Weeks after his parents disappear on a hike, Arizona engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret web site and learns that his mother and father are time travelers stuck in the past. Armed with the information he needs to find them, Adam convinces his younger siblings to join him on a rescue mission to the 1880s. While Greg, the adventurous middle brother, follows … follows leads in the Wild West, Adam, journalist Natalie, and high school seniors Cody and Caitlin do the same in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Like the residents of the bustling steel community, all are unaware of a flood that will destroy the city on May 31, 1889.
In RIVER RISING, the first novel in the five-book Carson Chronicles series, five young adults find love, danger, and adventure as they experience America in the age of bustle dresses, gunslingers, and robber barons.
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Adam Carson is 27, an Engineer and the eldest of 5 siblings. When their parents disappear Adam starts to search for answers as to what had happened. Finding a secret website he convinces his siblings that they are stuck somewhere in the 1880’s and that they should all go and try to find them and bring them back. They split up when there and Greg goes to the Wild West, Natalie works as a journalist and the two youngest enrol in high school. Having no prior knowledge of the area nor the time they are in they have to get used to the clothes, events and norms of the time which puts them in situations of danger, adventure and there are opportunities for love on the way.
This is the first book in this new series from the author and was a great start to a new time-travelling series involving the Carson family and the adventures that they are involved in. There was plenty of drama, danger and even some romance in places, so it was a very enjoyable read. I liked the contrast between the events and experiences of each of the siblings which was a clever way to cover lots of different stories with a common theme to pull them together. The writing was of a good standard and it was easy to empathise with the thoughts and emotions as the characters went through the events in their stories. I’m looking forward now to the next instalment of their combined stories.
An excellent read! Truly enjoyable adventure! An amazing story taking five siblings in search of their time travelling parents so back to 1888, an interesting & great book! I will look for more by this writer & do recommend this story!
I love all of his books.
Loved this book. I had a hard time putting it down.
I believe this was advertised as a time-travel romance. I would never have pinned this as a romance novel. While there is definitely time-travel, the romance is almost non-existent; I don’t even think there was a descriptive kiss. Not a problem for me, I love reading and ended up really enjoying the story! It made me delve into a part of history I didn’t know about. I had NO idea about the horrible tragedy of the 1889 Johnstown Flood. Wow. I read articles about it and looked at photos. It was unbelievable. Absolutely horrific.
At times I got angry with some of the characters for being so stupid, but overall it’s a good read. I have the whole set
WOW, what a ride… I love time travel stories and have read quite a few. This story is amazing in it’s depth and breadth. The writing is very witty and the detail makes one feel like one is experiencing what the characters are experiencing. I have never felt so engrossed in a story before that I recall. Thank you John A Heldt for such a memorable experience. While it could be said to end in a cliffhanger, I think the ending was breathtaking.
great time travel series
This is a credible and nicely told time-travel adventure, always a fun genre! Every author has his/her own sci-fi gimmick for how the Traveler moves to the past, and this story’s theory is as credible as any other. It’s a fun twist to have an entire family of five kids hurtle back more than a century, and the whimsy is heightened when four of them fall in love with appealing characters from long ago.
The one minor complaint has to do with the overall tone. Everyone’s just a little bit too sweet. There’s a lot of chuckling and winking and faux joviality. This is sometimes a flaw in Christian novels, and while this story isn’t in that genre, I think the main characters could have been more gritty. Over and over AND OVER, these kids stare soulfully into their new beaus’ eyes and murmur: “What are you thinking?” In one particularly saccharine scene, they asked that, got an answer, and literally one minute later: “Um, what are you thinking NOW?” Too much of that!
Readers need to be aware that this is an extended series and this first book does not stand alone. However, the story is an okay cliffhanger and it’s worth going into the follow-up volumes.
My great grandfather carried two of his children roof top to roof top in that flood. The story was pretty factual to the reality of the flood. My mother told me how badly he felt as people pleaded for his help and he couldn’t help more than his children. How awful!! And it could have been prevented . . .
Pretty good time travel tale featuring a sibling group of 5.
Very interesting time period with I hope factual meanings about the Johnstown Flood. How devastating this must have been. Found the book fascinating.
A fun take on time travel. I enjoyed it enough to buy Book 2 because I want to know more! 🙂
Great book Ruined by cliffhanger!!
I was loving the history, relationships, and wonderful characters of this Excellent Book. And then it ended with a Cliffhanger. For Shame! I won’t be reading this author again.
I said to my spouse “Johnstown flood” and received the response “1889.” How is it that well-educated people embark on time travel and somehow are ignorant of such a major event? But taking into account the surprising gaps in knowledge in today’s youngsters, I will let that obvious oversight slide since had they known there’d be no story.
This is a fully-fleshed time-travel journey which takes you across the growing country from “the territories” to the sophisticated east coast and then back to the west and pre-earthquake San Francisco. You can imagine yourself trying to adjust to the myriad inconveniences ranging from modes of dress and travel to lack of rapid communication. I, myself, could not be happy without modern plumbing and would certainly miss the convenience of listening to audio books and instantly obtaining information on anything which catches my attention.
Complex and well-plotted (caveat notwithstanding); I fully enjoyed this first adventure of the Carson siblings.