Once Upon a Time Travel by Sariah WilsonMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Totally coincidentally, this is the second book by Sariah Wilson I have read this month.
Emma Damon a young American college graduate, is snooping around Hartley Hall, an English stately home, where she is working temporarily, after hours when she finds a hidden room which contains an old-fashioned dress and a scrap of paper with some strange writing on it. She tries on the dress and reads the words aloud during a thunderstorm and wakes up to find herself in 1816.
The Earl of Hartley has arranged for a young American called Emily Blythe to travel from Boston to marry his younger brother James. In a classic case of mistaken identity he and his servants assume that Emma is Emily. As Emma gradually adjusts to living in Georgian London she finds herself strangely attracted to Hartley, although he seems determined to never marry after the death of his first love.
I love a good time travel book but I have to say I found this a little disappointing. First, Emma was supposed to be a history major but she didn't even seem to have the slightest idea about the era. Second, whilst I could understand that initially she would think it was a dream and have trouble adjusting her language and comments accordingly, I would have expected her to learn to mimic the speech of Hartley and the other people she met quite quickly but throughout the book her language remained modern and she constantly referenced modern icons like Daffy Duck and baseball and seemed surprised that Hartley didn't understand the cultural references.
There were also some plot aspects that didn't go anywhere - maybe there is an intention for a sequel - such as what exactly is the cat?
On the other hand, I thought Hartley's character was very well done, very Darcy-esque.
Overall, maybe (again) this might appeal more to a teen reader rather than a woman of my mature years.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in return for an honest review.
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