reading this book I was definitely cheering for the Lane’s, there’s no real way anyone couldn’t.  They did what they had to in order to prevent the all-out anarchy and corporate takeover that Deveraux was planning.  However, we soon look that RD, like so many nefarious and greedy persons will do absolutely anything he can to prevent Mark and his family from blocking him.  When there’s money and power involved just about anyone can do anything.

Ok, back to my review – John has done a fabulous job researching the history, people, and locations surrounding Washington DC in the midst of the Civil War. It’s always interesting to me to hear about how much the city has changed and what it was like to live and function during the era of Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.   Being from that area I was very familiar with all the locations mentioned, and have actually had a chance to see a show at Ford’s Theater.  This particular novel takes us on that tour of our Nation’s Capital while laying the groundwork for the very story that will captivate and draw you in from the word go.

I really enjoyed this story and as soon as I started reading it I could not put it down, reading until well past midnight.  I felt connected to the story and could really just see why each character does what they do.  I crawled into Mark’s head and knew kind of how he was processing information and making plans, I could almost walk in Mary’s shoes and be the protective mother she was all the while trying to manipulate some of the country’s most powerful men to bend to her will.  I felt the heartache Jordan felt when he spoke of losing his college girlfriend, and yet the joy he felt when he was with Rebecca (there’s more – no spoilers).  I sincerely look forward to seeing where the Lane’s will go to next!

Again, a 5 out of 5 for The Lane Betrayal.

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of The Lane Betrayal:

Amazon.com

Book Review: Camp Lake (Carson Chronicles Book 5), John A. Heldt

Summary:

Borrowed from Amazon.com

Phoenix, Spring 1983. For the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, it has come down to this. Find the parents they have chased through time for more than two years or go home and resume their lives without them.

While Adam and Greg remain in Arizona and Natalie searches the country for leads, Cody and Caitlin travel to a summer camp in Maine, where their mother and father met as counselors. The twins, now 19, hope to intercept the older versions of their parents even as they work beside the younger ones.

All of the Carsons prepare for a reunion that seems inevitable. Then tragedy strikes one family member and seductive strangers pull two others in unhelpful directions as a summer of promise turns into one of uncertainty and sacrifice.

Filled with humor, romance, and heartbreak, CAMP LAKE, the poignant conclusion of the Carson Chronicles series, follows the lives of several spirited adults as they confront choices and change the era of big hair, space shuttles, and video arcades.

Review:

Picking right up from where we left off in Caitlin’s Song we find the Carsons back home in Arizona trying to figure out their next moves in order to locate their long-missing parents. With two babies and a gaggle of people moving everyone seems contradictory, so they decide to split up in order to hopefully cover more ground.

This book reminds me a LOT of the Back to the Future movies where Marty McFly is trying desperately to return to 1985 and the adventures he encounters along the way.  Only this book is more similar to the first movie in that Caitlin, Cody and Dennis interact with the teen versions of Caroline and Tim while working at the camp where they met and fell in love in the summer of 1983.  While trying to figure out how to find the adult Caroline and Tim they are treading on very thin ice to make sure they don’t interrupt their parents’ meet-cute and romance in similar fashion to Marty with his parents.

I literally could NOT put this one away, once I started reading I wanted to keep reading to find out what was going to happen next, were the kids and their respective spouses going to ever find Tim & Caroline? How was this going to play out.  I stayed up way past my bedtime in order to answer those very questions and once again John did not disappoint.  I look forward to seeing what he comes up with next and what stories will follow these.  They will be good as this series has definitely been the best yet!

Five out of Five Stars for Camp Lake.

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Caitlin’s Song:

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Book Review: Caitlin’s Song (Carson Chronicles Book 4), John A. Heldt

Summary:

Borrowed from Amazon.com

Love, courage, and commitment take center stage as the Carsons, a family of time travelers, continue their saga in the great American West.

For the Carson children, ages 19 to 29, an unplanned stop in 1962 is a chance to grow. Adam, Greg, and Natalie begin lives with new spouses in Boulder, Colorado, while twins Cody and Caitlin get their first taste of college. All plan to resume the search for their missing parents as soon as they can.

