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Time Travel Duo #1
Midnight on Julia Street
CIJI WARE
A winner of the Romantic Times Gold Medal Award, beloved author Ciji Ware tantalizes readers with enchanting tales of love set amid richly researched, vividly alive periods, past and present. Her unique, dramatic stories, peopled with characters who touch our deepest emotions, live on in our hearts long after we finish the final pages.
MIDNIGHT ON JULIA STREET
The sultry allure of New Orleans comes to dazzling life in this enthralling tale of passion and mystery that sweeps from the modern heart of the Big Easy back to the shimmering city of a century past. Reporter Corlis McCullough's passion for the truth has cost her more jobs than she cares to remember. She would like to keep this one . . . even if it means chasing a story involving historical preservationist King Duvallon, an adversary from her college years. After a decade, he still manages to incite her fury--and a growing attraction as strong and unstoppable as the tides along the Delta. But as Corlis is swept one hundred fifty years into the past, she witnesses the yearning desires and daring passions of a drama that will be replayed nearly two centuries later. . . .
A winner of the Romantic Times Gold Medal Award, beloved author Ciji Ware tantalizes readers with enchanting tales of love set amid richly researched, vividly alive periods, past and present. Her unique, dramatic stories, peopled with characters who touch our deepest emotions, live on in our hearts long after we finish the final pages.
MIDNIGHT ON JULIA STREET
The sultry allure of New Orleans comes to dazzling life in this enthralling tale of passion and mystery that sweeps from the modern heart of the Big Easy back to the shimmering city of a century past. Reporter Corlis McCullough's passion for the truth has cost her more jobs than she cares to remember. She would like to keep this one . . . even if it means chasing a story involving historical preservationist King Duvallon, an adversary from her college years. After a decade, he still manages to incite her fury--and a growing attraction as strong and unstoppable as the tides along the Delta. But as Corlis is swept one hundred fifty years into the past, she witnesses the yearning desires and daring passions of a drama that will be replayed nearly two centuries later. . . .
470 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1999
149 people are currently reading
766 people want to read
About the author
Ciji Ware
44 books259 followersCIJI WARE is a New York Times & USA Today bestselling novelist, an Emmy-award winning television producer, reporter, writer, lecturer, and host. Her latest work, THE SPY WORE LONG WHITE GLOVES (Book 4, American Spy Sisters series), published October 14, 2025 , was inspired by the exceptional American women who volunteered as "Churchill's Angles"--secret agents during WW II, fighting enemy infiltration within Britain, as well as parachuting into occupied France to fight the Nazis. As with her other novels, author Ware invites her readers to view her research photos at www.pinterest.com/cijiware/the-spy-wo...
Ware's Four Seasons Quartet "THAT..." series includes stand-alone titles set in CORNWALL, EDINBURGH, VENICE and PARIS that were released betweeen 2013-2017. A novella "The Ring of Kerry Hannigan," part of the RING OF TRUTH anthology with novelists Diana Dempsey and Kate Moore, was released as a single title in the spring of 2015.
Ware has won numerous awards for her 15 works of fiction, including the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence; the 'Golden Quill' award for Historical Fiction; 'Best Fictionalized Biography' for her 18th c. historical novel, ISLAND OF THE SWANS. For the latter work, she was bestowed in Edinburgh the honor of FSA Scot, of which she is exceedingly proud. Another historical novel, A RACE TO SPLENDOR, debuted in April, 2011 on the 105th anniversary of the devastating 1905 San Francisco Earthquake and Firestorm and was short-listed for the WILLA (Cather) Literary Award in 2012.
In 2015, Ware was named to the Martha's Vineyard Writers-in-Residence program where she began a long-term project: REINVENTING...ME, a memoir of her years in all aspects of media. Currently, she is working on the second of two novels in her Spy Sisters series set in WWII based on the lives of several American women secret agents in the armed conflict.
