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de Piaget #4
When I Fall in Love
Nicholas de Piaget is finished with demoiselles more interested in his riches than his heart. He is certain he’ll spend the rest of his life in his leaky castle, watching others enjoy wedded bliss, until he stumbles upon a flame-haired maiden in distress. His honor demands that he help her return home – if only his heart would allow it.
Jennifer McKinnon is convinced that there are no more knights in shining armor – at least not in Manhattan. Then a chance trip to England leaves her wondering if a happily ever after might be in her future. Little does she know that a hero of legendary chivalry awaits her … eight hundred years in the past.
But desires of the heart and dangerous secrets threaten to tear them apart, and only time will tell if true love can lead them to a fairy-tale ending…
Jennifer McKinnon is convinced that there are no more knights in shining armor – at least not in Manhattan. Then a chance trip to England leaves her wondering if a happily ever after might be in her future. Little does she know that a hero of legendary chivalry awaits her … eight hundred years in the past.
But desires of the heart and dangerous secrets threaten to tear them apart, and only time will tell if true love can lead them to a fairy-tale ending…
445 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 24, 2007
124 people are currently reading
1098 people want to read
About the author
Lynn Kurland
71 books1,557 followersLynn began her writing career at the tender age of five with a series of illustrated novellas entitled Clinton’s Troubles in which the compelling hero found himself in all sorts of . . . well, trouble. She was living in Hawaii at the time and the scope for her imagination (poisoned fish, tropical cliffs, large spiders) was great and poor Clinton bore the brunt of it. After returning to the mainland, her writing gave way to training in classical music and Clinton, who had been felled with arrows, eaten by fish and sent tumbling off cars, was put aside for operatic heroes in tights.
Somehow during high school, in between bouts of Verdi and Rossini, she managed to find time to submerge herself in equal parts Tolkien, Barbara Cartland and Mad Magazine. During college, a chance encounter with a large library stack of romances left her hooked, gave her the courage to put pen to paper herself, and finally satisfied that need for a little bit of fantasy with a whole lot of romance!
Somehow during high school, in between bouts of Verdi and Rossini, she managed to find time to submerge herself in equal parts Tolkien, Barbara Cartland and Mad Magazine. During college, a chance encounter with a large library stack of romances left her hooked, gave her the courage to put pen to paper herself, and finally satisfied that need for a little bit of fantasy with a whole lot of romance!
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 154 reviews
July 30, 2010
Hate to break with the group here, but I didn't enjoy this at all. It's the last Kurland I'll ever read.
If Kurland did any research into the 1200s, it doesn't show - and that's a problem. The story hinges on Jenner's violin being something so freakish and alien that it could get her hung for witchcraft - but the violin is not wildly different from the many bowed instruments used in the 1200s.
Nicholas, who is well-educated, a musician, and quite urbane for his era, should not have needed a bow explained to him; a man of his wealth and education would have seen bowed instruments before. Bowed instruments were actually quite common in this era; traveling musicians had been using them throughout Europe for at least 200 years. While the violin may have been a different shape than a vielle (a common instrument in the era where the story takes place), it wasn't so wildly different that a medieval person would be confused about how it worked or think it just suddenly dropped in from space. The violin is to the vielle what a Motorola RAZR phone is to one of those big, clunky cellphones used in the original Wall Street movie.
Jennifer's violin is battered to the point where it should be crushed beyond recognition. Ledenham "stepped on Jennifer's violin" at the end...and yet it's fine! Has Kurland ever handled a violin? If Ledenham stepped on it, it would be damaged beyond the ability of someone in the 13th century to repair.
If Kurland did any research into the 1200s, it doesn't show - and that's a problem. The story hinges on Jenner's violin being something so freakish and alien that it could get her hung for witchcraft - but the violin is not wildly different from the many bowed instruments used in the 1200s.
Nicholas, who is well-educated, a musician, and quite urbane for his era, should not have needed a bow explained to him; a man of his wealth and education would have seen bowed instruments before. Bowed instruments were actually quite common in this era; traveling musicians had been using them throughout Europe for at least 200 years. While the violin may have been a different shape than a vielle (a common instrument in the era where the story takes place), it wasn't so wildly different that a medieval person would be confused about how it worked or think it just suddenly dropped in from space. The violin is to the vielle what a Motorola RAZR phone is to one of those big, clunky cellphones used in the original Wall Street movie.
Jennifer's violin is battered to the point where it should be crushed beyond recognition. Ledenham "stepped on Jennifer's violin" at the end...and yet it's fine! Has Kurland ever handled a violin? If Ledenham stepped on it, it would be damaged beyond the ability of someone in the 13th century to repair.
January 8, 2022
Re-read. My favorite of the entire series (and it is really hard for me to find a favorite in this series since I love them all). Total fantasy, sweet and old fashioned. Sigh worthy. :)
August 6, 2012
(Genre:Fiction/romance) 21st century musician Jennifer McKinnon finds herself pulled back into 13th century England. She isn't initially too upset as she comes from a family that has time traveled before. But when the "gate" she used is destroyed she faces the possibility that she may never see her family again. Fortunately she has landed in good hands. Nicholas de Piaget is a knight and wealthy land owner whose own family background gives him an idea of where (or when) Jennifer comes from.
Kurland writes time travel/medieval romances that can be quite fun, but I have to be careful in choosing which of her books to read. I found her name on a "Clean Romances" group/list on goodreads and decided to give her a try. Here is what I have found out: I don't care for her earlier books due to the amount of sexual content in them (which I guess she had to included to get published at the beginning). After she became a popular writer with a following, she adopted a "closed door" policy for any bedroom scenes which is really nice for those of us who don't like everything spelled out for us. I also like that she generally has the characters marry before any of that as well. This is one of her later books and so it was a fun and clean read, which I greatly appreciated.
Kurland writes time travel/medieval romances that can be quite fun, but I have to be careful in choosing which of her books to read. I found her name on a "Clean Romances" group/list on goodreads and decided to give her a try. Here is what I have found out: I don't care for her earlier books due to the amount of sexual content in them (which I guess she had to included to get published at the beginning). After she became a popular writer with a following, she adopted a "closed door" policy for any bedroom scenes which is really nice for those of us who don't like everything spelled out for us. I also like that she generally has the characters marry before any of that as well. This is one of her later books and so it was a fun and clean read, which I greatly appreciated.
