This gripping story of love and adventure takes the reader back into time. The novel starts in 2003 with the heroine, Courtney Moss sorting through her deceased grandmother's belongings. A childhood friend, Ryan Dennehy, helps her. They find grandmother's elegant gown, made of twenty yards of silk with layers of petticoats. Ryan encourages Courtney to see if the gown fits her. As soon as the gown is on, Courtney experiences a brief trance-like vision of her in an old-time cabin. When the trance wears off, Ryan invites Courtney to the upcoming annual Victorian ball wearing the gown. Stunning in the gown, and starting to have a good time, Courtney walks outside the ballroom only to experience a second trance that transports her back one hundred thirty-nine years to the same spot in Virginia City, Montana, in 1864.
She meets Heath Sullivan, himself wounded, running away from his father and the wounds his father inflicted on him. Courtney tries unsuccessfully to find her way back to 2003. Unable to do so, she assumes that she has been sent to the past for a purpose. Having no acquaintances and nothing but the gown she wears, she gradually trusts Heath who, despite his disappointments, is a decent person. He offers Courtney shelter in his cabin while he sleeps outside. Courtney remains Heath's guest, meeting his friends and making friends of her own. Gradually, she realizes Heath's cabin is the same cabin she saw in her first trace. She also notices some facial characteristics in Heath that remind her of her grandmother.
With this backdrop to her novel, Sherry Lewis portrays a picture of frontier life during the gold rush days. She introduces, besides Heath Sullivan, Delilah and the memory of Delilah's dead brother, Blue, both slaves. Delilah is no longer a slave but is trapped into something worse than slavery. Lewis introduces Roderick Dennehy, a gambler, also running from his past; an old miner, Philo Keegan, who becomes a father image for Courtney; and a number of minor characters including Tyree Caine, an unsavory, violent man, whose unprincipled greed turns him into the story's villain. Courtney recognizes that Roderick and her childhood friend, Ryan, have the same family name.
Sherry Lewis' considerable skill in characterization, partly by dialog, partly by narration, makes her main characters come alive. Lewis holds the reader in suspense by slowly unveiling her characters deep wounds in a way that makes you want to keep reading to discover more. Her portrayal of the frontier town is vivid and action-packed. You can see Courtney's real self emerging as she interacts with the other characters. Lewis' use of Courtney being transported back in time to her mother's and grandmother's home town puts a better perspective on theirs and Courtney's lives.
The main plot takes place in Virginia City in the summer of 1864. Lewis tells an interesting story showing the inner motivation and eventual healing of her main characters and also an interesting adventure of frontier life. Courtney discovers why she was sent back and that she has a choice for her future. When asked by Heath "What will the future hold?" Courtney answers: "Only time will tell; my love, Only time will tell."
You will like this book. Lewis has a charming, wholesome outlook on life that shines through her characters and through the adventures they experience.
