Book Review: The Fair (Time Box #2) by John A. Heldt

I enjoy this author and his time travel family adventures.
The Fair (Time Box #2)
by John A. Heldt

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B08C2RMG6Q
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2020
File size ‏ : ‎ 1423 KB
Print length ‏ : ‎ 329 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel Romance
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0.

Months after stealing two time machines from a madman who wants them back, the Lanes, a family of six, seek safety and contentment in 1893, the latest stop on a journey through time. While parents Mark and Mary find relief at Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition, an extravaganza of science and splendor, children Jeremy, Laura, and Ashley find romance, friendship, and thrills.
Older son Jordan, meanwhile, heads west in search of answers. Grieving the loss of a lover from 1865, he travels to Virginia City, Nevada, where he integrates himself into a storied mining community and the heart of a pretty library clerk.
Billionaire Robert Devereux could not care less. Reeling from the theft of his million-dollar devices, he sends an assassin to the past to retrieve his property and rid the world of his former business partner and his troublesome clan.
Filled with humor, heartbreak, and suspense, THE FAIR follows a modern family on the adventure of a lifetime as they navigate their way through an unforgettable year in American history.

Review:
Mark Lane and his family (wife and four children) took two time machines from 2021 in order to keep them away from harmful use by Mark’s corrupt partner, Robert. The Lanes were regrouping in 1865 until their lives got complicated with the assassination of President Lincoln. Their presence in that time and place was revealed to Robert who sent an assassin, Silas, to kill the family and retrieve the time machines. At the end of book 1, The Lane Betrayal, the family made a last-minute escape to the 1700s to throw off the search and again regroup.

Now, in book 2, the Lanes have to escape Silas again, so they travel to 1893 hoping to get lost in the crowds attending the Chicago’s World’s Columbian Exposition. As the parents and three children explore the wonders of the Fair and make new friends, Jordan, the eldest son, takes a train west seeking to recover after losing his second lover in a year of life changes.

Jordan makes friends with a mature female librarian from Virginia City, Clara. Rather than continuing west, Jordan detours to Virginia City where he meets Clara’s ‘adopted’ daughter, Jessie. As Jordan and Jessie share time together growing a friendship, Jeremy is growing his own romance back in Chicago. The problem for Jeremy is that his first love is out of his reach and star-crossed.

Jeremy’s twin, Laura, makes friends with a spirited Irish lass, Prudence, who is an underappreciated commercial artist working in the Women’s Building of the Fair. Their friendship and interaction, as well as Jessie’s situation in Nevada, highlight the big changes for women’s rights that exist now that didn’t exist 120 years ago.

While the young adults are busy making friends, they are not forgotten in current times by Robert who is still obsessed with retaking the machines and eliminating the family. Robert has his company staff searching for clues to locate the Lane’s location in the past. No one knows that the Lane’s have one ally in the company who continues to try to protect them. He can only do so much and is unable to prevent the clues that surface that allow Robert’s scientists to send Silas back to attack the family for the third time.

I enjoy the blend of historic, relational, and suspenseful elements this author is able to weave in his stories. The personal relationships and historical details make for an engaging story while the author skillfully maintains a thread of tension for the danger that keeps the family on edge. The danger erupts in the last 15% of the story and had me reading on edge to know what would happen. I want to get the next books to continue following the adventures and suspense surrounding this family. I recommend the series to those who enjoy strong time travel adventures that include good character building and nice romance developments.

Source: June 20, 2021 received from the author. This qualifies for 2022TBR, 2022Alphabet, and 2022ebook reading goals.

The Lane Betrayal, Book 1 my rating 4.5

Book Review: The Lane Betrayal (Time Box Book 1) by John A. Heldt

The suspense in this time travel continues until the last pages.

The Lane Betrayal (Time Box Book 1)
by John A. Heldt

File Size: 517 KB
ASIN: B085B7MDLH
Publication Date: February 29, 2020
Print Length: 299 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel Romance
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

From the author of the critically acclaimed Northwest Passage, American Journey, and Carson Chronicles series comes the first book in the Time Box saga.
Virginia physicist Mark Lane has a problem. Weeks after privately creating two time machines, he learns his corporate partner wants to use the portable devices for nefarious purposes. Rather than give him the chance to do so, Mark takes the time boxes and escapes to the relative safety of 1865.
For Mark, wife Mary, and their children, the adventure is a chance to grow. Mary runs a business. Jeremy, 19, and Ashley, 12, befriend escaped slaves. Laura, 22, finds her place as a nurse. Jordan, 25, falls for a beautiful widow. All hope to find peace in the past.
Billionaire Robert Devereaux has other ideas. Shortly after Mark's betrayal, he sends an assassin to 1865 to retrieve his property and set matters straight.
Filled with romance, suspense, and history, THE LANE BETRAYAL follows a modern American family as it tries to find security and contentment in the final weeks of the Civil War.

