Beyond the Island

by Marie LaPres

Raphael Lafontaine thought he could live in the modern world but not even a year after leaving the 18th Century, he finds himself missing his family and friends, as well as the freedom of his past voyageur life. When Rafe decides to go back in time, he doesn’t count on Sadie Morrison following him and they quickly realize that nothing is as it should be. Instead of going back to the 1770’s, they find themselves on Mackinac Island during the War of 1812 with the British army back in control of the straits area. An evil British officer is targeting Rafe’s family and it falls to Rafe and Sadie to help defeat a nemesis that shouldn’t even exist. Will they be able to thwart his objectives without changing history? Will they be able to get back home or do they even want to return?

167 pages, Paperback

Published March 1, 2020

About the author

Erica "Marie LaPres" is a middle school social studies and religion teacher and lives in Grand Rapids, MI. Erica, an avid reader, has always enjoyed reading and writing. With her love of history and God, she has incorporated all four loves into this book. Erica has begun writing the second novel in this series of the Turner cousins. When not working or writing and researching her books, Erica can be found coaching middle and high school sports,working as a youth group leader, and spending time with her friends and family especially her beloved nieces and nephews.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 2 out of 5]

Since no one else has reviewed this book I will. I won’t say much but I think some of those who’ve read it may have found it disappointing.

Before o get into the review I want to point this out. There was at least one occurrence of the phrase “me and…” a grammatical error. One thing to watch out for as I saw it in Beyond the Fort as well.

To set it up a bit Raphael Lafonaine (named after his father…a trader) had decided to go back to the 21st century in the first book Beyond The Fort with two friends the first trip…the ions to 1775. On that trip he had decided to go back with them. By not staying in his own time period he caused more problems then he realized . He spent more time trying to sort out issues that resulted from his trip to the 21st century then and less time actually working with the settlers…I should’ve stopped reading. The one plus was that I’ve spent enough time on the island that I knew where they were at and it was cool to imagine the straits without the bridge, light pollution, and that blasted hill up to the fort (both of them. They’re bad enough now. I can’t imagine what they were like two hundred plus years ago). Of course the body odor would’ve been something to endure. Also seeing the invasion of the island. The book wasn’t a total loss. Although bringing cell phones in was pushing it.

[Lisa Lewis Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed "visiting" Mackinac Island back in history.

[Beth Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can’t wait to read the next one in this series!