Ware's most recent nonfiction, RIGHTSIZING YOUR LIFE: Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most, was named by the Wall Street Journal as "One of the Top 5 Books on Retirement Issues." She is at work on a sequel, SIMPLIFYING FOR SENIORS: Decluttering, Divesting, and Downsizing. She continues to lecture extensively on the subject of domestic downsizing for people age 50+ as she relates her own journey from 4000sq. feet of living space in Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara, down to a "cottage by the sea" of around 1000 square feet in the San Francisco Bay Area--and loving it! She is also the author of JOINT CUSTODY: Making Shared Parenting Work.
For eighteen years, Ware was heard daily as a commentator on ABC Radio & TV in Los Angeles. During her noted career as a broadcaster, she has worked as a reporter or anchor for PBS and all three major network affiliates, covering a wide range of topics in the areas of health, consumer, lifestyle and women's issues.
Ciji Ware is also a sought-after event speaker, print journalist, (AARP, Travel & Leisure and other national magazines) and has the distinction of being elected as the first woman graduate of Harvard College to serve as President of the Harvard Alumni Association, Worldwide. The author is married four decades+ to Internet marketing executive, Tony Cook. The "Cook-Wares" have a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren.
Visit Ciji's website at www.cijiware.com; her Facebook page: Ciji Ware, Novelist
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ciji-Wa... and her Pinterest page at http://pinterest.com/cijiware/
Ware's Four Seasons Quartet "THAT..." series includes stand-alone titles set in CORNWALL, EDINBURGH, VENICE and PARIS that were released betweeen 2013-2017. A novella "The Ring of Kerry Hannigan," part of the RING OF TRUTH anthology with novelists Diana Dempsey and Kate Moore, was released as a single title in the spring of 2015.
Ware has won numerous awards for her 15 works of fiction, including the Dorothy Parker Award of Excellence; the 'Golden Quill' award for Historical Fiction; 'Best Fictionalized Biography' for her 18th c. historical novel, ISLAND OF THE SWANS. For the latter work, she was bestowed in Edinburgh the honor of FSA Scot, of which she is exceedingly proud. Another historical novel, A RACE TO SPLENDOR, debuted in April, 2011 on the 105th anniversary of the devastating 1905 San Francisco Earthquake and Firestorm and was short-listed for the WILLA (Cather) Literary Award in 2012.
In 2015, Ware was named to the Martha's Vineyard Writers-in-Residence program where she began a long-term project: REINVENTING...ME, a memoir of her years in all aspects of media. Currently, she is working on the second of two novels in her Spy Sisters series set in WWII based on the lives of several American women secret agents in the armed conflict.
Ware's most recent nonfiction, RIGHTSIZING YOUR LIFE: Simplifying Your Surroundings While Keeping What Matters Most, was named by the Wall Street Journal as "One of the Top 5 Books on Retirement Issues." She is at work on a sequel, SIMPLIFYING FOR SENIORS: Decluttering, Divesting, and Downsizing. She continues to lecture extensively on the subject of domestic downsizing for people age 50+ as she relates her own journey from 4000sq. feet of living space in Beverly Hills and Santa Barbara, down to a "cottage by the sea" of around 1000 square feet in the San Francisco Bay Area--and loving it! She is also the author of JOINT CUSTODY: Making Shared Parenting Work.
For eighteen years, Ware was heard daily as a commentator on ABC Radio & TV in Los Angeles. During her noted career as a broadcaster, she has worked as a reporter or anchor for PBS and all three major network affiliates, covering a wide range of topics in the areas of health, consumer, lifestyle and women's issues.
Ciji Ware is also a sought-after event speaker, print journalist, (AARP, Travel & Leisure and other national magazines) and has the distinction of being elected as the first woman graduate of Harvard College to serve as President of the Harvard Alumni Association, Worldwide. The author is married four decades+ to Internet marketing executive, Tony Cook. The "Cook-Wares" have a son, daughter-in-law, and three grandchildren.