Review:
Mark is a physicist who developed a time machine they call a Time Box. Mark learns that his business partner, Robert, is planning to use the device to change history and benefit from financial matters. Mark makes plans to disclose Robert’s nefarious intent and to destroy the company. But the only way Mark can escape the consequences is to take his family into the past. Mark, his wife Mary, and their four children aged 12 to 25, agree to the adventure that will take them to 1865 and the world of Abraham Lincoln.

Mary, a businesswoman, has pulled together products that she can take into the past to sell. Jordan has military intelligence to help the family and they all have studied up on the times to be ready. They gathered the clothing, guns, and coins that should be suitable for the time and place.

Robert, having forgotten his own promise to never use the time machine for harm or change to the past, is furious at the betrayal by Mark. Robert manages to deflect the immediate press on the situation and to turn the attention towards Mark who disappeared. Robert tasks his team with recreating the Time Box and studying the timeline to find a clue to where Mark took his family. Robert is ready to send a skilled assassin to go back to retrieve the original two Time Boxes and to ‘deal with’ Mark and his family.

Mark tried to plan everything ahead to cover his tracks, but he didn’t catch all the details. This mistake leaves an opening for the relentless anger of Robert and gets Mark taken into custody. Although this results in interesting meetings with Secretary of War, Edward Stanton, and President Lincoln, the family is placed at risk because one of the boxes has been confiscated.

While Mark struggles in Washington, Jordan has to make a risky return to where they first arrived in 1865. Injured while trying to escape danger, Jordan ends up on the doorstep of a young woman whom he met briefly. Their relationship leaves behind another clue that creates more suspense.

There is some similarity to the author’s Carson Chronicles which also involves young family members traveling in time. This book had more foibles as the Lane family leaves a trail of clues and are prepared to interfere in historical events that would reveal the Lane’s location, as well as risk changing history.

I do enjoy Heldt’s time travel novels. There is interesting historical detail, an engaging story, and suspense that runs right to the end. I did suspect and was right, that this story would end at a place that will leave much open for a sequel. I recommend this to fans of family stories, history, and particularly to time travel.

Source: Book supplied by Author for an honest review. This qualifies for my 2020 Author review goal.

Book Review: Indian Paintbrush (Carson Chronicles Book 3) by John A. Heldt

Wonderful historical details add to this time travel family drama/adventure.

Indian Paintbrush (Carson Chronicles Book 3)
by John A. Heldt

File Size: 645 KB
Print Length: 419 pages
Publication Date: November 26, 2018
Language: English
ASIN: B07KWHMRFW
Genre: Time Travel Romance
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Arizona, December 1943. After surviving perilous six-month journeys to 1889 and 1918, the Carsons, five siblings from the present day, seek a respite in their home state. While Adam and Greg settle down with their Progressive Era brides, Natalie and Caitlin start romances with wartime aviators and Cody befriends a Japanese family in an internment camp. The time travelers regroup, bury some ghosts, and continue their search for their missing parents. Then old problems return, new ones emerge, and a peaceful hiatus becomes a race for survival. In INDIAN PAINTBRUSH, the sequel to RIVER RISING and THE MEMORY TREE, several young adults find love and adventure as they navigate the home front during the height of World War II.

Review:
This continues to time travel adventures of the Carson family. The Carson siblings, Adam and his pregnant wife, Bridget, Greg and his new wife Patricia, Natalie, and the twins, Cody and Caitlin, travel from 1918 to arrive in Arizona in December 1943. They move to Phoenix where they acquire jobs and make friends. Natalie and Caitlin work as mechanics at the airfield and begin romances with a pilot instructor and a pilot trainee respectfully. Cody’s job brings him to a Japanese family in an internment camp. He makes friends with a young woman and seeks a way to help her family.

Despite getting jobs, there are those who challenge the Carson men for not enlisting. There are also rumors spread to the FBI that raise questions about a Carson fugitive from 1889. This makes matters tense for the sibling family.

Meanwhile parents, Tim and Caroline, have tried to meet the children in 1943 but they arrive too early, September in Pennsylvania instead of December in Arizona. They visit some of the same ‘friends’ of the young people but experience different circumstances as they are in a different time stream. Their search for the children brushes and slips by like ships barely passing in the dark.

