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Point in Time
As a successful Hollywood executive, Mariah is on the lookout for the perfect screenplay, and while scouting locations in Pittsburgh, she thinks she has it. With an old-fashioned setting and Thorn, a hero to die for, she knows it will make a great movie. But something will have to be done about the ending--Thorn is too great a character to die. Then a visit to a historic park sent Mariah back in time--to frontier Fort Pitt, where she is rescued by a very real Thorn.
363 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
54 people want to read
About the author
Linda O. Johnston
132 books463 followersLinda O. Johnston's first published fiction appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and won the Robert L. Fish Memorial Award for Best First Mystery Short Story of the Year. Since then, Linda has had more short stories and novellas published, plus, by the end of 2018, she will have had fifty novels published, including mysteries and romance.
Linda currently writes the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries cozy mystery series for Midnight Ink, and also wrote the Superstition Mysteries for them, both featuring dogs. She has also written the Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, which was a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series. And yes, they involved dogs, too.
Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, including a new miniseries about a K-9 ranch where dogs are trained. Linda additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne including the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters--and all the werewolves also have cover dogs.
Linda, a currently inactive transactional attorney, now writes fiction full-time. She is a member of the Los Angeles chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, including the Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Clarita chapters.
Linda currently writes the Barkery and Biscuits Mysteries cozy mystery series for Midnight Ink, and also wrote the Superstition Mysteries for them, both featuring dogs. She has also written the Pet Rescue Mystery series for Berkley Prime Crime, which was a spinoff from her Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series. And yes, they involved dogs, too.
Linda also writes for Harlequin Romantic Suspense, including a new miniseries about a K-9 ranch where dogs are trained. Linda additionally writes paranormal romance for Harlequin Nocturne including the Alpha Force miniseries about a covert military unit of shapeshifters--and all the werewolves also have cover dogs.
Linda, a currently inactive transactional attorney, now writes fiction full-time. She is a member of the Los Angeles chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also a member of Romance Writers of America, including the Los Angeles, Orange County and Santa Clarita chapters.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 3, 2023
This was a nice read and it kept me interested and involved. I enjoy time travel romances and it is hard to find any written recently. This one is from 1998, I believe and read like it. The sex scenes were quick and not a bunch of detail but still sweet scenes.
It was frustrating the way the hero continued to see himself as someone no one can rely on even though he saved Mariah numerous times. However, he was still sweet with her and even when he was harsh (never overly cruel) you could tell he just wanted to be kind to her.
The ending on why Mariah was sent back in time was something I didn't figure out but the truth of what happened in the past was easy to guess.
Anyway, it was a nice read before heading back to work after more than a week away.
I wish I could find more time travels books like KMM used to write. I'm not into the ongoing series she has, the ending of that second book was not for me and ruined the series for me. Anyway, her other time travel books are so good and I wish I could find some more like she wrote those. So, if anyone has any good time travel recs like Karen Marie Moning's early works, hit me up with them! :)
It was frustrating the way the hero continued to see himself as someone no one can rely on even though he saved Mariah numerous times. However, he was still sweet with her and even when he was harsh (never overly cruel) you could tell he just wanted to be kind to her.
The ending on why Mariah was sent back in time was something I didn't figure out but the truth of what happened in the past was easy to guess.
Anyway, it was a nice read before heading back to work after more than a week away.
I wish I could find more time travels books like KMM used to write. I'm not into the ongoing series she has, the ending of that second book was not for me and ruined the series for me. Anyway, her other time travel books are so good and I wish I could find some more like she wrote those. So, if anyone has any good time travel recs like Karen Marie Moning's early works, hit me up with them! :)
June 14, 2022
As an obsessed fan of the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, I had to look back at the publishing date of this time travel historical romance, as several themes were quite familiar! Clearly, it seems to me that Gabaldon had read this book from 1998, before publishing the first of her series. One clue, when the main character, who is from the future but trapped in the 18th century and involved with a ruggedly handsome rogue, is practically dying from an infection as the result of a gunshot wound, she groggily requests moldy bread as medicine for her wound (mold being the basis of penicillin). Anyone who is an Outlander fan will recognize this plot line. Obviously, all stories are born from prior experiences, so I will not hold this against the Outlander author who did a heck of a job building an epic, which was perhaps somewhat based on this adventurous tale of star-crossed lovers mysteriously connected through the centuries.
March 25, 2025
a romance novel
February 2, 2023
All her life the heroine has been plagued by a voice in her head telling her she must right a grievous wrong and when she receives a script about the story of Thorn and Matilda she's enraptured by their story. Tormented by guilt over the death of a woman, Thorn has put himself into seclusion and is gruff, antisocial and far from a typical hero. But by the end of the story, his love for Matilda has changed him. This is all cut short abruptly by his death in a duel. The heroine is devastated to read this ending and demands the writer to change it.