May 6, 2023
Reviewed for THC Reviews
When I Fall in Love is a historical time travel romance that is the fourth book in Lynn Kurland’s de Piaget series if you’re reading them in chronological story order, or it’s the thirteenth book in the combined de Piaget/MacLeod series if you’re reading in publication order. This one tells the story of Rhys and Gwen’s (Another Chance to Dream) son, Nicholas, and Jennifer MacLeod McKinnon who is related to a number of other characters in the combined series. Nicholas has been nursing a broken heart and wondering if he’ll ever find someone to love and with whom to share his heart and castle. Jennifer is tired of modern jerks and wishes for a knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet. When Jennifer goes to England to visit her sister, she’s accidentally transported back through time to the medieval era where she meets Nicholas, a man she’s heard about through genealogy books, when he saves her from being burned at the stake as a witch almost as soon as she arrives. Nicholas immediately recognizes her as a time traveler, while Jennifer, not knowing that he’s aware of time travelers’ existence, tries to keep her secret. With both of them believing that she’ll eventually go back to her own time, the two spend a fortnight basically avoiding each other so that they don’t become too attached, but when Jennifer’s attempts to return home fail, Nicholas finally warms up to the idea that she might actually stay. The two start to grow closer, but what Nicholas hasn’t told Jennifer is that his brother-in-law is also a time traveler who probably knows the location of a working time gate. He begs her to give him another fortnight with neither of them sharing their secrets in hopes that she’ll fall in love with him and not want to go back when he does tell her. But when she learns the truth, she might not be understanding, and they also still have to contend with the man who tried to murder Jennifer as well as several women Nick’s grandmother has brought for him to choose a wife from amongst.
Nicholas had been in love with Amanda (Dreams of Stardust), who he’d been raised alongside as siblings even though they aren’t biologically related, but she married another, leaving him with a broken heart. He’s convinced he’ll never find a woman to truly love him and that he’ll just grow into a cranky old man in his run-down castle. Then he happens across a young woman who appeared from out of nowhere and is now about to be burned at the stake by his neighbor, an awful man who tried to do the same to Nick’s brother-in-law, Jake. Because Nick knows that Jake is a time traveler, he almost immediately recognizes the signs that this flame-haired beauty is also a woman out of time. When the time gate she came through doesn’t appear to be working to take her back home, he extends an invitation to stay at his castle. However, knowing that he could all too easily fall in love with Jennifer and not wanting to get attached lest she find another way home, he avoids her for two weeks, letting his younger brother, Montgomery, take care of her instead. But after she makes three more unsuccessful attempts to go home, during one of which he has to rescue her from his evil neighbor again, Nick begins to allow himself to believe that she just might stay. He starts to spend more time with her, but still doesn’t tell her that Jake might know a way to get her back home, instead hoping that if she has enough time to fall for him, too, she might not want to return. When she learns the truth, though, his plan could backfire on him.
After meeting Nicholas in some of the previous books, I’d been very much looking forward to his story. He was always kind, romantic, and chivalrous, and after two women he cared about marrying other men, I was excited to see him finally find his true love. In many ways, he was the same man who had been introduced earlier, but I felt like his characteristics were more subdued. He’d always struck me as a hopeless romantic who fell hard and fast, and wore his heart on his sleeve, but here he holds back a lot from Jennifer, at least at first. I suppose some of that had to do with him having been burned before and still nursing a broken heart, but I didn’t feel like that aspect of his character was actually shown so much as it was simply implied. Likewise, I didn’t feel like his romantic and chivalrous side was brought out as well as it could have been even when he starts allowing himself to fall for Jennifer. So while I did still like Nick a lot, I was ever so slightly disappointed that he didn’t grow into the wildly romantic, larger-than-life hero I was expecting.
Jennifer is a talented concert violinist who took a bit of a break from playing to start a business with her mom designing and sewing baby clothes, but she recently got a gig that is about to propel her back into the music spotlight. She’s from Manhattan, where none of the men she’s dated ever really impressed her and far too many have been total jerks, so she’s longing for a genuine knight in shining armor. Disillusioned by her love life and wanting a little break before her music career takes off again, she goes to England to visit her sister, Megan. There Jennifer goes exploring in some old castle ruins and accidentally travels back to the middle ages. No sooner has she passed through the time gate, than she’s seized by men who think she’s a witch and are hell bent on burning her at the stake. Luckily she’s rescued by none other than Nicholas de Piaget, who Megan’s family genealogy books said was the handsomest, most perfect and chivalrous knight in all of England. Once she’s out of harm’s way, Jennifer couldn’t agree more with the historian’s assessment, so when the time gate fails to take her back home, she accepts his invitation to stay at Wyckham. For the next two weeks, she notices that he seems to be avoiding her, but given how strong her attraction to him is, she believes it to be for the best. She has every intention of trying to get back home, but when the original gate doesn’t work a second time, resulting in her needing to be rescued again, and two more gates she knows of don’t work either, she becomes resigned to staying in medieval England. Jennifer knows that she’ll eventually have to tell Nicholas the truth about being a time traveler, but when he insists on them not sharing secrets and just enjoying each other’s company for the next fortnight, she can’t resist. By the time their two weeks are up, she’s fallen madly in love with him, but when he fesses up that he already knows about time travel and knows someone who can probably tell her the location of a working gate, she’ll have a difficult decision to make.
Jennifer is clearly aware of quite a bit about time travel and it’s mentioned during the course of the story that she’d previously time traveled with her other sister, Victoria, so I know that she’s appeared in prior books in the publication order. However, since I’ve thus far been reading them chronologically, I hadn’t read any of the books she’s been seen in before. Therefore, I went into reading this book with no preconceived notions about her. Overall, I liked her a lot. She’s sweet, kind and understanding. She also has an adventurous side to not have any major issues with traveling back into the past by several centuries. She’s an incredibly talented violinist who can make her audience shed tears at the beauty of her music. But I think what I liked most about her is that she loves Nicholas for the man he is. Until she came along Nick couldn’t find a woman who wasn’t either coveting his money and position or bothered by the circumstances of his birth, but Jennifer doesn’t care about either one and simply loves him for himself.