I found the historical settings in 1943-44 intriguing, including the Japanese internment camp. It is quickly apparent that the young people are stepping into realms fraught with emotional turmoil and difficult decisions regarding their caring and sharing. I was shaking my head as I saw the troubles they were creating for themselves. It was interesting to see how author Heldt would treat each dilemma. As is the pattern from the prior books, the last chapters tense up with danger and an exciting race to the next time jump… where adventures will no doubt continue in the next book.

I enjoy how the story is told in chapters that feature views from the alternating characters. Mr. Heldt does a good job of blending ‘real-to-life’ situations (like new babies and new romance) with the challenges of time travel issues. I recommend this to readers who enjoy family fiction with time travel as a bonus.

Source: 12/18 Author review request. This qualifies for 2019TBR, 2019Alphabet and Author Review Goals.

Book Review: The Memory Tree by John A. Heldt

This is an engaging story with good historical detail.
The Memory Tree (Carson Chronicles Book 2)
by John A. Heldt

File Size: 694 KB
Print Length: 659 pages
Publication Date: April 30, 2018
ASIN: B07CSJ4TMV
Genre: Adventure, Historical Fiction, Time Travel
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Days after barely escaping 1889 with their lives, the Carsons, siblings from the present day, resume their search for their missing parents in 1918. While Adam and his pregnant wife, Bridget, settle in Minnesota, unaware of a wildfire that will kill hundreds, Greg seeks clues in his great-grandparents' Mexico, where he finds love, danger, and enemies. At the same time, Natalie, the ambitious journalist, follows a trail to World War I France, and teen twins Cody and Caitlin rekindle a friendship with an old Pennsylvania friend haunted by her past. In THE MEMORY TREE, the sweeping sequel to RIVER RISING, several time travelers find answers and meaning as they continue the adventure of a lifetime in the age of doughboys, silent movies, and Model T's.

Review:
The five Carson siblings have now time traveled from 1889 (River Rising: The Carson Chronicles Book 1) to 1918. They are still trying to find their missing parents and they are using locations from their family history hoping that their parents may be there too.

Adam and Bridget settle in Minnesota awaiting the birth of their child. There they make friends with neighbors who are relatives in the Carson past.

Gregg goes to Mexico seeking to meet with their great-grandparents from that branch of the family. Unfortunately, he fails to figure out how he will legally cross the border without proper papers and with a criminal past, even if it is from twenty-nine years before. His behavior isn’t exactly honorable. First he makes friends with a pretty redhead librarian in El Paso. After he manages to sneak into Mexico he meets another strong, independent redhead who really captures his interest. His attempts to help her puts him in hot water with the law once again, making for a difficult exit strategy.

Natalie lands a dream job first in Chicago and then as a war correspondent. She travels to France to interview soldiers on the front lines where she makes coincidental friends with family related friends.

The 18-year-old twins, Cody and Caitlin, travel to Pennsylvania where Cody hopes to meet his 1889 crush, Emma, even though she is now married with grown children. He hopes that the visit will allow him to convince his heart to move on. They just have to figure out how to tell her that they are time travelers who haven’t aged at all over the past 29 years.

Again, Mr. Hedlt creates engaging, warm characters and interesting situations where he shares wonderful historical detail. There is excitement and danger in the Minnesota wildfire, complications below the border and war weary soldiers in France. I loved the concept of the Memory Tree in Pennsylvania.

This story is a bit longer than my usual reading, but it kept me engaged all the way through. As I neared the end I was a little disconcerted to realize that would be another crisis ending leaving the journey to continue in the next volume. I really wasn’t thrilled with this scenario, especially as it meant that obvious steps of connecting with their parents were missed or ignored by the children. (For example, once they realized that their parents had sent them a message, why didn’t they try to communicate in the same manner?) Still, the story moves at a good pace with entertaining action and history. I am curious to see what happens to the characters in their next time travel jump. I recommend this to readers who enjoy well developed characters, historical detail and time travel complications.

Source: Author.

Audible Book Review: River Rising, Carson Chronicles, Book 1, by John A. Heldt

I enjoyed this time travel adventure. Mr. Hedlt creates engaging characters and situations.