Visit Ciji's website at www.cijiware.com; her Facebook page: Ciji Ware, Novelist
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ciji-Wa... and her Pinterest page at http://pinterest.com/cijiware/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 95 reviews
June 20, 2021
Midnight on Julia Street by Ciji Ware is the first book of the Time Travel mystery series set in late 1990s (pre-Katrina) New Orleans, with flashbacks to 1837-1842. Corliss McCullough is a feisty reporter, dedicated to reporting the truth. The unvarnished truth is not always popular. She's bounced around jobs after irritating bosses who preferred to suppress her articles. Arriving in New Orleans, she falls in love with the city and its history - but promptly gets in trouble again, publishing an article revealing a high-society wedding fiasco. At the wedding she unexpectedly comes face-to-face with a man from college days. He's a professor who leads a group of citizens against the proposed bulldozing of historic houses.
Despite their clashes in the past and present, Corliss dives into covering the hotly contested issue. She experiences flashbacks to scenes from her namesake ancestor's life in New Orleans. To her surprise, the same family names were prominent in 1837-1842 New Orleans as well as the present. Through research and episodes of time travel, she learns many family secrets, motives for past and present actions.
As a reporter, she's required to be strictly objective. As a woman, she's obsessed with Kingsbury "King" Duvallon. She fervently believes in his preservation cause, and dedicates herself to digging up all the proof she can find that will support it, including a diary from her ancestor.
Corliss learns a great deal of local history, such as 45% of New Orleans African Americans were Free People of Color prior to the Civil War, and the practice of plaçage with women of mixed race descent, who negotiated contracts and owned property. The descriptions of prewar New Orleans are vivid and compelling. The family trees help a reader keep track of the many characters; most are related, whether they realize or acknowledge it.
Despite their clashes in the past and present, Corliss dives into covering the hotly contested issue. She experiences flashbacks to scenes from her namesake ancestor's life in New Orleans. To her surprise, the same family names were prominent in 1837-1842 New Orleans as well as the present. Through research and episodes of time travel, she learns many family secrets, motives for past and present actions.
As a reporter, she's required to be strictly objective. As a woman, she's obsessed with Kingsbury "King" Duvallon. She fervently believes in his preservation cause, and dedicates herself to digging up all the proof she can find that will support it, including a diary from her ancestor.
Corliss learns a great deal of local history, such as 45% of New Orleans African Americans were Free People of Color prior to the Civil War, and the practice of plaçage with women of mixed race descent, who negotiated contracts and owned property. The descriptions of prewar New Orleans are vivid and compelling. The family trees help a reader keep track of the many characters; most are related, whether they realize or acknowledge it.
June 10, 2011
Supremely dull from the first to last page, populated with unlikable characters, and a complete waste of my time.
September 15, 2017
Corlis McCullough and King Duvallon have a history and it isn't a good one but bygones can be bygones when the journalist and professor find a common cause - the preservation of old New Orleans. Corlis didn't expect to have such a visceral reaction to the old buildings but her ancestor was intimately involved with their history and scents take the 20th Century Corlis back 150 years in time to experience what happened. How free people of color owned these buildings and how that came to be. Corlis never knows what scent and what place will impact her and she is sure that King will think she's crazy. Plus she's a journalist and she's supposed to be completely objective but in New Orleans where everyone seems to be a distant cousin of everyone else, black or white, and doing things under the table is a fact of life, it may be the standing in front of bulldozers is the only way to save the historic buildings. It was an intricate story but I was mostly bored. I wasn't crazy about the story in the past and I didn't like the Corlis of the present, though I can't explain why. I have the second book but I am going to take a break for a while.
August 7, 2011
This is a book with that extra something, it is not about reincarnation, but instead the main character, Corlis, smells things and sees things from the past. We do get an explanation to why this happen, why things that happened were so strong that they left a trace. It's New Awlins sugar, things are strange there.
