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McCarron's Corner
Diary of the Reluctant Duchess: Becoming Fancy
When Fancy sent Richard from Barbados, she did not tell him her plans. Richard arrives unexpectedly after she and Kirk go to Ireland. Richard discovers she has adopted Kirk's daughter, and he concludes she will never abandon Kirk. Brokenhearted, Richard returns to the future before Fancy can tell him her marriage to Kirk is void. Richard’s departure allows Kirk to woo Fancy again in earnest and they remarry.
The couple sail to Bermuda, where Kirk leaves Fancy and the children at Spring Haven to sail to Barbados. A hurricane destroys the Spring Haven house. Fancy takes the children to the mainland and on to the safety of McCarron’s Corner. En route, she learns Kirk’s ship was destroyed in the hurricane and Kirk is believed to be dead.
At McCarron’s Corner, Fancy manages to go forward in time, where Richard finds her. She gives Richard another chance. They fall in love again, marry, and she writes a best-selling memoir, which attracts unwanted attention. Will they survive when a stalker’s dangerous obsession threatens to destroy their future?
The couple sail to Bermuda, where Kirk leaves Fancy and the children at Spring Haven to sail to Barbados. A hurricane destroys the Spring Haven house. Fancy takes the children to the mainland and on to the safety of McCarron’s Corner. En route, she learns Kirk’s ship was destroyed in the hurricane and Kirk is believed to be dead.
At McCarron’s Corner, Fancy manages to go forward in time, where Richard finds her. She gives Richard another chance. They fall in love again, marry, and she writes a best-selling memoir, which attracts unwanted attention. Will they survive when a stalker’s dangerous obsession threatens to destroy their future?
279 pages, Paperback
Published August 20, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 24, 2020
I am aware that time travel romance is big business at the moment, and this is a number of books into an ongoing sequence about a modern family who via Native American connects seem to be able to travel back to the US War Of Independence to find partners. This far into the sequence our lead Fancy is post much romantic (and anything but romantic) trauma. This is an odd book, for the first half it seems to continue her adventures, married to an angry Irish sea captain whilst frustrating her one true love from the future. The language is hugely anachronistic for a first person narrative , not to mention the narrative bounces around to a number of viewpoint characters. But there is a reason for that...
...Because halfway through the book it reverses the general time travel trend and our heroine ends up in modern day. She is pretty OK with this, rolling with most of the punches and eventually getting a book deal for the book you are reading, and a film deal too. There is something oddly fun about the meta narrative, though I have to admit at that point my credulity was stretched beyond the bounds of the book and I was just interested where and why we had open heart surgery, a 21st century psycho and the like and the lack of fear that they were breaking time itself by bringing a family of 18th century kids into the future. There is also a weird bigamy subplot which is seemingly very important which really isn't. So I came in at a disadvantage, and thought it was all a bit nuts, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the nonsense.
...Because halfway through the book it reverses the general time travel trend and our heroine ends up in modern day. She is pretty OK with this, rolling with most of the punches and eventually getting a book deal for the book you are reading, and a film deal too. There is something oddly fun about the meta narrative, though I have to admit at that point my credulity was stretched beyond the bounds of the book and I was just interested where and why we had open heart surgery, a 21st century psycho and the like and the lack of fear that they were breaking time itself by bringing a family of 18th century kids into the future. There is also a weird bigamy subplot which is seemingly very important which really isn't. So I came in at a disadvantage, and thought it was all a bit nuts, but I can't say I didn't enjoy the nonsense.
September 4, 2020
My wife got me hooked on these books some time ago. This one starts with Fancy and Kirk sailing to Ireland where they reunite of Fancy’s family. Christmas Day brings unexpected guests from Belle Rose, and an unexpected revelation which shocks the daylights out of Fancy when Kirk gives her the ring Rick gave Her earlier as an engagement ring. Fancy consults an attorney, who files paperwork to have the marriage declared void.
The baby is born, everyone is shocked to learn both Kirk and Rick could be the father because they are the same blood type. She proceeds to adopt Kirk's mixed race child, hoping to give the little girl the life she always wanted.
But when she returns to Waterside with the little girl, Rick is devastated. “She must be going to stay with that rat bastard,” he mutters. Rick and the Selks go back to Virginia. A few months later, he tells his mom he’s gonna mosey on down the road. He doesn’t say it, but his goal is to go back to the future. On the way, he helps stop a cholera epidemic and saves Shadow Wolf from a bear attack.
Fancy’s grampaw, Marc’s dad, dies. Kirk asks her to remarry him, and she does. They go to Bermuda, from where he takes Marc and Lily to Charleston. They plan to go home from there. Kirk heads south.... right into a horrible hurricane. Kirk all on board are believed lost at sea.