As I mentioned, I’ve been reading just the de Piaget books in chronological order. I had initially thought this would be the best and least confusing way to read them, because the de Piaget/MacLeod publication order jumps around a lot in the timeline. However, when I hit the third book, Dreams of Stardust, several characters came into play who’d clearly had stories told previously, and this book only exacerbated that issue. So now I’m rethinking my reading strategy and may switch to reading them in publication order after all. This being the case, When I Fall in Love boast quite a lot of supporting characters who appear elsewhere in both series. All of Nicholas’s large family are seen, including his parents, Rys and Gwen (Another Chance to Dream); his ever-so-slightly older brother, Robin, and his wife, Anne (If I Had You); his sister, Amanda, and her husband, Jake (Dreams of Stardust); his other sister, Isabelle (Dreams of Lilacs); and his younger brothers, Miles ("The Gift of Christmas Past" from the anthology, Love Came Just in Time), Montgomery (One Enchanted Evening), and John (One Magic Moment). Jennifer’s sisters have found love with men who traveled forward from the past. Victoria and Connor (Much Ado in the Moonlight) are Shakespearean actors, also living in Manhattan, while Megan and Gideon (“The Three Wise Ghosts” from the anthology Christmas Spirits) are the current inhabitants of Artane. Nicholas’s nephew, Kendrick, traveled forward in time and married Genevieve, a modern woman, in Stardust of Yesterday, and they are the current owners of Segrave. I believe these were the only characters seen on-page that have their own stories, but there were a few others that received mentions that are also part of the series.
As I said before, I was very eager to read Nicholas’s story, so I was excited to finally pick up When I Fall in Love. However, I ended up having somewhat mixed feelings about it, just as I did with Dreams of Stardust. Rys and Gwen’s story, Another Chance to Dream became an instant favorite that I was happy to place on my keeper shelf, but the three books I’ve read since, have faltered in places. Aside from a mutual physical attraction, I didn’t really feel much of a connection between Nicholas and Jennifer at first. Part of that is because of them remaining at arm’s length from each other for two whole weeks, during which time, they have little communication. In fact, Nicholas pretends that he doesn’t speak Gaelic, the only common language Jennifer knows, a decision that I didn’t really understand. When they start interacting with each other more, the connection improved a bit, but I still saw several missed opportunities to deepen the romance. They take a walk along the beach, which barely gets mentioned after the fact, and they spend an entire afternoon in the solar with Nicholas playing the lute and singing to her, but that only gets about a single page. I just found the progress of the romantic aspects extremely languid, which made it a little difficult to become invested in their relationship the way I wanted to. Eventually it does get there, and by the end, I was convinced that they were very much in love, but it still never reached the strong emotional highs I expect from a romance. Another part of this is because Ms. Kurland doesn’t typically write on-page love scenes, which isn’t necessarily a detractor for me if a deep romantic connection is there, but here it kind of is. There’s virtually no sexual tension at all and only the barest implications of something happening off-page. In fact, this story is so chaste, with Nicholas’s family often protecting Jennifer’s virtue, it felt almost like reading a Christian inspirational.
A few of other issues I had are that Jennifer makes her decision about whether to stay with Nicholas in the past with only minimal thought going into it. And then there are the villains who only presented a distant threat and were dispatched pretty easily, as well as the time gates seeming to arbitrarily work or not work with no real explanation of why. Additionally, while Nick’s bantering with his brothers could be amusing at times, I felt like there was often more of that going on than there were romantic moments between him and Jennifer, so I wouldn’t have minded those scenes being pared down a little. All that said, though, despite certain misgivings, the one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about Lynn Kurland’s stories are her characters. I’ve very much liked virtually all of the ones I’ve read about so far and this one is no exception. Nick and Jennifer are kind, caring people who would be impossible not to love, so despite not being a perfect read, they alone help to elevate the story. I also enjoy that the author seems to favor beta-leaning heroes, who I typically adore. So my liking of the characters and my curiosity regarding all the supporting characters who have stories I haven’t read yet, will, I’m sure, fuel my interest in continuing the series.
When I Fall in Love is a historical time travel romance that is the fourth book in Lynn Kurland’s de Piaget series if you’re reading them in chronological story order, or it’s the thirteenth book in the combined de Piaget/MacLeod series if you’re reading in publication order. This one tells the story of Rhys and Gwen’s (Another Chance to Dream) son, Nicholas, and Jennifer MacLeod McKinnon who is related to a number of other characters in the combined series. Nicholas has been nursing a broken heart and wondering if he’ll ever find someone to love and with whom to share his heart and castle. Jennifer is tired of modern jerks and wishes for a knight in shining armor to sweep her off her feet. When Jennifer goes to England to visit her sister, she’s accidentally transported back through time to the medieval era where she meets Nicholas, a man she’s heard about through genealogy books, when he saves her from being burned at the stake as a witch almost as soon as she arrives. Nicholas immediately recognizes her as a time traveler, while Jennifer, not knowing that he’s aware of time travelers’ existence, tries to keep her secret. With both of them believing that she’ll eventually go back to her own time, the two spend a fortnight basically avoiding each other so that they don’t become too attached, but when Jennifer’s attempts to return home fail, Nicholas finally warms up to the idea that she might actually stay. The two start to grow closer, but what Nicholas hasn’t told Jennifer is that his brother-in-law is also a time traveler who probably knows the location of a working time gate. He begs her to give him another fortnight with neither of them sharing their secrets in hopes that she’ll fall in love with him and not want to go back when he does tell her. But when she learns the truth, she might not be understanding, and they also still have to contend with the man who tried to murder Jennifer as well as several women Nick’s grandmother has brought for him to choose a wife from amongst.
Nicholas had been in love with Amanda (Dreams of Stardust), who he’d been raised alongside as siblings even though they aren’t biologically related, but she married another, leaving him with a broken heart. He’s convinced he’ll never find a woman to truly love him and that he’ll just grow into a cranky old man in his run-down castle. Then he happens across a young woman who appeared from out of nowhere and is now about to be burned at the stake by his neighbor, an awful man who tried to do the same to Nick’s brother-in-law, Jake. Because Nick knows that Jake is a time traveler, he almost immediately recognizes the signs that this flame-haired beauty is also a woman out of time. When the time gate she came through doesn’t appear to be working to take her back home, he extends an invitation to stay at his castle. However, knowing that he could all too easily fall in love with Jennifer and not wanting to get attached lest she find another way home, he avoids her for two weeks, letting his younger brother, Montgomery, take care of her instead. But after she makes three more unsuccessful attempts to go home, during one of which he has to rescue her from his evil neighbor again, Nick begins to allow himself to believe that she just might stay. He starts to spend more time with her, but still doesn’t tell her that Jake might know a way to get her back home, instead hoping that if she has enough time to fall for him, too, she might not want to return. When she learns the truth, though, his plan could backfire on him.
After meeting Nicholas in some of the previous books, I’d been very much looking forward to his story. He was always kind, romantic, and chivalrous, and after two women he cared about marrying other men, I was excited to see him finally find his true love. In many ways, he was the same man who had been introduced earlier, but I felt like his characteristics were more subdued. He’d always struck me as a hopeless romantic who fell hard and fast, and wore his heart on his sleeve, but here he holds back a lot from Jennifer, at least at first. I suppose some of that had to do with him having been burned before and still nursing a broken heart, but I didn’t feel like that aspect of his character was actually shown so much as it was simply implied. Likewise, I didn’t feel like his romantic and chivalrous side was brought out as well as it could have been even when he starts allowing himself to fall for Jennifer. So while I did still like Nick a lot, I was ever so slightly disappointed that he didn’t grow into the wildly romantic, larger-than-life hero I was expecting.
Jennifer is a talented concert violinist who took a bit of a break from playing to start a business with her mom designing and sewing baby clothes, but she recently got a gig that is about to propel her back into the music spotlight. She’s from Manhattan, where none of the men she’s dated ever really impressed her and far too many have been total jerks, so she’s longing for a genuine knight in shining armor. Disillusioned by her love life and wanting a little break before her music career takes off again, she goes to England to visit her sister, Megan. There Jennifer goes exploring in some old castle ruins and accidentally travels back to the middle ages. No sooner has she passed through the time gate, than she’s seized by men who think she’s a witch and are hell bent on burning her at the stake. Luckily she’s rescued by none other than Nicholas de Piaget, who Megan’s family genealogy books said was the handsomest, most perfect and chivalrous knight in all of England. Once she’s out of harm’s way, Jennifer couldn’t agree more with the historian’s assessment, so when the time gate fails to take her back home, she accepts his invitation to stay at Wyckham. For the next two weeks, she notices that he seems to be avoiding her, but given how strong her attraction to him is, she believes it to be for the best. She has every intention of trying to get back home, but when the original gate doesn’t work a second time, resulting in her needing to be rescued again, and two more gates she knows of don’t work either, she becomes resigned to staying in medieval England. Jennifer knows that she’ll eventually have to tell Nicholas the truth about being a time traveler, but when he insists on them not sharing secrets and just enjoying each other’s company for the next fortnight, she can’t resist. By the time their two weeks are up, she’s fallen madly in love with him, but when he fesses up that he already knows about time travel and knows someone who can probably tell her the location of a working gate, she’ll have a difficult decision to make.
Jennifer is clearly aware of quite a bit about time travel and it’s mentioned during the course of the story that she’d previously time traveled with her other sister, Victoria, so I know that she’s appeared in prior books in the publication order. However, since I’ve thus far been reading them chronologically, I hadn’t read any of the books she’s been seen in before. Therefore, I went into reading this book with no preconceived notions about her. Overall, I liked her a lot. She’s sweet, kind and understanding. She also has an adventurous side to not have any major issues with traveling back into the past by several centuries. She’s an incredibly talented violinist who can make her audience shed tears at the beauty of her music. But I think what I liked most about her is that she loves Nicholas for the man he is. Until she came along Nick couldn’t find a woman who wasn’t either coveting his money and position or bothered by the circumstances of his birth, but Jennifer doesn’t care about either one and simply loves him for himself.
As I mentioned, I’ve been reading just the de Piaget books in chronological order. I had initially thought this would be the best and least confusing way to read them, because the de Piaget/MacLeod publication order jumps around a lot in the timeline. However, when I hit the third book, Dreams of Stardust, several characters came into play who’d clearly had stories told previously, and this book only exacerbated that issue. So now I’m rethinking my reading strategy and may switch to reading them in publication order after all. This being the case, When I Fall in Love boast quite a lot of supporting characters who appear elsewhere in both series. All of Nicholas’s large family are seen, including his parents, Rys and Gwen (Another Chance to Dream); his ever-so-slightly older brother, Robin, and his wife, Anne (If I Had You); his sister, Amanda, and her husband, Jake (Dreams of Stardust); his other sister, Isabelle (Dreams of Lilacs); and his younger brothers, Miles ("The Gift of Christmas Past" from the anthology, Love Came Just in Time), Montgomery (One Enchanted Evening), and John (One Magic Moment). Jennifer’s sisters have found love with men who traveled forward from the past. Victoria and Connor (Much Ado in the Moonlight) are Shakespearean actors, also living in Manhattan, while Megan and Gideon (“The Three Wise Ghosts” from the anthology Christmas Spirits) are the current inhabitants of Artane. Nicholas’s nephew, Kendrick, traveled forward in time and married Genevieve, a modern woman, in Stardust of Yesterday, and they are the current owners of Segrave. I believe these were the only characters seen on-page that have their own stories, but there were a few others that received mentions that are also part of the series.