Corlis is a non nonsense reporter. She loves to get a good story but that usually lands her in trouble because who would know that the person in the story was related to the guy owning the news station. So she changes job a lot. But I like her integrity. It's all about the story.
The book is about the past and the present. Corlis follows the news that is King Duvallon as he tries to save old buildings from getting torn down, and something fishy is going on behind the scenes. The guy who wants to build new things is not a good guy. And of course there are sparks between Corlis and King.
The second part is about the things Corlis sees. Back in the early 1800th century her ancestor lived in New Orleans. A lot was going on there and a lot of the people she meets in this book, she also "meets" back then, their ancestors that is. It all has to do with a building that they now want to tear down. So we see old Corlis in her unhappy relationship. We learn that 45 % of the black people were free people of color in New Orleans. How daughters of mixed unions were brought up to become high class courtesans. Everything connects. What is really helpful is the chart at the beginning of the book. How everyone now was related to the people back then.
The book changes now and then. Corlis chapters, and then old Corlis chapters.
Ok that sounds like there are a lot going on, but it's not a bad thing. You get into the story at once and there is no problem following it. I was really fascinated by the old story and I certainly did not know this about old New Orleans. It was a really interesting part of its history.
Ware knows how to mix her history and present and she does it so well.
Conclusion:
An interesting book about a truly fascinating city and a rich cast of characters.
Corlis is a non nonsense reporter. She loves to get a good story but that usually lands her in trouble because who would know that the person in the story was related to the guy owning the news station. So she changes job a lot. But I like her integrity. It's all about the story.
The book is about the past and the present. Corlis follows the news that is King Duvallon as he tries to save old buildings from getting torn down, and something fishy is going on behind the scenes. The guy who wants to build new things is not a good guy. And of course there are sparks between Corlis and King.
The second part is about the things Corlis sees. Back in the early 1800th century her ancestor lived in New Orleans. A lot was going on there and a lot of the people she meets in this book, she also "meets" back then, their ancestors that is. It all has to do with a building that they now want to tear down. So we see old Corlis in her unhappy relationship. We learn that 45 % of the black people were free people of color in New Orleans. How daughters of mixed unions were brought up to become high class courtesans. Everything connects. What is really helpful is the chart at the beginning of the book. How everyone now was related to the people back then.
The book changes now and then. Corlis chapters, and then old Corlis chapters.
Ok that sounds like there are a lot going on, but it's not a bad thing. You get into the story at once and there is no problem following it. I was really fascinated by the old story and I certainly did not know this about old New Orleans. It was a really interesting part of its history.
Ware knows how to mix her history and present and she does it so well.
Conclusion:
An interesting book about a truly fascinating city and a rich cast of characters.
July 27, 2012
I am having a very difficult time reviewing this book. I am from New Orleans, which is why I picked it up. I have worked on Julia St. and am very familiar with all the places the author describes in this book. I also remember many fights over preserving historic buildings in New Orleans, which forms the back bone of this story. It's a fascinating premise for a book and it's also a time slip story, which I love. Corliss is a reporter, who keeps getting fired because she's a little too zealous in her job. She moves to New Orleans and promptly gets fired again for showing a little too much reality at a society wedding. While there she meets up with King Duvallon, a a man she had run in with at college. But here, they begin to discover they have a cause in common. While reseaching some buildings, she slips back in time and relives the history of the buildings. I love this part of the story and I enjoy the present day story as well. My main problem with the story is that sometimes it comes off a little flat and awkward. The details about New Orleans and it's history are pitch perfect, but they aren't always introduced in a seamless way. But other than that, a really enjoyable story.
April 23, 2017
This is another of those books that I probably wouldn't have picked up if it hadn't been on sale - and had a lovely cover, which doesn't match the book at all. (I know I'm not supposed to judge books by their covers, but sometimes they do catch my eye and the synopsis sounds good!) But at 475 pages, I think this might be the longest contemporary romance novel I've read, and I just don't like them that much.
