A Promise to Keep

Out of Time #2

by Loretta Livingstone

For the last five years, Marion has kept the promise she made to a medieval knight, one Giles de Soutenay, to deliver two Epipens every year at Whitsuntide via the mystical beech tree which once catapulted her back in time. As long as Giles is able to provide these devices for Prince John, he will be able to keep his lands...and his life. But this year, Marion is in hospital. Desperate to keep her word, she entrusts the devices to Shannon, her daughter. Shannon only has to place the Epipens in a hollow in the roots of the old tree. However, she has recently been betrayed by the man she trusted. Still hurting and embarrassed by the pity she sees in the eyes of her friends, she just wants to get as far away as possible. And she can't get much further away than the twelfth century.

Hildegarde, Abbess of Sparnstow, is expecting a visit from Giles. She is not expecting a young woman from 2012.

Book 2 in the Out of Time series.

Genres: Time Travel, Historical Fiction

361 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 26, 2017

About the author

I'm a British author and live in the beautiful Chiltern Hills in England with my husband and cat.

I have suffered from M.E. for many years, which has put something of a kick in my gallop - to put it mildly.

I've always loved reading, and it has kept me going through the dark days of my illness, when I was unable to do much else. I read several different genres, but I have a particular love of medieval history novels. I am fairly picky though. There are only a handful of writers from that genre whom I really enjoy, Sharon Penman being my favourite. Luckily for me her books are huge, meaty tomes which, as well as providing excellent value for money, keep me glued to them for days.

Happily, I am now just about well enough to indulge my new-found love of writing, although It takes a lot out of me to complete each book. I pay a price in exhaustion and pain - but I love to write, so I shall keep going as long as I am able. Most of my books have a feel-good quality about them and would class as flinch-free fiction. I like to feel I have left my readers with smiles on their faces. I started with poetry, then short stories, but I have now graduated to historical fiction with a dash of time travel. I have several more books to finish in the Out of Time series. After that, I'll wait to see what happens next.


Out of Time
Loretta Livingstone

Reviews

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (10/8/2020)! 🎁

[Loretta]

I won't review this as I'm the author, however, I'll tell you it has some exciting moments, some romantic moments and some fun moments. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

[Laura Vosika · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Loretta's Out of Time series. I'll be continuing to read!

[Helen Hollick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has received a Discovering Diamonds Review:
Helen Hollick
founder #DDRevs

'...the medieval word is nicely described, well researched and the characters, especially the abbess, are entirely believable.'

[T4bsF (Call me Flo) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 1 left me wanting more - Book 2 the same - now waiting for Book 3 and wondering where it will go.
Loretta Livingstone knows how to keep a story interesting and can set the scene beautifully. Both Abbeys are now in my mind - the original version in the past and the ruins of today. We, of a certain age, have grown up hating King John anyway for all the wicked things he did to our beloved Robin Hood - now he's gone down even further in my estimation!! ;-)

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable time slip novel where Marion's daughter from book one escapes from the present day, and a failed relationship, by going to the medieval period where she is looked after by her 'aunt' Hildegarde. Far from escaping relationship problems though, she finds herself with yet more as she adjusts to life in a medieval abbey.

Fun, easy read with likeable characters, lots of good historical detail and exciting plot.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a quick read. This is an interesting time travel story. Not a romance, really. This is clean, as was book 1. Shannon was a likable MC. I liked Hildegard, too.

Unfortunately, I could barely remember anything of book one (this is how it is with me once time passes) other than my "to read" selection of book 2. Now, I must patiently wait for book 3 to be published--Blossom on the Thorn.

[Dominique Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was like a soothing healing balm after some of the books I’ve been reading recently! Think Brother Cadfael meets Georgette Heyer’s ‘Devil’s Cub’ in a time travelling tale. A gentle book that could be read by all ages, including young adults. My main complaint about the first book in this series was that it was too short but now I can see it acts almost like a prequel, or prologue, as now we start to get to the meat of the series, discovering more of the characters on both sides of the time divide. The plot enters into a lively appreciation of what it must be like to be plunged in either direction in time and does not shirk highlighting the difference in the place of women back in the medieval period. This time we meet Isabella, forced into an arranged marriage at 14 to an older, brutal man, now already widowed and married off for a second time in a deal between her father and the Queen to reward a knight for his service to King John, and she is still only a year or two older than the heedless modern teenager who plunges through the tree completely naïve of what dangers she might face. An enjoyable easy read that nevertheless tackles important topics about life, love and marriage. And it was also nice to have the author buck the current modern trend of cynicism and allow the nuns and brothers/priests featuring in this story to have kind motives and a genuine faith.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 for this wonderful sequel to Out of Time. Twelfth century England comes alive with vivid details, and Ms. Livingstone's characters are living, breathing people, those in the 12th century as well as those from the 21st century. Abbess Hildegarde is an even greater delight in this story, and the growing love between Sir Giles and Lady Isabella is a sigh-worthy secondary plot. But it's modern Shannon who's the heart of this tale, as she travels to the past to find a distraction from a broken heart and discovers much more, good and bad. I thought the ending dragged on just a bit, but the scenes with Father Dominic are too fun to miss, and then the final scene ties everything together in a brilliant way. Recommended for fans of historical fiction and time travel with more than a splash of romance.

[Heidi Peltier · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Promise to Keep is a fabulous follow-up to Out of Time. In this story, we follow Shannon, Marion's younger daughter, who, after hearing her mother's tale of accidentally slipping back into medieval times, decides to escape her troubles by "vacationing" in the past. A trip to a medieval abbey seems like the best place to lick her wounds, but she has no idea that her twenty-first century troubles are nothing compared to what she's about to face. If she thought modern men were barbaric, wait till she meets a few medieval ones! The biggest question is whether or not she'll make it back to her own time unscathed. The author weaves together danger, excitement, knights, ladies, humor and even a bit of heart-fluttering romance into this well-researched sequel. I can't recommend it enough!

[Mrs Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fabulous sequel to Out of Time

I thoroughly enjoyed this second book in the Out of Time series. It is well written and draws you in very quickly. I look forward to the next one.... I highly recommend it.

[GabriellaS · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great clean story

This is part 2 of time travel tale.
I’m so glad that this author penned this tale.
Every page is page turner.