As I said before, I was very eager to read Nicholas’s story, so I was excited to finally pick up When I Fall in Love. However, I ended up having somewhat mixed feelings about it, just as I did with Dreams of Stardust. Rys and Gwen’s story, Another Chance to Dream became an instant favorite that I was happy to place on my keeper shelf, but the three books I’ve read since, have faltered in places. Aside from a mutual physical attraction, I didn’t really feel much of a connection between Nicholas and Jennifer at first. Part of that is because of them remaining at arm’s length from each other for two whole weeks, during which time, they have little communication. In fact, Nicholas pretends that he doesn’t speak Gaelic, the only common language Jennifer knows, a decision that I didn’t really understand. When they start interacting with each other more, the connection improved a bit, but I still saw several missed opportunities to deepen the romance. They take a walk along the beach, which barely gets mentioned after the fact, and they spend an entire afternoon in the solar with Nicholas playing the lute and singing to her, but that only gets about a single page. I just found the progress of the romantic aspects extremely languid, which made it a little difficult to become invested in their relationship the way I wanted to. Eventually it does get there, and by the end, I was convinced that they were very much in love, but it still never reached the strong emotional highs I expect from a romance. Another part of this is because Ms. Kurland doesn’t typically write on-page love scenes, which isn’t necessarily a detractor for me if a deep romantic connection is there, but here it kind of is. There’s virtually no sexual tension at all and only the barest implications of something happening off-page. In fact, this story is so chaste, with Nicholas’s family often protecting Jennifer’s virtue, it felt almost like reading a Christian inspirational.
A few of other issues I had are that Jennifer makes her decision about whether to stay with Nicholas in the past with only minimal thought going into it. And then there are the villains who only presented a distant threat and were dispatched pretty easily, as well as the time gates seeming to arbitrarily work or not work with no real explanation of why. Additionally, while Nick’s bantering with his brothers could be amusing at times, I felt like there was often more of that going on than there were romantic moments between him and Jennifer, so I wouldn’t have minded those scenes being pared down a little. All that said, though, despite certain misgivings, the one thing that I’ve always enjoyed about Lynn Kurland’s stories are her characters. I’ve very much liked virtually all of the ones I’ve read about so far and this one is no exception. Nick and Jennifer are kind, caring people who would be impossible not to love, so despite not being a perfect read, they alone help to elevate the story. I also enjoy that the author seems to favor beta-leaning heroes, who I typically adore. So my liking of the characters and my curiosity regarding all the supporting characters who have stories I haven’t read yet, will, I’m sure, fuel my interest in continuing the series.
March 26, 2014
I think this might be my favorite one so far in this series. I could not put it down once I began reading. From the start it captured me. I love that Jennifer is a violinist; I could understand the importance of music in her life. I thought that the romance was perfect. The Cinderella type story was endearing. Nicholas really knows how to show a girl he loves her. I did not agree with information they withheld from each other, but I understand why they did. It was clean and they kept to kissing until after they were married.
This book was not overbearing with villainous activities; there were enough close encounters so that we know that they can handle themselves well in a fight but they were not always in peril. It made it more realistic for me and more enjoyable.
I LOVE the time travel aspect that has different people from different times living in other times. It could be confusing but for some reason flows nicely. It also puts a bit of a twist on the historical portion. Because some of the characters are from the 21st century, the 13 century setting is not entirely true, there are aspects and speech that is a crossover.
The characters are so real with their own personalities. You just can't help loving each one of them (except the villains of course). I absolutely love the interactions between characters. They are funny and endearing as well as insightful. There is a strong sense of family and love.
Just the best reading ever!
This book was not overbearing with villainous activities; there were enough close encounters so that we know that they can handle themselves well in a fight but they were not always in peril. It made it more realistic for me and more enjoyable.
I LOVE the time travel aspect that has different people from different times living in other times. It could be confusing but for some reason flows nicely. It also puts a bit of a twist on the historical portion. Because some of the characters are from the 21st century, the 13 century setting is not entirely true, there are aspects and speech that is a crossover.
The characters are so real with their own personalities. You just can't help loving each one of them (except the villains of course). I absolutely love the interactions between characters. They are funny and endearing as well as insightful. There is a strong sense of family and love.
Just the best reading ever!
May 15, 2019
Jennifer needs a change so she takes her sister's offer to visit England. As she is sight seeing, a thief pushes her through a time gate. Where she is thought to be a witch and it to burn, Nicholas de Piaget show up with Montgomery. They rescue her and take her to Wickman to safe guard her honor. He recognizes she is as is his brother in law, Jake. Nicholas takes her to the time gates that don't work for her. He takes her to Artane and takes matters to keep her with him.
August 28, 2012
(**Reading this book again right now and LOVE it even more the second time around! Such a different perspective now that I've read more of the series! Still highly recommend!**)
This was a random, spur of the moment purchase at a used bookstore before I moved out of the state. I had credits there that I needed to use, so I quickly grabbed a bunch of books. I was not really into romances at the time, but I thought, hey, there's a castle on the cover - it probably takes place in the UK. Sounds good to me. I didn't expect to actually love it, I just thought it would be romantic and entertaining. Light reading.
Skip to 11 months later when I actually pick it up and decide to read it.........and can't put it down and read the whole thing in like 1 day. This book managed to be unbelievably romantic, but still clean. An amazing feat. Not saying I don't like my romance novels to get dirty once in a while, but this is nice also. I know this is sort of late in the De Piaget and McCleod series, so now I plan to go back and read them all from the beginning. I got a really good feel for many of the couples that star in her other titles from this book though. It's a big family and there are a few different time periods they all exist in, so I got to see a lot of other marriages and relationships and I'm excited to read their personal stories now too. I really love the way she writes her characters. They are real. Nothing phony or cheesy about them at all. They are funny and real and the dialogue and interactions are believable. I feel like I'm friends with all of them now. Especially all Nicholas's brothers - Montgomery, John, Robin and Miles. Love those boys. :) The way she writes characters reminds me of Karen Marie Moning's characters in her Highlander series -- characters who I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Lynn Kurland has a similar talent for writing likable, believable, very real characters.
The story itself involves time travel through a portal, but neither of the main characters (Nicholas De Piaget and Jennifer McKinnon) is shocked the way most characters are in time travel books. They're both aware that the fairy rings and standing stones mark portals between times, so that road block is non-existent for them. Now neither of them KNOWS the other is aware of this until later in the book, but we don't have to read the scenes where one person is schocked by what's happened to them and then has to try to explain it and make the other person believe. They're able to just begin to get to know each other and fall in love. I really liked that about it because it was a change of pace from most other time travel romances.
Their feelings about each other are just......heart warming -- in the most non-cheesy way possible. I just felt everything along side them and was really able to put myself in their places to experience it with them.