I know, it was also about historical preservation in New Orleans, and there were flashbacks to a previous time period - something that either works or it doesn't. Unfortunately the time-slip aspect was choppy, and it took forever for the earlier timeline to capture my interest.
On top of that, the modern reporter storyline felt exactly like a romance novel even though it was also heavily invested in a battle over some historic buildings. Sometimes I'll read this kind of romance for a change of pace, but I expect them to be quick - especially if they're in contemporary settings. This one dragged on until the last hundred pages, when I did finally get more interested in the whole preservation showdown. It just took too long to get there.
I know, it was also about historical preservation in New Orleans, and there were flashbacks to a previous time period - something that either works or it doesn't. Unfortunately the time-slip aspect was choppy, and it took forever for the earlier timeline to capture my interest.
On top of that, the modern reporter storyline felt exactly like a romance novel even though it was also heavily invested in a battle over some historic buildings. Sometimes I'll read this kind of romance for a change of pace, but I expect them to be quick - especially if they're in contemporary settings. This one dragged on until the last hundred pages, when I did finally get more interested in the whole preservation showdown. It just took too long to get there.
did-not-finish
June 11, 2011Bah! Not much here to interest me in reading further. I don't care for the present day characters/story and I didn't find much in the past storyline either, things were just silly (as were the character's names). I do like Ware's historical novels, but this is the second time slip of hers that I've bailed on.
January 2, 2013
Ehhh, okay read. There were times I found myself interested in it, but overall, it was too long for what the plot had to offer. Really had a hard time getting through the first 150 pages.
January 5, 2013
Overlong and the psychic time traveling back to the 1800s just didn't ring true for me.
gave-up-on
December 30, 2016The story seems very interesting but the writing is stilted and the high number of words italicized for emphasis is driving me crazy.
August 21, 2017
I've read other Ciji Ware books that I enjoyed much more. The main character in this book got on my nerves. I've never found the "trying to be a chareer woman but constantly shooting myself in the foot with obviously poor decisions" type character appealing...
November 26, 2017
I loved this book! Set in New Orleans which is my favorite city to read about. It Weaves from present day to the Victorian era. The writing was great and the plot gripping. I highly recommend this book.
February 1, 2025
WOW!!?
Oh my goodness! What a story and your talent is awesome. There were times I caught my self holding my breath! This is only my second book to read but I can hardly wait to start the next adventure! Thank you
Oh my goodness! What a story and your talent is awesome. There were times I caught my self holding my breath! This is only my second book to read but I can hardly wait to start the next adventure! Thank you
March 16, 2025
The plot lines of this story were well thought out; almost too much detail. The characters weren’t always likable but that’s pretty relatable to real life. I wish there had been more of the “time travel” aspect of it though.
December 7, 2025
This book is a mess. Tried a new author and was very disappointed. To long and tedious (made it 55%} and couldn’t take any more. Too many characters, time jumping is ridiculous. Not sure if I will give this author another try but do yourself a favor and skip this mess.
May 29, 2017
Really 4.5. I loved all the history and reading a story set in one of my favorite cities.
July 19, 2017
I liked the historical aspects of this book and it was interesting learning about some of the history of New Orleans. The main characters were likable and relatable.
July 27, 2018
Didn't realize this was a time travel book. DNF
July 29, 2020
A bit far fetched, but good read.
January 10, 2023
Quite a long read, but the historical aspect of New Orleans made it an interesting read that I enjoyed. The modern part of the story was so-so only.
January 24, 2023
read one book by this author and you are hooked...have loved every one I pick up.. highly recommend.
November 9, 2023
Absolutely incredible story! Love the historic facts of New Orleans a place that I'm familiar with which made it even more special.
June 4, 2024
amazing!
Now I’m going to have to find the other books! I’ve read Ciji for a while now but love these!