River Rising
Carson Chronicles, Book 1
By: John A. Heldt
Narrated by: Chaz Allen

Length: 13 hrs and 8 mins
Unabridged
Release date: 01-05-18
Language: English
Publisher: John A. Heldt
Genre: Adventure, Time Travel
My Rating: Story 4.0 of 5.0
Audio: 4.0 of 5.0

Publisher's Summary
Weeks after his parents disappear on a hike, engineer Adam Carson, 27, searches for answers. Then he discovers a secret website and learns his mom and dad 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 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 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.
©2017 John A. Heldt (P)2017 John A. Heldt

Review:
Adam Carson and his four siblings have lost their parents. Months after they are buried Adam gets a package from the family lawyer that reveals a remarkable secret. Their parents might not be dead because they have apparently traveled back in time. Adam presents the proposal to his brothers and sisters: stay without their parents or travel back in time to find them? The children agree to leave their world in 2017 to go to 1880 to find their parents.

The story follows the youths as they adjust to a past without cars, phones, computers or the many other modern conveniences they are accustomed to. Greg takes the train to the West, Arizona and California, running into a bit of frontier trouble. The rest of the family is in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a growing town where some find work, they all make friends and even a couple find romance. They become nicely involved in the community even as they watch the date for their return to 2017. However, they don’t realize they are in the path of a rising flood.

I thoroughly enjoyed the history as well as the story line. Heldt develops the characters of each of the siblings, who are good people, who have growing friendships. I enjoyed the gentle romances, the strength of Natalie’s character, and the excitement and danger that Greg faces. It was also fun to have Samuel Clemens as a brief character.

I have read early books that involved the parents’ time travels. Those explained the time mechanism where this book totally skimmed that which could be a hole for readers who weren’t familiar with the prior works. It was also unclear to me why the parents missed their timely return and the children arrived somewhere they didn’t expect to be. (Maybe it was there, and I missed it in the audio.)

I appreciate the warm characters and the imaginative and engaging story which are consistent with Mr. Heldt’s writings. I also liked how the story is told in different chapters from the view of the siblings. This story has an ending but it is not the end of the journey. I recommend the story to fans of time travel and also to those who like strong sibling adventure, historical details and clean romance.

Audio Notes: Chaz Allen takes a little bit of getting used to. He doesn’t really give a distinct voice to each character. However, his direct presentation with just a touch of a slow drawl, seems to fit the story, especially the historic settings. I was glad to listen to this in audio as it is a longer book than I normally pick up.

Source: From the author through AudioBook Boom for an honest review. This qualifies for my Audiobook and Alphabet Challenge, including 2018.

Book Review: Indiana Belle (American Journey Book 3) by John A. Heldt

This is an engaging time-travel with romance and mystery.
Indiana Belle (American Journey Book 3)
by John A. Heldt

File Size: 743 KB
Print Length: 295 pages
Publisher: John A. Heldt (April 14, 2016)
ASIN: B01E9UB7Z8
Genre: Time Travel, Mystery, Romance
My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the "time-travel professor," and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, INDIANA BELLE follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

Review:
Cameron Coelho is researching to prepare a doctoral dissertation on the roaring twenties. He receives a package including a diary and a photograph of a beautiful and smart society editor, Candice Louise Bell, who was murdered in 1925. The clues in the diary and papers imply that Candice’s father and uncle found a means of time travel. Cameron quickly becomes obsessed with the picture of Candice and the idea of time travel.

Cameron contacts Geoffrey Bell who is a descendant of Candice’s uncle. Geoffrey is a bit standoffish but his charming wife, Jeanette, is encouraging. After discussions Cameron barters with Geoffrey for a chance to go back in time! Cameron has no family and no real friends or connections so it isn’t so difficult for him to move into a new setting. Still he wasn’t completely prepared for all circumstances or emotions.

Cameron befriends Candice and secretly begins to try to unravel the events that will result in her death. Candice is an eager reporter who has been sniffing out crime in her community. There are several powerful men in her sphere including her dedicated and sometimes progressive news boss, a rich lawyer who was her ex-fiance, and ‘hidden’ members of the local KKK. Cameron also meets the man who was found guilty of the murder. Now Cameron just has to figure out how to keep her save and not destroy the future.

Mr. Heldt has a wonderful ability to write an engaging time travel with lovely, sweet romance and a mystery added in. I enjoy the settings and the difficulties that Candice faces in an age that is just on the verge of women moving into more visible and important positions. There is also interesting history of prohibition and KKK. The expected murder and the mystery surrounding the event add a feeling of suspense as the romance grows. There are several little ironies and historical nuggets woven into the story that made me smile. And of course is there is always the question of time-travel paradox.

I did read an earlier time travel by Mr. Heldt although not in this series. This one can be read as a stand alone but it might be even more enjoyable if the series is read in order. The writing is smooth and moves at a good, easy pace. I recommend this for the engaging read, the lovely romance and the mystery.

I received this title from the author, having enjoyed another of his "time-travel" novels.

Book Review: The Mine by John A. Heldt

This is a marvelously warm and completely engaging story.

The Mine (Northwest Passage)
by John Heldt

• File Size: 538 KB
• Print Length: 290 pages
• Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
• Publisher: John A. Heldt (February 12, 2012)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0078S9B6G

Genre: Time Travel, Romance
My Rating: 4.5 of 5.0

Book Description
Publication Date: February 12, 2012
In 2000, Joel Smith is a cocky, adventurous young man who sees the world as his playground. But when the college senior, days from graduation, enters an abandoned Montana mine, he discovers the price of reckless curiosity. He emerges in May 1941 with a cell phone he can't use, money he can't spend, and little but his wits to guide his way. Stuck in the age of Whirlaway, swing dancing, and a peacetime draft, Joel begins a new life as the nation drifts toward war. With the help of his 21-year-old trailblazing grandmother and her friends, he finds his place in a world he knew only from movies and books. But when an opportunity comes to return to the present, Joel must decide whether to leave his new love in the past or choose a course that will alter their lives forever. THE MINE follows a humbled man through a critical time in history as he adjusts to new surroundings and wrestles with the knowledge of things to come.

Review:
Joel Smith is an adventurous college student in 2000 who detours to explore an abandoned mine. He finds a cave with a luminous glow and when he stumbles away from a rattlesnake, bumping his head, he walks out into a setting that is the not quite the same as he left.  Upon realizing the next day that he is in the year 1941, he believes he has missed the chance to return to his own time.

As Joel tries to adjust to a world of the past, he finds a group of friends who welcome him into their circle.  This group includes Joel’s own bright and innovative grandmother, Ginny.  But the most crucial and difficult thing is that Joel falls in love with Ginny’s best friend, Grace.

Grace is beautiful, smart and dedicated. She is a missionaries’ daughter raised in secluded towns and villages.  Grace has lived with her Aunt after the tragic death of her parents and it has taken several years for Grace to overcome her fear, trauma and shyness. She has recently become engaged to Paul who is on his way to Boston to train as a cadet.  Grace has everything nicely planned out for her future, but there is something that pulls her to the mysterious, mischievous Joel.

The story follows Joel as he creates a life in 1941 with no cell phones, no computers and no Television! These are simpler times when a family eats at the dining table rather than in front of the television. But Joel knows that his young friends are facing World War II and some of them may not survive. Does he have the right to engage the affections of another man’s fiancé? Will any of Joel’s actions impact the future, including his own birth?  Although there are difficulties in his situation, Joel loves Grace and he is beginning to plan out a future in 1941 when he discovers a chance to return to 2000. Should he return to his own time without the woman he loves? Should he stay in 1941 with Grace? Should he try to take her back to the future with him? What would you do?

This is a romance set in gentler, simpler times in 1941 before war encroached on Americans. Mr. Heldt’s writing is straight forward, smooth and with a light sense of humor. It fits the tone and setting perfectly.  The characters are diverse and although not overly in depth, there is sufficient substance to make them real to me. The friendships and the romance are an engaging story and the time travel  paradox creates an extra layer of interest.

This did make me think of Back to the Future and Blast From the Past movies with their suburban households, family togetherness and swing dancing.  The similarities are in the gentle tones of the time period not in the plots as each has its own unique focus. I want to recommend that readers who enjoy a warm old-fashioned romance give this story a read. I think you will enjoy it as I did.

Note thoughts:
               Wow, nostalgic, warm, cozy, touching, paradox.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Joel’s reactions when he finds himself in a strange time:

Joel thought about Marty McFly, the likelihood that this was all a nightmare, and turning that rattlesnake into sushi. Location 549.

He peered down the street in both directions and decided to head south, toward the downtown core. He entered his strange, new world with angst, disbelief, and wonder. Location 574.

Thank you to the author who provided this title for an honest review. This might not have been a title I would have picked up if the author had not emailed me and been persistent, for which I am glad. (With all the emails I get sometimes I mark a request and move it to a folder but don’t get to reply. Mr. Heldt’s third email finally got a reply from me.)

This is set in Seattle for my Where Are You Reading Challenge. I will also add it to my ARC and New Author challenge lists.