Such a wonderful book. I am definitely a new fan of Lynn Kurland! Good thing this series has like 20 books in it.......and she's still writing! Yay!
This was a random, spur of the moment purchase at a used bookstore before I moved out of the state. I had credits there that I needed to use, so I quickly grabbed a bunch of books. I was not really into romances at the time, but I thought, hey, there's a castle on the cover - it probably takes place in the UK. Sounds good to me. I didn't expect to actually love it, I just thought it would be romantic and entertaining. Light reading.
Skip to 11 months later when I actually pick it up and decide to read it.........and can't put it down and read the whole thing in like 1 day. This book managed to be unbelievably romantic, but still clean. An amazing feat. Not saying I don't like my romance novels to get dirty once in a while, but this is nice also. I know this is sort of late in the De Piaget and McCleod series, so now I plan to go back and read them all from the beginning. I got a really good feel for many of the couples that star in her other titles from this book though. It's a big family and there are a few different time periods they all exist in, so I got to see a lot of other marriages and relationships and I'm excited to read their personal stories now too. I really love the way she writes her characters. They are real. Nothing phony or cheesy about them at all. They are funny and real and the dialogue and interactions are believable. I feel like I'm friends with all of them now. Especially all Nicholas's brothers - Montgomery, John, Robin and Miles. Love those boys. :) The way she writes characters reminds me of Karen Marie Moning's characters in her Highlander series -- characters who I LOVE LOVE LOVE. Lynn Kurland has a similar talent for writing likable, believable, very real characters.
The story itself involves time travel through a portal, but neither of the main characters (Nicholas De Piaget and Jennifer McKinnon) is shocked the way most characters are in time travel books. They're both aware that the fairy rings and standing stones mark portals between times, so that road block is non-existent for them. Now neither of them KNOWS the other is aware of this until later in the book, but we don't have to read the scenes where one person is schocked by what's happened to them and then has to try to explain it and make the other person believe. They're able to just begin to get to know each other and fall in love. I really liked that about it because it was a change of pace from most other time travel romances.
Their feelings about each other are just......heart warming -- in the most non-cheesy way possible. I just felt everything along side them and was really able to put myself in their places to experience it with them.
Such a wonderful book. I am definitely a new fan of Lynn Kurland! Good thing this series has like 20 books in it.......and she's still writing! Yay!
February 3, 2017
This book just didn't work for me. Maybe it would have been better if I'd read some of the previous books because I didn't feel like this worked as a stand alone - too many characters that I wasn't familiar with. The heroine was a bit too weepy for me and their wasn't a lot of substance to the romance.
June 7, 2020
I usually love a good time travel book. This book was just too long and I got sick of hearing just how much Nick loved the way Jennifer looked. It was in desperate need of some action and something more happening. I liked that Jennifer was born the same year as I was but I had to push myself to get through this.
June 26, 2025
I was so bored!!!! An insta-love romance with absolutely no chemistry or stakes. And a plot? Nowhere to be found.
DNF at 70%
DNF at 70%
May 7, 2011
Jennifer wants to change her life, not only the professional part, but the private one as well. All she wants is a man who could love her, a husband, a father, someone like her brother-in-law. Too bad she can't find him, at least not in the present. Then, one day when she was resting in the park, something happened. When she woke up she was in medieval England and she was being accused of witchcraft. Luckily, there was a knight in shining armor to save her.
Nicholas de Piaget isn't content with his life. The woman he was in love with married another man, his castle's roof is leaking - and then he sees Jennifer. He is immediately attracted to her, but he recognizes the fact that she's from the Future. That doesn't sit well with him, especially when he starts to care, and the fear that she will leave becomes almost unbearable.
I like the way Nicholas courted her, he knew from the start that he wanted her as a wife, and he did anything he could to make her love him. But I didn't like the fact that he didn't tell her about the time gate, even when she was devastated by the fact that she might never see her family again.
As always, de Piaget family is amazing, every single one of them. :-)
I really didn't like the epilogue, it made me melancholic instead of satisfied. All that things we learn from the future should make me happy, but maybe the fact that they are already long gone by that point didn't sit well with me. And some things Kendall said only confused me.
Rating:
3 stars.
Nicholas de Piaget isn't content with his life. The woman he was in love with married another man, his castle's roof is leaking - and then he sees Jennifer. He is immediately attracted to her, but he recognizes the fact that she's from the Future. That doesn't sit well with him, especially when he starts to care, and the fear that she will leave becomes almost unbearable.
I like the way Nicholas courted her, he knew from the start that he wanted her as a wife, and he did anything he could to make her love him. But I didn't like the fact that he didn't tell her about the time gate, even when she was devastated by the fact that she might never see her family again.
As always, de Piaget family is amazing, every single one of them. :-)
I really didn't like the epilogue, it made me melancholic instead of satisfied. All that things we learn from the future should make me happy, but maybe the fact that they are already long gone by that point didn't sit well with me. And some things Kendall said only confused me.
Rating:
3 stars.
March 23, 2013
About 25 pages in... Can't figure out why I'm reading this. Sure, it's maybe a genre I like, but so far I dislike this book heartily. Ick. Can't figure out what's going on, who's who, or what the heck kind of accents are zipping about. I think she's going for a variety of medieval accents, but man, they just sound stupid at the moment.
Oh! She wrote the Nine Kingdom series. Well, that one was cute so maybe this will improve. Though I'm sure I've unwittingly jumped in mid-series somehow.
Update: I read the whole darn thing, for the sake of being able to give an informed review. My conclusion? Awful! Terrible blather. If you love Medieval Times (the restaurant with the fake jousting where everyone is a wench), this is the book for you. If you are a prudish grandma, this romance will be titillating. I don't understand how both the woman who has gone back in time and her tough medieval knight can be tearing up (but they're not normally criers) every three pages. And when they're not crying, they're getting weak in the knees. Honestly, it happened so often that I have to wonder if these two have some kind of serious neurological disorder. The book was terrible. I can only imagine that the other books in this series were slightly less terrible, since she managed to publish more than one.
Oh! She wrote the Nine Kingdom series. Well, that one was cute so maybe this will improve. Though I'm sure I've unwittingly jumped in mid-series somehow.
