Jane Stain

Cant get enough!!!

Oh wow!!!! Talk about page turning. Broken hearted by a broken engagement meet weeks prior to her wedding, Jaelle buries herself in her beloved history books. A continuation of the beloved time traveling series starring Tavish, Seamus and Tomas... We now get to travel further back in time to see the Picts. Going through her ex Johns stuff in the basement, history lover Jaelle happens upon an odd Roman helmet. Luckily she's on video chat with a time traveling pal when she tries on the helmet, as she's suddenly transported back to ancient Scotland in the time of the Picts. No time to catch up, she's suddenly my thrust into combat between a Picture warrior and a band of Roman soldiers. Using her knowledge from the Faire and her job at the Museum of combat training, she helps the cute Picture warrior defeat the scurge. Imagine being not just far from home in a strange land, but in a time not much is known of. Even with a vast knowledge of history thanks to her love of the past, Jaelle herself doesn't know much. Using her wits and instinct we go on this amazing trip into the past with her. Discover what happens when the past, evil Druids, a cute Pict leader, jealous paramours and an evil Roman soldier all combine.... Who comes out ahead? Will her friends from the present be able to assist? Will love win out? Take the ride and find out....… (mere)

I was really excited to read Renaissance Faire because I love historical fiction, but I felt let down after I finished the book. From the beginning of the novel the reader is thrown into the story without a real introduction or back story of the main characters. On a positive note though, the moment Emily arrives at the fair and has met Dall, she immediately figures out he isn’t from this century. It spares readers from the ten pages of the “you’ve time-traveled spiel” since we already know he’s from the past, which doesn’t happen too often in other time traveling/ fantasy books.

The moment Emily meets Dall, they have an instant romantic connection despite the fact they just met and they fall into another case of the ever dreaded insta-love. It kind of ruined the romantic aspect for me and throughout the novel Emily complains about needing private time with Dall (because she doesn’t want to be separated from him) even though she spends 70% of the book with him.

As far as the writing goes, there is great attention to detail and Stain puts a lot of effort into the historical aspect of the story, making the reader feel as if they’ve traveled to the Highlands themselves. The chapters are a bit choppy and they sometimes stop short and I think this is because it’s a review copy. The dialogue is also weak at the beginning, but does improves over the course of the novel Another downside to the book is that certain things that happen are so unbelievable and unrealistic even for fiction. For example, Emily calls the doctor to get antibiotics because she needs to bring medicine with her when she time travels. But honestly, who the calls the doctor, asks for antibiotics because their traveling to a “third-world country”, and then gets them within the hour? Really?!… (mere)