What do you think?
Rate this book
The Door Ajar
It is her wedding night. The new Countess of Harrington, the former Miss Miranda Winthrop, awaits her new husband with some trepidation. It is, of course, a marriage of convenience, and there is always the possibility that her charming suitor might in reality turn into a domestic tyrant. But the conversation she inadvertently overhears is far more wounding, and the bitterly hurt bride takes shelter in a recently discovered secret room where
She wakes at the feet of an angry stranger, who demands to know in the crudest of terms just what she is doing in his house! London policeman Alec Bramwell is convinced the lady on the floor is just a figment of his thoroughly drunken imagination-until he wakes up the next morning and finds Miranda still there. Can he really believe her wild story of having been transported to the present from 1811?
Time, however, is running short in more ways than one. As Alec tries to catch the mad bomber who has made him a personal target, Miranda discovers that her disappearance has triggered a grave miscarriage of justice. Trapped by honor and duty, Alec and Miranda must make a decision that may doom their new-found love forever.
She wakes at the feet of an angry stranger, who demands to know in the crudest of terms just what she is doing in his house! London policeman Alec Bramwell is convinced the lady on the floor is just a figment of his thoroughly drunken imagination-until he wakes up the next morning and finds Miranda still there. Can he really believe her wild story of having been transported to the present from 1811?
Time, however, is running short in more ways than one. As Alec tries to catch the mad bomber who has made him a personal target, Miranda discovers that her disappearance has triggered a grave miscarriage of justice. Trapped by honor and duty, Alec and Miranda must make a decision that may doom their new-found love forever.
304 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 1995
2 people are currently reading
23 people want to read
About the author
Joan Overfield
27 books13 followersAKA: Carolyn Madison
Joan Overfield (aka Carolyn Madison) has been a published author since winning the Golden Heart Award from Romance Writers of America in 1987 for her Regency, The Prodigal Spinster. Since then she has written a total of twenty-four novels. Along the way Joan has made several bestsellers lists and won numerous awards for her work, including 1998 Career Achievement in Regency Romance from Romantic Times magazine. Her Time Travel, The Door Ajar is in the list of Romantic Times magazine's 200 All-Time Reviewer Favorites.
Joan's varied career has included seven years as a 911 emergency operator. That experience contributed to her writing by training her to assess situations and people – skills she now uses as she develops plots and characters.
Joan uses her stories to showcase characters who reflect her life views. "All of my heroes operate from a strong sense of honor and duty," she says. "I admire that and I believe strongly in right and wrong." The goals of her characters can be summed up in the poem "Ulysses" – "To strive, to find, to seek, and not to yield."
She lives in Oregon with her golden retriever, Libby, and an ornery alley cat named Pounce. She is also a killer Trivial Pursuit player, and loves the smokey wail of a tenor sax and the icy bite of perfectly chilled champagne.
Joan Overfield (aka Carolyn Madison) has been a published author since winning the Golden Heart Award from Romance Writers of America in 1987 for her Regency, The Prodigal Spinster. Since then she has written a total of twenty-four novels. Along the way Joan has made several bestsellers lists and won numerous awards for her work, including 1998 Career Achievement in Regency Romance from Romantic Times magazine. Her Time Travel, The Door Ajar is in the list of Romantic Times magazine's 200 All-Time Reviewer Favorites.
Joan's varied career has included seven years as a 911 emergency operator. That experience contributed to her writing by training her to assess situations and people – skills she now uses as she develops plots and characters.
Joan uses her stories to showcase characters who reflect her life views. "All of my heroes operate from a strong sense of honor and duty," she says. "I admire that and I believe strongly in right and wrong." The goals of her characters can be summed up in the poem "Ulysses" – "To strive, to find, to seek, and not to yield."
She lives in Oregon with her golden retriever, Libby, and an ornery alley cat named Pounce. She is also a killer Trivial Pursuit player, and loves the smokey wail of a tenor sax and the icy bite of perfectly chilled champagne.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review
July 19, 2010
Mediocre, The Door Ajar is the first of two time travel regency romances. Overall I'd rate it an average read at best. I thought maybe it being a regency would be interesting but it did just the opposite. It was hard to imagine a woman taking to the present, so quickly, believable. This story had a somewhat interesting premise: an 'evil room' with a past. Our heroine Miranda is from the ton traveling forward to the present rather than back in time and our hero Alec diffuses bombs. Unfortunately, the hero seemed unusually dim for a law officer and controlling even for an alpha-male romance hero. Granted he was trying to protect her but I would have loved to see him coming off not quite as loud and rude. Ms. Overfield did a good job showing Alec's angst having lost someone he loved but the romance between he and Miranda was stilted.
In addition, the writing was sometimes difficult to follow. I figured out who the bad person was too soon. The speed at which the story unfurled seemed uneven and there are unanswered questions that I am hoping will be solved when I read 'Time's Tapestry', the second book.
All in all this book was OK but there's nothing in it to separate it from the huge stack of similar books in the time travel romance genre. If you want something with this theme that is a more believable TT romance try Marlys Milhiser's THE MIRROR.
In addition, the writing was sometimes difficult to follow. I figured out who the bad person was too soon. The speed at which the story unfurled seemed uneven and there are unanswered questions that I am hoping will be solved when I read 'Time's Tapestry', the second book.
All in all this book was OK but there's nothing in it to separate it from the huge stack of similar books in the time travel romance genre. If you want something with this theme that is a more believable TT romance try Marlys Milhiser's THE MIRROR.
Displaying 1 of 1 review