Update: I read the whole darn thing, for the sake of being able to give an informed review. My conclusion? Awful! Terrible blather. If you love Medieval Times (the restaurant with the fake jousting where everyone is a wench), this is the book for you. If you are a prudish grandma, this romance will be titillating. I don't understand how both the woman who has gone back in time and her tough medieval knight can be tearing up (but they're not normally criers) every three pages. And when they're not crying, they're getting weak in the knees. Honestly, it happened so often that I have to wonder if these two have some kind of serious neurological disorder. The book was terrible. I can only imagine that the other books in this series were slightly less terrible, since she managed to publish more than one.
April 7, 2012
And now, drum roll please, the two families finally come together in a full length book! The MacLeod/McKinnon family in modern day Scotland have an unmarried damsel in distress. The de Piaget's in medieval England happen to have the perfect knight in shining armor. It was just a matter of time before the two finally found each other and it happens in When I Fall In Love.
Jennifer McKinnon has an unusual family. Her sister is married to English nobility but runs an inn full of ghosts. Her brother and sister each married ghosts themselves. He extended family includes a group of medieval Scots living in modern Scotland. So Jennifer is used to paranormal oddities. What she can't believe is that there are no good men left in NYC. At all. Not a single one. So, what is a girl to do when that happens? Jennifer escapes to the family estates in Scotland and England and plans to just hide for a little while. Maybe when she gets home, something will have changed - but she doubts it.
For the full review, please go to http://thewindowseat13.blogspot.com/2...
Jennifer McKinnon has an unusual family. Her sister is married to English nobility but runs an inn full of ghosts. Her brother and sister each married ghosts themselves. He extended family includes a group of medieval Scots living in modern Scotland. So Jennifer is used to paranormal oddities. What she can't believe is that there are no good men left in NYC. At all. Not a single one. So, what is a girl to do when that happens? Jennifer escapes to the family estates in Scotland and England and plans to just hide for a little while. Maybe when she gets home, something will have changed - but she doubts it.
For the full review, please go to http://thewindowseat13.blogspot.com/2...
March 9, 2009
horrid. slow, confusing, w/o substance or historical factuality. frankly, i'm amazed it got published. do not read this.
July 31, 2019
Loved this book :)
January 11, 2024
2.5 stars
This was okay, I did finish it but it was a struggle. I have mostly enjoyed the previous books in the MacLeod/de Piaget series (with a couple of exceptions), which is why I did finish this book. However, this book did stretch credibility just a bit too much.
Jennifer MacLeod McKinnon (our heroine) suddenly finds herself in 12thC having fallen though a time gate and is nearly burnt at the stake as a witch for that. Enter Nicholas de Piaget (our hero) who saves her and then acts like a complete pain in the neck by avoiding her. He suspects that she is from the future based on her clothing ,like his brother in law Jake Kilchurn (Dreams Of Stardust). Instead of telling her, he suggests 2 weeks of wooing before questions are asked and answered.
There are many reasons why I struggled with this book: it is too long at 444 pages, (the first MacLeod book “A Dance Through Time” was just 356 pages); there was no real action just the plot plodding along with Jennifer wondering how she would cope if she stayed and Nicholas wondering how he would ask Jennifer to stay; there was no real spark between Jennifer and Nicholas; and unless you have read the previous books in these series, then many of the secondary characters remain a mystery. I did love the addition of the families of both Jennifer and Nichloas, especially Nicholas’s twin brothers John and Montgomery. Sadly, I didn’t feel much connection with either Jennifer of Nicholas nor with the development of their relationship.
This was okay, I did finish it but it was a struggle. I have mostly enjoyed the previous books in the MacLeod/de Piaget series (with a couple of exceptions), which is why I did finish this book. However, this book did stretch credibility just a bit too much.
Jennifer MacLeod McKinnon (our heroine) suddenly finds herself in 12thC having fallen though a time gate and is nearly burnt at the stake as a witch for that. Enter Nicholas de Piaget (our hero) who saves her and then acts like a complete pain in the neck by avoiding her. He suspects that she is from the future based on her clothing ,like his brother in law Jake Kilchurn (Dreams Of Stardust). Instead of telling her, he suggests 2 weeks of wooing before questions are asked and answered.
There are many reasons why I struggled with this book: it is too long at 444 pages, (the first MacLeod book “A Dance Through Time” was just 356 pages); there was no real action just the plot plodding along with Jennifer wondering how she would cope if she stayed and Nicholas wondering how he would ask Jennifer to stay; there was no real spark between Jennifer and Nicholas; and unless you have read the previous books in these series, then many of the secondary characters remain a mystery. I did love the addition of the families of both Jennifer and Nichloas, especially Nicholas’s twin brothers John and Montgomery. Sadly, I didn’t feel much connection with either Jennifer of Nicholas nor with the development of their relationship.
August 27, 2023
I really wanted to like this book, the title seemed promising. Alas, I found it to be a child-like fantasy, something more for a young teenage girl rather than a mature adult woman who has been reading historical romance novels for many years. I felt like I could have been reading a Disney story. It was "clean" and "chaste" to the point of being ridiculous and unbelievable; the author goes to long lengths to ensure that the reader is aware that the lead characters are always followed around by plenty of chaperones. They do kiss at one point, about 3/4 of the way through the book. And there was some discussion between them about whether or not they even should kiss. Oh, brother. Regardless, I would have rated this book higher had the writing quality been good. I have read plenty of "clean" well written books with engaging plots and characters, and have rated them highly. For me, this book just failed me in all ways.
June 2, 2020
X. 1.75 stars
Let me just sum up this book for you:
Jennifer: I’m not the kind of woman who cries often.
What happens: Jennifer cries during every.single.chapter of this book.🤦🏼♀️
*HUGE eye-roll*
I’m gonna make it even worse:
A. There is literally NO sexy scenes in the whole book!!! NONE. I was hoping for the gratuitous one at the end but NOPE, denied even that one. 👎🏻
B. This story jumped around SO much & had so many characters, I was confused more often than not about what was going on.
C. What was even the purpose of mentioning the violin or her being a violinist? This was even relevant in the thick of the plot. A bit at the beginning and weakly at the end but it felt irrelevant.