Middleton must have lived through a hurricane or 2. She can really explain them, right down to the howling winds, rising water, and lack of food and shelter afterwards. She finds her dad, who has a broken leg, and Lily struggling to keep an old-school quack from chopping his leg off. Later, she describes the sights and smells of traveling to to Indian Terretory. I was impressed with her line that the stench of the rotting rice created a miasma of death despair. They head west towards McCarron’s Corner.
This seem to be going fairly normally until a Chickamauga warrior tries to claim Fancy to be his woman. As they struggle, suddenly she is pulled through the portal and catapulted to the future!
She finds Rick. They decide to give each other another chance, and soon have fallen in love again. She has much needed heart surgery, with some serious problems afterwards. Yet, she’s a tough little gal. She is beginning to recover when she sees a movie that triggers her (Gosh, I hate that word but it fits here). Her psych who she started seeing in the hospital helps her begin the long process of healing her mind.
There is a lot more in the book. She writes a book about her earlier life. She becomes a nurse. She has another baby. Maybe most important, as my very romantic wife said with stars in her eyes, she finds her happy ever after.
Another guy gave it a 3. I think he must be a sci-fi- time travel reader. They have different expectations from heir books. As my wife says, in time travel romance, can they be from 2 different eras and find happiness? I would say they have here. He also says he should have read the other books in the series. Well, duh, who could not have figured that one out? 🤪
The baby is born, everyone is shocked to learn both Kirk and Rick could be the father because they are the same blood type. She proceeds to adopt Kirk's mixed race child, hoping to give the little girl the life she always wanted.
But when she returns to Waterside with the little girl, Rick is devastated. “She must be going to stay with that rat bastard,” he mutters. Rick and the Selks go back to Virginia. A few months later, he tells his mom he’s gonna mosey on down the road. He doesn’t say it, but his goal is to go back to the future. On the way, he helps stop a cholera epidemic and saves Shadow Wolf from a bear attack.
Fancy’s grampaw, Marc’s dad, dies. Kirk asks her to remarry him, and she does. They go to Bermuda, from where he takes Marc and Lily to Charleston. They plan to go home from there. Kirk heads south.... right into a horrible hurricane. Kirk all on board are believed lost at sea.
Middleton must have lived through a hurricane or 2. She can really explain them, right down to the howling winds, rising water, and lack of food and shelter afterwards. She finds her dad, who has a broken leg, and Lily struggling to keep an old-school quack from chopping his leg off. Later, she describes the sights and smells of traveling to to Indian Terretory. I was impressed with her line that the stench of the rotting rice created a miasma of death despair. They head west towards McCarron’s Corner.
This seem to be going fairly normally until a Chickamauga warrior tries to claim Fancy to be his woman. As they struggle, suddenly she is pulled through the portal and catapulted to the future!
She finds Rick. They decide to give each other another chance, and soon have fallen in love again. She has much needed heart surgery, with some serious problems afterwards. Yet, she’s a tough little gal. She is beginning to recover when she sees a movie that triggers her (Gosh, I hate that word but it fits here). Her psych who she started seeing in the hospital helps her begin the long process of healing her mind.
There is a lot more in the book. She writes a book about her earlier life. She becomes a nurse. She has another baby. Maybe most important, as my very romantic wife said with stars in her eyes, she finds her happy ever after.
Another guy gave it a 3. I think he must be a sci-fi- time travel reader. They have different expectations from heir books. As my wife says, in time travel romance, can they be from 2 different eras and find happiness? I would say they have here. He also says he should have read the other books in the series. Well, duh, who could not have figured that one out? 🤪
September 20, 2020
I love a good time travel story. This is the fourth book in the series but it was good as a stand alone story. Fancy is in 1783 when the story begins and on board a ship to Ireland. The story has Kirk the seafaring man who loves her and then there is Richard who is a doctor from the present time who also loves her. In this story Fancy goes through a hurricane and loses Kirk to go back to McCarron's Corner to the present time where Richard had returned. The story takes us to the present time with Fancy and Richard with their life and her children have joined them.
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October 24, 2020This is the sequel to The McCarron’s Daughter. Unfortunately, you only get to publish 700-page time travel romances if you are Diana Gabaldon. My publisher insisted Fancy’s story be split. This is the finale of her story.
What would you give up to find the love of your life? Home? Family? Country? Everything? You’ll find out what Fancy will sacrifice for love in Diary of the Reluctant Duchess.
The next book in the series, Path of the Guiding Light, is slated for release 12-23. I hope you will pre-order it once the link is released.
What would you give up to find the love of your life? Home? Family? Country? Everything? You’ll find out what Fancy will sacrifice for love in Diary of the Reluctant Duchess.
The next book in the series, Path of the Guiding Light, is slated for release 12-23. I hope you will pre-order it once the link is released.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews