Rendezvous With Yesterday (Gifted Ones, #2)

by Dianne Duvall

From the New York Times bestselling author of the acclaimed Immortal Guardians series comes the second book in an enchanting new series full of romance, danger, and loyalty: The Gifted Ones.

Modern-day bounty hunter Bethany Bennett helps her brother track two fugitives to a forest outside of Houston, Texas. But what should have been a routine apprehension of two bail skippers spirals out of control and ends in violence. After Beth and her brother are both seriously injured, a mysterious figure suddenly looms over her. And, when the smoke clears, Beth finds herself not only in another place, but in another time.

As Lord Robert, Earl of Fosterly, attempts to identify and track down the nameless enemy who has been plaguing his lands and people with violence, the most peculiar woman stumbles into his path. Small, vulnerable, yet possessed of a bold, fiery spirit and wicked sense of humor, she persists in dubbing Robert and his men members of something called a medieval reenactment group . . . until she sees his castle and labels herself insane. It seems bounty hunter Bethany Bennett has come to him from the future, bringing with her laughter and chaos, swiftly winning the hearts of his people and inspiring within him a love he thought he would never experience again. But when Robert discovers a way for her to return to her time, will the love they share be enough to keep them together?

• ISBN10: 0986417130
• ISBN13: 9780986417139
• Publish Date: 13 October 2016
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Dianne Duvall
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 358
• Language: English

Reviews

[kimbacaffeinate]

Bethany Bennett, a bounty hunter, is with her brother in a forest outside of Houston, Texas chasing two fugitives when they are gunned down. Losing consciousness she sees her brother severely wounded and then there is a cloaked man above her. When Bethany awakens, she is covered in her own blood, but her wounds are healed. Beside her, she finds her backpack and a tent, two items she thought they left in the car. Her brother is nowhere to be found. Panicked she begins searching for him and runs into three men wearing chainmail, on horses speaking of all things Middle English. Thus begins a delightful tale as Lord Robert, Earl of Fosterly helps Bethany search for her brother and takes her back to his keep.

Rendezvous with Yesterday was such a joy on audio. Kirsten Potter narrated, and she nailed Bethany's confusion, the chemistry that develops between her and Robert as well as his men's shock and awe at this odd little woman! I laughed so hard at times; I had tears streaming down my cheeks. Just imagine a gun-wielding modern woman clad in jeans who is shocked at discovering she is in a medieval keep. It was a difficult transition, and we shared in her vulnerability.

The chemistry and banter between Bethany and Robert was perhaps my favorite part of the story. The romance was slow-building, and Duvall delivered hilarious moments that turned heated making me grin in merriment. The romance had sweet and touching moments that pulled at my heartstrings. Since Bethany time traveled, we weren't all that certain if she would pop back or perhaps choose to go home. These elements added a little sadness and tension, but leave it to Duvall to deliver an ending that satisfied.

We learned some interesting things in Rendezvous with Yesterday, and boy am I eager to find out more! While this is part of a series, I see no reason why anyone cannot grab their earbuds and listen. Dianne Duvall is a master storyteller and does an excellent job of presenting the overall arc while giving each book a full romance.

Audio provided by Publisher, This review was originally posted at Caffeinated Book Reviewer

[EBookObsessed]

Dianne Duvall takes us on a journey into the past unparalleled by even your local Renaissance Faire. While Beth might lack the magical abilities that we saw in Alyssa in A Sorceress of His Own, there is nothing more entertaining then watching this modern woman working her own magic in this male dominated world of the thirteenth century.

For those who are also fans of Dianne’s Immortal Guardian series, this story was a long time coming. When we first met Marcus Grayden in Night Reigns, in 2011, Marcus was still emotionally scarred 800 years later over the fact that as a young squire, he had fallen in love with his knight’s wife, a woman who had come from the future, and more particularly, a woman who he had made sure was at the exact right place at the exact right time so that she could be sent into the past. Although he mourned his unrequited love for centuries, Marcus loved both Lord Robert and Bethany and never made his feelings known.

For those of us who follow both series, how excited are we to finally get Robert, Bethany and Marcus’s background story.

Bethany is a bounty hunter and she goes with her brother, Josh, into the woods of Texas on a long-shot tip to find two wanted killers. The tips pays off but Beth and Josh do not exactly take these guys by surprise and a shoot out leaves the killers dead and Beth and her brother in bad shape. As Beth loses consciousness, she isn’t certain she is going to wake up again.

But she does awaken, completely healed and in a section of forest which is more lush and green than the one she passed out in. What is missing is the cabin, the killers and more importantly, her injured brother. Beth frantically searches the woods, fearing Josh will bleed out from his injuries before she can find him. She then comes upon four men on horseback dressed in typical knight garb of chainmail. She tries to get their help, but they refuse to speak modern English and are only speaking Middle English. Lucky for Beth, her mother was a history professor and taught her and her brother how to communicate in Middle English. She believes they are simply a very obsessive reenactment group.

Lord Robert, the Earl of Fosterly, and his knights have been searching the forest for marauders who have been preying on his people. They believe these bandits attacked Beth and her brother and offer to help her search. The longer they are with Beth, the more they note that more than just her speech is odd and they start to believe she might be a little mad. They are fascinated by her and with all of the odd objects she has with her.

Both groups know that something is not quite right, but it is once they arrive at the castle that Beth realizes just how bad the situation is for her. She knows that time travel just isn’t possible, but there it no doubt when she sees the brand new castle and village full of people, all dressed the same and speaking Middle English, that something happened to her. There is no group that dedicated to their craft they would live like they actually are in the thirteenth century. There is also the fact that she hasn’t seen one thing that points to the modern world.

This is a standard fish-out-of-water story, but the fun here is less watching Beth learn how to navigate life in the thirteen century, but watching everyone’s reaction to this woman who is more than just unconventional. She is more openly affectionate than is acceptable. She speaks oddly and is very vivacious. She has a bizarre collection of items that are fascinating. She will also be bringing a little women’s lib to Fosterly a few centuries early.

I will say that the only thing I was disappointed about was that Dianne made Beth a virgin. She did have a reasonable excuse why Beth never engaged in casual sex and why she was still a virgin. But Beth was a beautiful woman in her mid-twenties and there really was no reason that Beth could not have been given a long-time love interest before she met Robert and they could have gone their separate ways for any number of reasons. Robert was no virgin and was written to have a prior love-interest who had died some years before. I would have like to see how thirteenth centuries morality would accept twenty-first century’s more tolerant values. Would Robert have delighted in Beth’s more creative and less conservative sexuality or would he have hesitated in offering marriage to a woman who wasn’t pure when she came to him? In making Beth a virgin, Robert accepting Beth into his bed and into his life caused him no moral dilemma. I would have like to see him spend some time overcoming his regimented beliefs that his bride needed to be pure and whether his love of Beth was enough to overcome the moral dogma of the time.

Overall, this was an entertaining and simply fun story with a sweet romance.

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