Gday friends. Today I am coming at you with a blog tour!!! It’s a book review for Crossing in Time by D.L. Orton. Before I delve into the review, I do want to say a huge thank you to Dave at The write Reads as well as the awesome bookish community I am apart of as a result.
This review is coming late which I am incredibly sorry about – it’s been chaotic for me recently and my mental health has been everywhere recently.
Anyhow, shall we get on with it?
This is the synopsis that is available on Goodreads for Crossing in Time by D. L. Orton:
The past isn’t over, it’s an opening. The future isn’t hidden, it’s a trap.
If she ever wants to see him again, she’ll have to take the risk.
Fall into this “Funny, Romantic & Harrowing” (Publishers Weekly Starred Review) dystopian love story and prepare to encounter a finicky time machine, a mysterious seashell, and a very clever dog (some sex, some swearing, some violence, but no vampires and absolutely NO ditzes!)
When offered a one-way trip to the past, Isabel sacrifices everything for a chance to change the rapidly deteriorating present–and see her murdered lover one last time. When she arrives twenty years in the past, buck naked and mortally wounded, she has 24 hours to convince a stunned but enraptured nineteen-year-old to change their future. Definitely easier said than done, as success means losing him to a brainy, smart-mouthed bombshell (her younger self), and that’s a heart breaker, save the world or not.
This offbeat tale is about falling madly in love when one is too cynical for such things, letting go of pessimism when it’s the last life jacket on a sinking ship, and racing against the clock when one doesn’t have the proper footwear. It’s a coming-of-age story for old fogeys, a how-to-make-love guide for diehard celibates, and a laugh-out-loud tragedy with a hopeful twist.
As I just finished reading this, everything is super fresh in my mind but it also means that this review may not read as coherent as I hope (so bare with me).
Crossing in Time is a uniquely crafted multi perspective narrative that portrays a sort of dystopian-esque story with a heavy dose of romance and plays with the concept of time and timelines. As in, multiple timelines.
Our three main protagonists are Isabel, Diego and Matt Hudson, who is a British professor (of physics and an expert in material sciences and black holes), Crossing In Time is narrated in first person in order to fully engage and immerse the reader into the mind, action and emotions of each character. The novel is also told in differing time lines which is where I will state that this would be one of the critiques I would highlight. As it was narrated in first person multi perspective, it was sometimes challenging to figure out when and who the chapter was about. Alongside a few other people, I believe it would have been so much more helpful if there were at least dates displayed at the beginning of each chapter.
That being said though, it was quite a unique and refreshing plot. Racing to find out whether Isabel, Diego and Matt would save the world from impending apocalypse (!! That cliffhanger though) ensured that Crossing in Time was fast-paced and action-packed. It was fun.
The romance, however, was one that I had a slight issue with. Crossing in Time is a combination of action, sci-fi, apocalyptic, thriller with a heavy dose of romance. Emphasis on heavy dose of romance. We first meet Diego and Isabel when they literally bump into each other after fifteen years in Denver (I think it’s Denver…). Isabel and Diego spend their first scenes together arguing about the past, as they were in a Roma tic relationship fifteen years ago that did not part all that well…which would be an understatement. But then the building they’re in collapses resulting in both of them being injured, they both fall into each other again. Them going from arguing to a relationship so quickly didn’t sit right with me. I also felt that Isabel was almost always painted as a victim or as a woman constantly needing to be saved by her masculine man Diego. It got annoying. I typically enjoy romance a lot, but this relationship was not one that I enjoyed reading all that much.
Overall, Crossing in Time by D.L. Orton was a unique and fun read that was a combination of action-packed, apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic thriller romance that will immerse you completely in the lives of its characters. I would rate it a 3 out of 5 stars as it was a solid, engaging book – one that I think many people will thoroughly enjoy.
Again, thank you so much to The Write Reads and the author for the opportunity to read and review this book for the blog tour!
That’s it, folks. Until next time, happy reading!
All the love,
Allie
Xx
About the Author:
DL Orton, the bestselling author of the BETWEEN TWO EVILS series, lives in the foothills of the Rockies where she and her husband are raising three boys, a golden retriever, two Siberian cats, and an extremely long-lived Triops.
In her spare time, she’s building a time machine so that someone can go back and do the laundry.
Website: http://www.DLOrton.com
Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25398303-crossing-in-time?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=ljS6PqAeOr&rank=1