For Tim and Caroline Carson, a planned stop in the rendezvous year of 1972 is a nightmare. While reading about their children’s lives in 1962, they learn that one has crossed paths with a killer. Faced with limited options, they race back to the past to reroute history and prevent a series of murders.

In CAITLIN’S SONG, the fourth novel in the Carson Chronicles series, members of a modern family find romance, adventure, and terror as they seek answers and each other in four memorable eras of American history.

Review:

WOW WOW WOW!!!!

This book quite literally had me on the edge of my seat from the off! I wanted to keep reading even when it got late at night and my clock was ticking closer to midnight knowing full well I had to get up for work the next morning! John doesn’t disappoint again – he’s nailed it this time.  Here I thought the previous three in the series were good, Caitlin’s Song just took everything to the next level.

The book picks up moments after the Carson’s went through the portal into 1962, they have to get rid of the bullet-ridden cars they were driving and head westward towards Colorado.  All the while their parents have taken their own portal into the year 1972 in a desperate move to try and reunite with the kids and their growing family.  Tim and Caroline learn some devastating news that could rip the very fabric of their family and thus the adventures begin!

Caitlin and Cody enroll in college while in Boulder making connections with students around them.  Caitlin especially falls hard for Cody’s roommate, Dennis.  Young Love being what it is its one-sided until a pivotal moment when Dennis lays it all on the line for Caitlin.  In a bold very romantic move he tries to win her over and away from Vincent, the confidant sophomore who is trying to woo her.

Tim and Caroline now have to learn where the rip begins and how to prevent tragedy from befalling their family – putting on their detective hats they make a somewhat questionable move to travel back to 1941 in hopes of preventing one trauma from unraveling the whole.  Crossing their figurative fingers they leap and hope the jump lands bulls-eye for success.

And thus the web is spun for the Carson Clan to begin their next and hopefully last journey into 1983 to try and reunite with their parents.

To say I am anxious for the next book is an understatement.  Five out of Five Stars for Caitlin’s Song.

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Caitlin’s Song:

Amazon.com

Book Review: Indian Paintbrush (Carson Chronicles Book 3), John A. Heldt

Summary from Amazon:

Arizona, December 1943. After surviving perilous six-month journeys to 1889 and 1918, the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, seek a respite in their home state. While Adam and Greg settle down with their Progressive Era brides, Natalie and Caitlin start romances with wartime aviators and Cody befriends a Japanese family in an internment camp. The time travelers regroup, bury old ghosts, and continue their search for their missing parents. Then old problems return, new ones emerge, and a peaceful hiatus becomes a race for survival. In INDIAN PAINTBRUSH, the sequel to RIVER RISING and THE MEMORY TREE, seven young adults find love and adventure as they navigate the home front during the height of World War II.

Review:

Picking up right where The Memory Tree left off we find the Carsons having just passed through the shimmering sheet of time travel landing in 1944, the height of WWII. This time they spend their time in their home state of Arizona making friends, and falling in love at a time when our country was in the throes of a historic war. With old foes and problems following them into 1944 it seems as if the family will never find anything resembling a peaceful normalcy.  The ladies Natalie and Caitlin especially are searching for this normalcy and both find it in the arms of two airman from the local air force training base. A ray of normal shines brightest with the birth of Adam and Bridget’s daughter, Camille; a hope that life can continue to move forward despite their transient life.

Even though the family briefly separate as the twins head back to their friend Emma’s farm in Pennsylvania in hopes of finding clues as to the whereabouts of their parents, everyone comes back together in Arizona to try and figure out their next steps.  This time they believe staying in one place and letting their parents come to them is the best way to move forward with their search. Everyone finds a way to contribute to the war effort with jobs in the war industry; Adam running a recycling facility, Greg teaching English to Chinese and British trainees, the girls maintaining engines at the airbase and Cody delivering medical supplies. In the end though, old demons surface and the five siblings find themselves once again facing down the ghosts that seem to follow them through time.