Overall: NO. Very disappointed. This will be my first & LAST Kurland book. I have a stack of them too....Goodwill donation box✔️
Let me just sum up this book for you:
Jennifer: I’m not the kind of woman who cries often.
What happens: Jennifer cries during every.single.chapter of this book.🤦🏼♀️
*HUGE eye-roll*
I’m gonna make it even worse:
A. There is literally NO sexy scenes in the whole book!!! NONE. I was hoping for the gratuitous one at the end but NOPE, denied even that one. 👎🏻
B. This story jumped around SO much & had so many characters, I was confused more often than not about what was going on.
C. What was even the purpose of mentioning the violin or her being a violinist? This was even relevant in the thick of the plot. A bit at the beginning and weakly at the end but it felt irrelevant.
Overall: NO. Very disappointed. This will be my first & LAST Kurland book. I have a stack of them too....Goodwill donation box✔️
January 11, 2018
This is the first book in the series that I read, and I really enjoyed it. I don't think you need to have read any of the previous books to get the most out of this book, but it wouldn't hurt.
Jennifer and Nicholas' relationship is quite sweet, and the book revolves around this relationship unlike a lot of other books where the romance is secondary to the mystery/adventure. The world building is simple and effective, and the characters are sufficiently fleshed out that they don't impede the story. I only wish that the fate of Brigit of Islington was disclosed because once that scheming bitch leaves Artane, we don't hear anything further of her, or her mother, and she was a good nemesis for Jennifer and Nicholas and I would have liked to see more of her.
3½★
Jennifer and Nicholas' relationship is quite sweet, and the book revolves around this relationship unlike a lot of other books where the romance is secondary to the mystery/adventure. The world building is simple and effective, and the characters are sufficiently fleshed out that they don't impede the story. I only wish that the fate of Brigit of Islington was disclosed because once that scheming bitch leaves Artane, we don't hear anything further of her, or her mother, and she was a good nemesis for Jennifer and Nicholas and I would have liked to see more of her.
3½★
November 29, 2024
A fantastical story...
Highly improbable with all of the Future contraband mentioned. Nicholas de Piaget has always been a favourite in this series. That he meets a Future gal who happens to be a renowned violinist who finds herself in medieval England during the 13th century, is somewhat of a disservice to Nicholas, considering his father Rhys and brother Robin’s stories.
There are characters from other books that intersect with this one, namely Kendrick & Genevieve & Gideon & Megan de Piaget, as well as Connor & Victoria.
Major hints as to future time travelers courtesy of the progeny of Nicholas & Jennifer. They had 10 children, after all. Time travelling grannies is a plot twist to be sure.
Highly improbable with all of the Future contraband mentioned. Nicholas de Piaget has always been a favourite in this series. That he meets a Future gal who happens to be a renowned violinist who finds herself in medieval England during the 13th century, is somewhat of a disservice to Nicholas, considering his father Rhys and brother Robin’s stories.
There are characters from other books that intersect with this one, namely Kendrick & Genevieve & Gideon & Megan de Piaget, as well as Connor & Victoria.
Major hints as to future time travelers courtesy of the progeny of Nicholas & Jennifer. They had 10 children, after all. Time travelling grannies is a plot twist to be sure.
June 27, 2018
When an acclaimed violinist stumbles into a time gate, she finds herself being rescued from a witches roasting spit by the a lord's son well known from history books as the perfect knight. Beautiful and skillful he is, but he wants nothing to do with her beyond keeping her safe. Or does he? WHEN I FALL IN LOVE shows what can happen when two people push past their fears to see what's right in front of them.
July 20, 2018
I enjoy Lynn Kurland’s writing immensely. Her characters are likable and there’s no gross graphic scenes. However, time travel is just not my cup of tea. Too unrealistic and I think it’s kind of a lazy plot move. But, I think Kurland did it as well as it could be done. I have noticed that a lot of her main characters seem very similar even though they have different characteristics when they are secondary characters. Still planning to read the next in the series though!
May 1, 2020
I love reading time travel books and this was one of the best I've ever read! Lynn Kurland has a way of writing that pulls you in quickly and you feel like you are living inside the story! So glad I discovered this author who has many, many more book in this series and the MacLeods series! Think Sword fighting, romance, and fun!
May 19, 2023
Well, I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. It was just okay. They're really wasn't much of a villain, and most of their issues were kind of contrived. And the epilogue just seem to go on forever. I thought this book was never going to end. But I'll read the next one because I know this author can write really great books, but not all of them are great books.
July 21, 2020
Good
Love this series. Love the characters. I am finding all books I can for this series. I read Rys, Robin, Amanda and now Nick. Also Montgomery. Now time tho find Miles and John book
Love this series. Love the characters. I am finding all books I can for this series. I read Rys, Robin, Amanda and now Nick. Also Montgomery. Now time tho find Miles and John book
November 8, 2020
Really enjoyed reading this. Lynn Kurland is one of my favorite authors and I will always recommend her books. The way she writes her characters leave you begging for more pages. A fantasy filled with a hint of magic, adventure and just enough romance. Can't wait to start her next book.
September 21, 2021
I recommend it
I enjoyed the book. However at the beginning Nicholas was acting as stupid as his brother Robin. Luckily he improved and I found the story amusing and romantic. I liked the characters.
I enjoyed the book. However at the beginning Nicholas was acting as stupid as his brother Robin. Luckily he improved and I found the story amusing and romantic. I liked the characters.
January 20, 2024
When I Fall in Love
I just loved this book. This story is about a Lady who knows about Paranormal Traveling but to take a unexpected trip back to the '13th century she unprepared for abd fall in love. I recommend this book be read.
I just loved this book. This story is about a Lady who knows about Paranormal Traveling but to take a unexpected trip back to the '13th century she unprepared for abd fall in love. I recommend this book be read.
January 8, 2018
This is the book that introduced me to Lynn Kurland. I have devoured her books ever since. If you like time travel Romances, you will love this book and Author Lynn Kurland!!
March 22, 2018
Slow beginning almost made me quit reading this time travel book! But, thank goodness I continued reading it! Awesome story of a forever kind of love!!
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