Now I’m going to have to find the other books! I’ve read Ciji for a while now but love these!
June 11, 2024
I had a little trouble with this one. It was a good book, and the story was interesting. However, for some reason I couldn't stay interested.
May 13, 2025
I had a hard time keeping the characters straight.
June 4, 2025
I found this book a bit boring but I read it from start to finish skipping parts I must admit, sorry to the writer, some of this writers books were ok but not this one.
September 5, 2011
Midnight on Julia Street is an intriguing novel that is hard to place neatly in a genre category. This novel is one of my favorite types of novels, one that involves time through time, even if it is not physical travel.
Corlis McCullough is a journalist who likes to get to the heart of the story no matter the cost to her career. She is on her sixth city in her profession, New Orleans, taping what should be a routine wedding when events unfold that make the wedding must see TV. Corlis also discovers that her college nemesis, King Duvallon, is the brother of the bride. Airing the wedding footage against the advice of her colleagues, Corlis finds herself out of a job, but also back in the sights of King Duvallon. Together they become unlikely partners in the crusade to prevent a historic building from getting demolished to put up a skyscraper hotel.
Corlis McCullough starts having flashes to the past in which she relives moments in her ancestor’s, Corlis Bell McCullough, life. She soon discovers that many of the players in her present fight to save the Selwyn buildings are the descendants of many of the same players that originally built them. The historic figures had scandalous love affairs and also tales of corruption that helped to make the buildings possible.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I thought both Corlis’s present situation and flashes to the past were equally interesting. I love that she was a hard hitting reporter and that her fight was the fight to save historic buildings. I find such things very intriguing. Her chemistry with King Duvallon was white hot. Duvallon being a professor of architectural history only made him more interesting to me. I also really wanted to learn the mystery of how the historic figures worked together and often against each other to get the buildings constructed.
My favorite secondary character was Corlis’s feisty Aunt Margery McCullough, a hard-hitting retired reporter. She offers Corlis sage advice and interesting tales about her days working as a reporter as part of the Hearst empire.
I love time travel in all forms. I thought Corlis’s time flashes were very unique. Her sense of smell triggered past remembrances and gave her a view point mostly of her ancestor’s past, but also of other intriguing characters.
I loved the New Orleans setting. The descriptions of the City and of the food were very vivid, and made me really want to visit the grand city even more. The history in the novel was very intriguing. I had no idea that 45% of the African Americans pre-civil war in New Orleans were free people of color. It made me want to learn more about this unique history in our nation.
Overall Midnight on Julia Street is an exceptional novel that manages to combine both modern day and historical elements to create one fascinating read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was ready to join the fight to save the historic buildings.
This review was orginally published on my blog at: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2011/...
Corlis McCullough is a journalist who likes to get to the heart of the story no matter the cost to her career. She is on her sixth city in her profession, New Orleans, taping what should be a routine wedding when events unfold that make the wedding must see TV. Corlis also discovers that her college nemesis, King Duvallon, is the brother of the bride. Airing the wedding footage against the advice of her colleagues, Corlis finds herself out of a job, but also back in the sights of King Duvallon. Together they become unlikely partners in the crusade to prevent a historic building from getting demolished to put up a skyscraper hotel.
Corlis McCullough starts having flashes to the past in which she relives moments in her ancestor’s, Corlis Bell McCullough, life. She soon discovers that many of the players in her present fight to save the Selwyn buildings are the descendants of many of the same players that originally built them. The historic figures had scandalous love affairs and also tales of corruption that helped to make the buildings possible.
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I thought both Corlis’s present situation and flashes to the past were equally interesting. I love that she was a hard hitting reporter and that her fight was the fight to save historic buildings. I find such things very intriguing. Her chemistry with King Duvallon was white hot. Duvallon being a professor of architectural history only made him more interesting to me. I also really wanted to learn the mystery of how the historic figures worked together and often against each other to get the buildings constructed.