Again, John has captured the audience with this amazing novel! I always look forward to the next book in this series both because of the enticing story it will tell and on pin point to see if the siblings will FINALLY find their parents.  Though deep down I know John will keep that secret until the end of the last book, just because he’s that kind of author.  I am looking forward to finding out what happens next for sure!

Giving Indian Paintbrush Five Stars!

About the Author John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Memory Tree:

Amazon.com

Book Review: Memory Tree, John A. Heldt

Summary From Author:

Days after barely escaping 1889 with their lives, the Carsons, siblings from the present day, resume their search for their missing parents in 1918. While Adam and his pregnant wife, Bridget, settle in Minnesota, unaware of a wildfire that will kill hundreds, Greg seeks clues in his great-grandparents’ Mexico, where he finds love, danger, and enemies. At the same time, Natalie, the ambitious journalist, follows a trail to World War I France, and teen twins Cody and Caitlin rekindle a friendship with an old Pennsylvania friend haunted by her past. In THE MEMORY TREE, the sweeping sequel to RIVER RISING, several time travelers find answers and meaning as they continue the adventure of a lifetime in the age of doughboys, silent movies, and Model T’s.

Review:

The Carson’s have successfully made it to 1918 in this next book in the Carson Chronicles.  And yet their journey isn’t over yet, they continue to face danger, confusion, and missteps all along the way all the while trying tirelessly to locate their parents.  A game of cat and mouse that might just lead them to more adventures along the way.

This time the siblings separate, each taking a different path in hopes of finding their parents.  The teen twins head to Pennsylvania to try and locate them using an old family connection from the Civil War.  While Adam and Bridgett turn to Minnesota in hopes of finding them through another family line, only to come face to face with a historic forest fire that nearly destroys them and the family.  All the while Natalie, the middle child, heads off to follow her journalistic dreams in WWI France and meets up with some old family friends, facing tragedy in the meantime. Lastly, there’s Greg who heads down to Mexico track down his Maternal Grandparents and instead, he finds love in an unlikely place.

This second book in the Carson Chronicles series will leave the reader on edge throughout! Always looking for more and more, as a vicious reader will know, just one more chapter, can lead to consuming the whole book in its entirety in one sitting.  The author doesn’t shy away from this tendency and keeps the reader wanting more and more. In the end, I always tell him he’s terrible because he leaves us hanging so!

I am going to Give Memory Tree Five out of Five Stars

About the Author: John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Memory Tree:

Amazon.com

Thoughts, 04/03/18

It’s been ages since I have popped in to visit.

Yes I’ve put my book reviews and possibly moving into the publishing industry permanently on hold – just lost my groove if you will and ran out of free time.

It’s been a couple years since my last post and frankly I have a lot on my mind I need to get out.  This forum is mine to do with as I please, so here I go:

I’ve been working once again to lose weight – and in the last 27ish days since I decided to rejoin MyFitnessPal I have managed to drop all of (2) two pounds, which isn’t a lot but it’s something and I am ok with it.

However, my mind is running a hundred miles an hour as of late – and the thoughts all center on one thing: My Life!

I initially began writing this blog because I thought I’d found my path, boy was I wrong. We weren’t willing to move out of state, or uproot our kids from their lives to move to where the publishing jobs were (Chicago, NY City, and San Francisco) and yes I know one can sometimes do the work online, but the big publishing houses prefer to see some level of experience in the industry and I was told that if I wanted to do anything we’d have to move.

So here I sit, wondering once again where I should be headed in life.

So questions are asked, one: What am I go at?

1. Administrative Work – this skill supports my family
2. My creative outlets include Crochet and Writing this Blog
3. My structural outlets include doing anything related to organizing things and that includes doing our monthly budget and watching those numbers

So then this leads one to ask: What am I passionate about?

1. Animal welfare – including our domestic furry friends in my home, cats & dogs.  Though this doesn’t leave out rabbits, rats, guinea pigs and any other form of domestic animal.  It also includes those living on farms and in the wild.
2. The rights and treatment of lower-level employees, especially in retail/food service.  If anyone has ever worked either one of these types of jobs you know the stigma associated with them.  It’s not pretty.  And it seems the corporations “forget” about those out there doing the day-to-day grind.  I could go on, but I won’t.
3. Girl Scouting
4. Crochet

So now that I have listed these – now I need to figure out what to do with them – perhaps this is why I keep getting held at arms length as a ‘temp’ no matter where I work…interesting concept, no?

Book Review: Class of ’59, John A. Heldt

Summary from Author:

When Mary Beth McIntire settles into a vacation house on June 2, 2017, she anticipates a quiet morning with coffee. Then she hears a noise, peers out a window, and spots a man in 1950s attire standing in the backyard. She panics when the trespasser sees her and enters the house though a door to the basement. She questions her sanity when she cannot find him. 

In the same house on March 21, 1959, Mark Ryan finds a letter. Written by the mansion’s original owner in 1900, the letter describes a basement chamber, mysterious crystals, and a formula for time travel. Driven by curiosity, Mark tests the formula twice. On his second trip to 2017, he encounters a beautiful stranger. He meets the woman in the window. 

 

Within hours, Mary Beth and Mark share their secret with her sister and his brother and begin a journey that takes them from the present day to the age of sock hops, drive-ins, and jukeboxes. In CLASS OF ’59, the fourth book in the American Journey series, four young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they navigate the corridors of time and experience Southern California in its storied prime.

Review:

I was very much looking forward to reading John’s newest addition to his American Journey series and while I wasn’t blown away by the treatment of the book – I have to say I wasn’t overly disappointed either.  This time, the series brings the main characters back and forth through time ultimately ending with them making a time-breaking decision.  I had a hard time this go round relating to the characters as I have in the past.  Seemed the story was not quite as developed as the others have been,be it in his Northwest Passages series or American Journey series – these characters seemed a little two dimensional.  While the story was good, I just couldn’t get attached to them as I had in past books.

This time the 1950’s meets the present-day world with Mary Beth and Mark sharing the journey with their younger siblings – while both relationships are up and down, ultimately it was difficult to decide where they were going.  I could not connect with present-day or 1950’s California and these young people’s experiences of both time periods.  All-in-all I felt like the story was rushed and forced.

This time Three out of Five stars for Class of ’59.

About the Author, John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Class of ’59

Amazon.com

Book Review: Indiana Belle, American Journey Part 2, by John A. Heldt

Summary from Author:

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the “time-travel professor,” and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, INDIANA BELLE follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

Review:

The Roaring 20’s are a time that live in our imaginations, fueled by books such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and movies surrounding the same era – the glitz, the glam, and the hidden speak-easy’s.  Women trying their hands at working outside the home and building their own businesses, albeit hiding behind pseudonyms and nicknames.

When Cameron is given the option of studying the very family surrounding Dr. Bell’s family he immediately jumps on the opportunity and turns Dr. Bell’s policies and procedures upside down in an attempt to save one Indiana Belle, Candice Bell, from an untimely death at the hands of someone who wanted her dead for their own selfish reasons.  Immediately the story draws you in, initially telling Cameron’s story, giving the reader his short back story and delving into his character.  Then telling the entire Bell family story.  John always does an amazing job of developing characters, the environment, and pulling readers into his stories very quickly, Indiana Belle, once again does not disappoint.

I cannot say enough about John’s writing style and his ability to develop characters and draw the reader into the time period in which he’s written, be it the roaring 1920s, the 1930s and the impending doom of WWII or even post WWII America.  How he does it is astounding, and how he gets such detail is amazing.  I cannot say other than a lot of research!  I am looking forward very much to his next writing endeavor!

Again Five out of Five Stars for Indiana Belle

About the Author, John A. Heldt

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.

Connect with John

Website  Amazon Author Page  BookBub   Facebook  Goodreads  Twitter

Purchase Your Copy of Indiana Belle

Amazon.com