Cidney Swanson

Book 8 in the Thief of Time series sees the regular gang back for more mixed up chronological fun.
This time, their unknown nemesis from book 7, Robert Duval is playing fast and loose with none other than ‘The Little Corporal’ himself Napoleon Bonaparte.

Setting out to remove The Eiffel Tower from history as an experiment, Duval inadvertently replaces the United States of America with a Royal French Kingdom.
Once again the author has written a fast paced adventure in time, blending in real history with the story to ensure the reader learns while being entertained.

Based in the ironically named town of Wellesley, Florida (or Floride), the time-team are pitched into a kidnapping, a voyage on a doomed ship, imprisonment in post ‘reign of terror’ France and a brush with ‘Madame Guillotine’ herself. Chuck in an off again / on again wedding and a near-fatal heart attack and you’ve got all the ingredients for a book that’ll be très difficile to put down.

This reads just as well as a stand-alone as it does as part of the series.… (mere)

When Jessamyn is grounded for crashing an aircraft on the Mars colony she thinks her chance of joining the next trade mission to Earth to save her planet from starvation are ruined.

But then Jess’s autistic brother is selected for the mission and she is asked to go along to keep him sane during the trip.

The trip to Earth doesn’t go as planned and Jess finds herself thrust into the politics of a dystopian planet that thinks that the Mars colonists died out years ago.

With adventure, drama and a dash of romance Jess sets out to rescue her brother before his body gets donated to an Earthling as part of the complex bodyswap program that is enforced by the planets dictatorial leader.

The characters are distinctive, the plot races along at a decent pace and there are moments of real tension as the away party struggle to complete their mission of saving Mars

I’ve read books from three of Cidney Swanson’s various series and this is the best of the bunch. I loved the lead characters and the plot has enough twists and surprises to keep everything interesting.

An excellent series opener… (mere)