My favorite secondary character was Corlis’s feisty Aunt Margery McCullough, a hard-hitting retired reporter. She offers Corlis sage advice and interesting tales about her days working as a reporter as part of the Hearst empire.
I love time travel in all forms. I thought Corlis’s time flashes were very unique. Her sense of smell triggered past remembrances and gave her a view point mostly of her ancestor’s past, but also of other intriguing characters.
I loved the New Orleans setting. The descriptions of the City and of the food were very vivid, and made me really want to visit the grand city even more. The history in the novel was very intriguing. I had no idea that 45% of the African Americans pre-civil war in New Orleans were free people of color. It made me want to learn more about this unique history in our nation.
Overall Midnight on Julia Street is an exceptional novel that manages to combine both modern day and historical elements to create one fascinating read. I thoroughly enjoyed it and was ready to join the fight to save the historic buildings.
This review was orginally published on my blog at: http://lauragerold.blogspot.com/2011/...
September 29, 2011
My primary requirement in a book is a good story. MIDNIGHT ON JULIA STREET by Ciji Ware is a great one.
Corlis has been fired from her job--again.
A crusading TV reporter, Corlis doesn't care whose toes she steps on when she's pursuing a story, and she pays the price. This latest job in New Orleans is the fourth one she's lost. Not helping matters is her encounter with Kingston, her college nemesis, at the scene of her latest debacle. Twelve years ago at UCLA, feminist school paper reporter Corlis and sexist frat boy King fought a no-holds barred ideological battle that resulted in King's expulsion from the college. Now's he's a professor of architectural history with the mission to save an historic city block from a greedy real estate developer.
Both Corlis and King have mellowed in the intervening years. Corlis is no longer strident, and a stint in the marines obeying women officers has divested King of his chauvinist tendencies. Softer feelings now come to the fore. King even helps Corlis get another job. But flashbacks to antebellum New Orleans trouble Corlis. These visions send her back to when the buildings now under dispute were constructed. Her ancestor, another Corlis, lived in New Orleans then, and the other characters in the visions are also ancestors of people living today. Feelings run high over the preservation battle and find their mirror in Corlis and King's emotions, which make an about-face from their college days.
MIDNIGHT ON JULIA STREET is an exciting, face-paced story loaded with historic and contemporary detail about New Orleans. Ms. Ware does a masterful job of interweaving the past when the buildings were constructed and the present when they may be demolished. She brings two very different eras to vivid life, leaving you wondering how the historical story will play out even though we already know the end.
As for the characters, I love Corlis. She's my kind of woman. Smart, educated, strong, an outspoken professional who stands up for what she believes in and always remains true to herself. I also like King, who has learned the error of his sexist ways to become an honorable man and the perfect match for Corlis. Watching them as they seek to deny their attraction while the preservation battle throws them together is another layer of drama in this riveting novel.
The third character is hot, humid, New Orleans. The issues facing the slave-owning French past of Corlis's visions are an eerie premonition of the problems of the modern city.
Ciji Ware's books are fantastic. MIDNIGHT ON JULIA STREET proves that again.
ARC provided by Sourcebooks
August 19, 2011
I must start by saying that I ADORE Ms. Ware's works. Having said that, Midnight on Julia Street is my favorite so far. Corlis McCollough is a TV reporter that has some trouble keeping a job; she lost her latest because of failing to get an OK before running a report on a wedding gone bad. The bride gave the groom the heave-ho at the altar. The bride's brother is an old nemesis of Corlis' - King Duvallon. Corlis always tells the truth in her stories and King appreciated that since the groom did the bride very wrong so King gives Corlis a lead to a new job.
King is passionate about preserving the old buildings in New Orleans. He shows Corlis the beauty of the past. That past shows itself to Corlis in unexpected ways. It appears that her distant relatives and King's were entwined and she and King need to rectify misdeeds done to be able to right those wrongs.
I love time travel novels and while this isn't time travel per se it does have elements of moving between past and present. Add in one of the most amazing cities in the US and a delightful romance and the book is a perfect summer read. Or anytime read for that matter. King and Corlis are fun, feisty characters that have a past in more ways than one. They work well together against "the bad guys" that want to destroy what makes New Orleans well, New Orleans. Of course, this book takes place pre-Katrina.
I found myself turning pages late into the night. I have been to New Orleans and fell in love with the city so I can understand the passion the preservationists have for its old buildings. It's a book you can read and cheer with triumph and have your heart race with anxiety until the very end - will all work out? Read the book and find out for yourself.
King is passionate about preserving the old buildings in New Orleans. He shows Corlis the beauty of the past. That past shows itself to Corlis in unexpected ways. It appears that her distant relatives and King's were entwined and she and King need to rectify misdeeds done to be able to right those wrongs.
I love time travel novels and while this isn't time travel per se it does have elements of moving between past and present. Add in one of the most amazing cities in the US and a delightful romance and the book is a perfect summer read. Or anytime read for that matter. King and Corlis are fun, feisty characters that have a past in more ways than one. They work well together against "the bad guys" that want to destroy what makes New Orleans well, New Orleans. Of course, this book takes place pre-Katrina.
I found myself turning pages late into the night. I have been to New Orleans and fell in love with the city so I can understand the passion the preservationists have for its old buildings. It's a book you can read and cheer with triumph and have your heart race with anxiety until the very end - will all work out? Read the book and find out for yourself.
September 4, 2011
Largely set in present day New Orleans, Midnight on Julia Street follows the gutsy, independent and stubborn tv news producer Corlis McCullough as she starts yet another new TV production job. Corlis has great instincts but she's a bit like a terrier - she doesn't give up on a story and isn't one to cave to politics or her networks' affiliations. This has held her back in her career and repeatedly gets her into hot water.
To add to the mix, she bumps heads with King Duvallon, an enemy of sorts from college. King and has frat brothers had poked fun at Corlis when she wrote for the college paper. Corlis had retaliated strongly and gotten King expelled. Decades later, the two find themselves somehow on the same side. Their truce, new friendship and possible romance heats up Midnight on Julia Street. The novel gets even more interesting with Corlis's new ability to see into the past. She somehow finds herself transported to New Orleans in the 1800s and her visits help her to piece together parts of a long forgotten mystery.
The novel isn't really paranormal, the trips to the past add to the storyline and act as a device to teach us about the main characters' relations and to reveal clues a mystery from the past. Midnight on Julia Street is a fun read. My one criticism is that I found Corlis's voice - especially in her internal monologues - a little annoying. That's just my personal opinion and I realize other people might connect better with the lead character. Overall, Midnight on Julia Street is a fun escape.
ISBN-10: 1402222726 - Paperback $15.99
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark; Reprint edition (August 1, 2011), 512 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
To add to the mix, she bumps heads with King Duvallon, an enemy of sorts from college. King and has frat brothers had poked fun at Corlis when she wrote for the college paper. Corlis had retaliated strongly and gotten King expelled. Decades later, the two find themselves somehow on the same side. Their truce, new friendship and possible romance heats up Midnight on Julia Street. The novel gets even more interesting with Corlis's new ability to see into the past. She somehow finds herself transported to New Orleans in the 1800s and her visits help her to piece together parts of a long forgotten mystery.
The novel isn't really paranormal, the trips to the past add to the storyline and act as a device to teach us about the main characters' relations and to reveal clues a mystery from the past. Midnight on Julia Street is a fun read. My one criticism is that I found Corlis's voice - especially in her internal monologues - a little annoying. That's just my personal opinion and I realize other people might connect better with the lead character. Overall, Midnight on Julia Street is a fun escape.
ISBN-10: 1402222726 - Paperback $15.99
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark; Reprint edition (August 1, 2011), 512 pages.
Review copy provided by the publisher.
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