If someone took everything you live for, how far would you go to get it back?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 … 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.
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I can’t get enough of Time Travel books & Crossing In Time by D L Orton fits the bill. There’s romance and just enough sexual content to keep it interesting. I’d recommend this book to anyone who enjoys time travel stories. I can’t wait to get the second book to find out what happens to Iz & Diego
My thoughts on Crossing in Time
Crossing in Time by D.L. Orton is a fast-paced dystopian romance intertwined with time travel, thriller, and suspense elements. If you’re not much of a sci-fi lover, don’t worry, as the heart of the story is a tangled (in an unexpected way that I can’t elaborate without spoilers) romance. The actual time travel occurs in the last third of the book, so be patient.
What I enjoyed about Crossing in Time
I find the premises of the story refreshing, however, the plot gets convoluted alternating between timelines and dimensions. I don’t know if it’s been done before, but I haven’t read anything like it so far and I was excited to see how it unfolds. It did not disappoint!
I’m happy to say it wasn’t predictable and it ends with a twist. This is the first book in the series so brace yourself for a cliffhanger.
It’s a fast-paced story with an emotional roller coaster so you don’t need to worry about getting bored.
Perfect timing
Although the book came out years ago, it sent chills down my spine to read it in today’s context. The Earth is in danger and humanity is circling down the drain due to many things including a virus (not Covid-19, but something Ebola-like that kills across species) and the main character, Isabel, who is a geneticist must go back in time to rescue her failed relationship because it’s the only thing that can save the world.
Read the full review here: https://www.summonfantasy.com/book-reviews/crossing-in-time-by-d-l-orton-book-review
3.5
Book source ~ Tour
Isabel Sanborn and Diego Nadales broke up over a decade ago, but neither has gotten over the other. A chance meeting in Denver right after Isabel signs her divorce papers puts them on a precarious path to love. And destruction. The only way to save the world is for Isabel to go back in time, but there’s no return ticket and no guarantee the plan will even work. Will she take that quantum leap?
I’ll admit to being a tad confused in the beginning, but things are soon sorted out. Then there’s a bombshell (almost literally) and then I’m back to being confused. But that’s probably just me. There’s a reason why I don’t read many time travel books anymore and it’s because I can’t figure them out. They make my head hurt. Lol However, there are things in this story that are never explained or fleshed out. Some are just dropped in like a bomb, others are mentioned and then never heard from again. Or maybe I missed them? Not sure. Anyway, it isn’t until about 20% that I really became invested in the story. After that it’s a race to the end, to see if our world is saved. Or not.
There are three POVs and the story switches between Isabel, Diego, and a physics professor named Matt Hudson. I’m not sure I totally understand what was going on in The Magic Kingdom (it’s a nickname for a place, not really Disney Land), but the sci-fi mumbo jumbo takes a back seat to the characters and the world they are living in. I couldn’t help but cheer them on because they really needed the cheering. What a mess. Yikes! Plus, I really wanted Isabel and Diego’s story to have a HEA because of everything they had been through. Do they? You’ll have to read to find out how it all ends.
Enjoyed this time travel novel. Diego and Isabel fight for what’s important as time twists around the people they lose, the loves they give up, and the life they are determined to have. And there’s a beach, and that’s all I’m telling you.
Overall Crossing in Time (Between Two Evils #1) is a very well-written novel, exploring the romance between Diego and Isabel through all four dimensions of space-time.
I had a hard time with all the “I just can’t” stuff pulling Isabel back from her relationship with Diego. Maybe I’m too much of a dude when it comes to relationships, but she was so high-maintenance emotionally, I struggled with why Diego would put up with all her internal turmoil and games, because most of her explanations and protestations made no sense. Seriously, I know I wouldn’t date her. She’s a mess — unpredictable and impossible.
I also had a hard time with the narration. Lots of reviewers loved the narration, so I know I’m in the minority, but it was difficult for me to overlook the “through her teeth” words from the very first sentence. The woman who read for Isabel spoke as if she had COPD. Or she was trying desperately to contain some seething anger. Or she was experiencing unimaginable pain.
Her.
voice.
caught.
and.
trembled.
on.
every.
single.
word.
And for that reason, it was difficult not to let that distract from the otherwise very well-written story. For the next two books, I will go for the paperback or Kindle version, and I suggest you do too. Oh yeah, I’ll definitely read them. Orton is a great writer, no doubt about that.
I have received this book for free from The Write Reads. My opinion remains my own.
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.
I am really on the fence with this book as it really has two aspects I have very different opinions about: The sci-fi timetravel apocalypse plot and the steamy romance. And as good as the sci-fi parts are, absolutely incredibly, I am not a fan of steamy romance and it dominated the book a bit. Which is why I am giving it an inbetween rating of three stars: the writing and sci-fi plot are worth 4-4.5 stars, while the romance was a bit… too much and the plot progessed a bit too slow because of it. So that gets 1.5-2 stars from me.
Let’s get into detail. So first the sci-fi timetravel plot. It’s all about the end of the world as a quickly mutating virus will kill all mammals and only by sending someone back in time (and therefore a parallel universe) and make sure the pandemic doesn’t happen there, they stand a chance to defeat it in this world. I really love timetravel and end-of-the-world stories and this book has both. It’s super well executed and the setup for the story development for the rest of this series seems really promising!
On the other hand, it felt like the two main characters were flirting or trying to get in eachothers pants more than half of the time. As someone who identifies on the asexual and aromancit spectrum, I am really not into romance. I enjoy romantic subplots, but this was just a lot for me as it really outgrew subplot. It wasn’t bad romance, it was just a lot of it and a lot to take in.
I actually reallly liked the characters. They weren’t as deeply explored as I usally like best, but they worked out well enough in this setting. I liked all three POV’s (Diego, Isabel and this scientist I couldn’t remember the name of), but as the story is told in first person with two narrators in three POV’s, it was sometimes a bit confusing who’s who.
I do recommend this book, even though it wasn’t for me. Someone who enjoys romance might find this book absolutely spectacular. The writing wasn’t bad either, I actually really liked it very much, despite all of my critiques. When adding all info to this review, I saw that book two and three in this series are available on Scribd so I might check them out as I am really interested in how the sci-fi plot develops and perhaps the romance becomes less as the series goes on.