He, in turn, forces her back in time and into the story she loves so much. She finds herself living through each twist and turn of Matilda but finds out that things aren't happening exactly to script. The hero, Thorne, a living breathing man, is cold and ruthless. He's degraded himself from an honorable soldier to the reluctant owner of a inn. The heroine is resourceful, courageous and hardworking. She knows that she can't survive in this new-old world without the inn and Thorn so she becomes a servant in his home. She doesn't complain about her down grade in employment and strives to find herself a home with the tortured boss and his French servant. She was admirable in character and stubbornly refuses to give up until she can return home.
Though there is major and I mean MAJOR, chemistry from the jump between the two, she and the hero are very much at arms length for most of the book. If they weren't having spontaneous and passionate kisses that ended as soon as they started, they were ignoring each other. The hero put up the most fight throughout the book and held out until almost the very ending. The heroine was trying to save herself in the beginning but preventing the hero's death but soon she was doing everything in her power to save the man she loves. This was a very interesting book and I don't think I've read it's like before. The heroine knows, more or less, what is going to happen to her and the hero and she tries to stop these events or prevent them as best she could. But as the reader, you don't know what she knows until the scene is set. My only issue with this book was that there comes a point where tension needs a release. You have to wait some time before the hero will admit his feelings or even act like her feels anything for her at all other than lust. Of course he's well work the wait but I found myself just saying ' get on with it already'. That being said, the heroine didn't spew out modern sayings very often and kept her mouth shut it situations where she'd do more hard then help; something I long for in a time travel romance. Very nice story.
He, in turn, forces her back in time and into the story she loves so much. She finds herself living through each twist and turn of Matilda but finds out that things aren't happening exactly to script. The hero, Thorne, a living breathing man, is cold and ruthless. He's degraded himself from an honorable soldier to the reluctant owner of a inn. The heroine is resourceful, courageous and hardworking. She knows that she can't survive in this new-old world without the inn and Thorn so she becomes a servant in his home. She doesn't complain about her down grade in employment and strives to find herself a home with the tortured boss and his French servant. She was admirable in character and stubbornly refuses to give up until she can return home.
Though there is major and I mean MAJOR, chemistry from the jump between the two, she and the hero are very much at arms length for most of the book. If they weren't having spontaneous and passionate kisses that ended as soon as they started, they were ignoring each other. The hero put up the most fight throughout the book and held out until almost the very ending. The heroine was trying to save herself in the beginning but preventing the hero's death but soon she was doing everything in her power to save the man she loves. This was a very interesting book and I don't think I've read it's like before. The heroine knows, more or less, what is going to happen to her and the hero and she tries to stop these events or prevent them as best she could. But as the reader, you don't know what she knows until the scene is set. My only issue with this book was that there comes a point where tension needs a release. You have to wait some time before the hero will admit his feelings or even act like her feels anything for her at all other than lust. Of course he's well work the wait but I found myself just saying ' get on with it already'. That being said, the heroine didn't spew out modern sayings very often and kept her mouth shut it situations where she'd do more hard then help; something I long for in a time travel romance. Very nice story.
November 28, 2016
Overall, a pretty good time travel story centered around an area I know very well - Pittsburgh, PA. Mariah is a scouting settings for a screen play she read and loved involving a hero, Thorn, who in the screen play falls in love with a woman but dies tragically in a duel. Well, Mariah finds herself back in time with Thorn, but he seems entirely different from the man in the screen play. This Thorn is bitter and continually pushes Mariah away, even though he constantly saves her life - which is why she agrees to stay and work for him. She's also set on a mission to save Thorn's life, to right a grievous wrong.
The time-travel part of this was very interesting and well-handled. No crazy, absurd or hard-to-believe scenarios, there was definitely an adjustment period to the time period and it was clear that the heroine did not find being in the past to be paradise. I also liked that there wasn't a lot of mention of specific items desired, so this book did not feel dated. Nothing worse than reading a time-travel book and hearing the heroine lamenting that she doesn't have her car phone or some other 90's necessity. I enjoyed the secondary characters as well. The relationship between Mariah and Thorn was a strange one - clearly attracted and fascinated with each other, but Thorn was kind of an ass. If Mariah hadn't had the screen play version as a way to already know him, I'm not sure she'd have fallen in love with him. Still, he wasn't horrible or anything - he redeemed himself for sure. The ending was lacking some emotional punch, but didn't detract from the story that much. This was a solid, and enjoyable time-travel read.
The time-travel part of this was very interesting and well-handled. No crazy, absurd or hard-to-believe scenarios, there was definitely an adjustment period to the time period and it was clear that the heroine did not find being in the past to be paradise. I also liked that there wasn't a lot of mention of specific items desired, so this book did not feel dated. Nothing worse than reading a time-travel book and hearing the heroine lamenting that she doesn't have her car phone or some other 90's necessity. I enjoyed the secondary characters as well. The relationship between Mariah and Thorn was a strange one - clearly attracted and fascinated with each other, but Thorn was kind of an ass. If Mariah hadn't had the screen play version as a way to already know him, I'm not sure she'd have fallen in love with him. Still, he wasn't horrible or anything - he redeemed himself for sure. The ending was lacking some emotional punch, but didn't detract from the story that much. This was a solid, and enjoyable time-travel read.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews