A Stitch in Time by Kelley Armstrong

A Stitch in Time (Stitch in Time, #1)

by Kelley Armstrong

Thorne Manor has always been haunted…and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt's house, where she’d visit William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. In the wake of a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination. 

Twenty years later, Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor, exactly when she needs it most, her life stalled since her young husband’s death years earlier. And when she returns, William is waiting. 

William Thorne is no longer the calm and quiet boy she remembers. He’s a difficult and tempestuous man, his own life marred by a tragedy and scandal that had him retreating to self-imposed exile in his beloved moors. He’s also none too pleased with Bronwyn for abandoning him all those years ago. 

As their friendship rekindles and sparks into something more, Bronwyn must also deal with ghosts in the present version of the house, and soon she realizes they are linked to William and the secret scandal that drove him back to Thorne Manor.

Reviewed by Leigha on

2 of 5 stars

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Professor Bronwyn Dale inherits her aunt’s haunted cottage in this disjointed time travel romance.

This book didn’t know what it wanted to be. Was it a steamy historical romance or was it a gothic mystery? Bronwyn’s time travel romance with William Thorne is kept separate from the ghostly hauntings of the current timeline for too much of the novel. The two stories finally converge, but the ultimate climax felt unrealistic and unearned. While I can appreciate the separate elements of each, they never came together to create a complete whole.

I did not like Bronwyn, particularly her decisions in regards to her relationship. She has all the power in the relationship as she is the only one to time travel. She wants to be with William, but not give up anything in return although that plot hole is shored up damn quickly at the end of the novel. Every relationship requires some give and take, and it felt like all she did was take when, how, and where she wanted. I prefer a more balanced approach – both between romantic partners and thematic elements – that this book could not deliver.

tl;dr A big dud for me as I didn’t like the main character, the disjointed timelines, or the ending.

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Reading updates

  • 16 December, 2020: Started reading
  • 19 December, 2020: Finished reading
  • 1 January, 2021: Reviewed