GS v. STA: Time Travel Romance

Stephanie, a lurker (hi lurkers!) asks:

I am hoping you, and the bitchery, may be able to help me out.  Do you know of any time travel romances along the lines of the Meg Ryan movie “Kate and Leopold”?  I’m not picky about who does the time travel or which direction (hero to the future, heroine to the past or vise versa).

There was a time when every third romance was a time travel. This was back in the days when there was a cardboard postcard in the middle of the paperback, either Zebra or Dorchester, and there would invariably be a sex scene on either side of the at postcard. Anyone got a time travel they absolutely love?

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  1. Mireya says:

    My favorites are Lynn Kurland (I have even re-read most of hers), Karen Marie Moning and Sandra Hill (hers are comedy too).  I’ve also read time travel from Diana Gabaldon (though I am not a fan) and Rejar, by Dara Joy (part of her Matrix of Time series).

  2. Jen says:

    I agree with Karla.  Jude Deveraux The Summerhouse is a good “go back and do over” type of time travel.  I really enjoyed it.  Also Knight in Shining Armor, it was my first time travel read.  Deveraux also did Return to Summerhouse, not as good as the first one for me.

  3. Jody says:

    When I was in junior high, I read a YA time-travel wherein the protagonist (can’t remember if male or female) moved to old house with ghosts, broke leg, and was transported in time to ghosts’ original period. If I remember correctly, there was sweet YA romancing. No clue about authorship, but for some reason, the song “Greensleeves” is associated with it in my mind.

    Could the book be Alison Utley’s A Traveller in Time?  One of my all time favorites, about the ill-fated Babington plot to put Mary Queen of Scots on the throne of England.  Greensleeves was a recurring theme.  I LOVED that book!

  4. Eilis Flynn says:

    I’m surprised no one’s mentioned House on the Strand by Daphne du Maurier, not a romance but a great story.

  5. Melissandre says:

    Household Gods!!  I was looking for that earlier, and got the title confused with The Kitchen God’s Wife.  Not a romance, but probably the most realistic, dirty, warts-and-all time travel book you’ll find.  It’s set in the Roman world, which is a filthy, filthy place.

    Stephanie, all I will say about the ending to A Knight in Shining Armor is that Jude Devereaux believes in reincarnation and soul mates.  And, even if that doesn’t count as HEA for you, I’d still give the book a try.  It really does have the best mix of romance, history, and culture clash.

  6. Sara says:

    Jude Deveraux actually did several time-travel books other than A Knight in Shining Armour – others were Legend and I would have to say my favorite time-travel, if not one of my favorite books of all time is Remembrance by Jude Deveraux. Highly recommend a read, especially if you like star-crossed lovers.

  7. Qadesh says:

    Can’t believe I’ve read as many of these as I have!  Karen Marie Moning?  Check.  Gabaldon?  Check.  Deveraux, Hill, and Knight?  Check.  It’s funny really.  I do remember a time-travel from sometime back in the 90’s if memory serves that was great.  It’s my own HaBO, it was a Regency time travel and the heroine was a Regency lover or writer, can’t remember which one, who finally gets to travel to England to see all the places she has only read about.  Somehow she gets swept back in time and really gets to experience her favorite period.  I seem to recall a house party and maybe a bit of a mystery thrown in for good measure.  It had a pink cover, that I remember.  I also remember it was the first Regency that I read which had steamy sex scenes, I was surprised and rather amazed at the time.  I’ve searched for it and haven’t had any luck with finding the title.  Anyone remember it?

  8. Lisa says:

    I wanted to second KL’s recommendation of Riding Shotgun by Rita Mae Brown, with a huge thumbs up. It’s a regular reread for me and beautifully cathartic. Got me through my separation and divorce.

    lead97 – this post will lead to 97 interlibrary loan requests 😉

  9. R E G says:

    Sci fi with a great romance:

    In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker.

    Young woman time travels as an operative of The Company ( a future corporation that “rescues” relics for profit) to Elizabethan England and discovers love along with extinct species.

    The hero is just FABULOUS. My local library has a hardcopy so it shouldn’t be hard to find.

  10. Eileen says:

    A recently published time travel book is What Would Jane Austen Do? by Laurie Brown.  I read it a few weeks ago and it was good.  Not a favorite but worth reading.  The heroine travels back and meets both the hero and Jane Austen.

    Sara, I agree with you about JD’s Remembrance.  I really loved that book.

  11. wendy says:

    @Eilis—House on the Strand is one of my favorite all time books!
    While it’s not a typical romance between two people a man does fall in love with the past and people long dead. And the reader will fall for them too.

  12. tls says:

    Harlequin’s has a series right now in the Nocturne line called Time Raiders – the first book came out in August (The Seeker – set during Rome at the time of Julius Ceasar), the second is out now (The Slayer – Ancient Persia) and the third one is set in ancient Briton.  There’s a fourth one out in November, but I don’t know where it’s set.  I haven’t read the first two yet, but the overall story has something to do with people being sent back in time to recover items in order to avert a catastrophe.

  13. Elizabeth Wadsworth says:

    Just thought of another one:  This Time by Joan Szechtman.  It has to do with Richard III travelling to the 21st century and attempting to restore his reputation.  Haven’t read it yet, but the author is a personal acquaintance, so I thought I’d put in a plug.

  14. KimJT says:

    Harlequin Blaze came out with a time travelling trilogy recently about two sisters and a PI who get transported back to the Old West.  The books were Once an Outlaw by Dabbie Rawlins, Once a Gambler[/i ]by Carrie Hudson, and Once a Rebel by Debbie Rawlins.  I enjoyed all three, but the last was my least favorite.  You can purchase them as ebooks from the Harlequin website.

    George and the Dragon by Lisa Cach is on my TBR pile.  It’s about a modern day pro-wrestler who goes back in time to a small village in mideval England.

  15. Jody says:

    I’m one of the three people who enjoyed Michael Crichton’s Timeline.  It’s rather gritty time travel, but there is a slight romance in it.

    I’m in the middle of To Say Nothing of the Dog and it’s a find.  Delightful!

  16. Leah says:

    Is there any time travel better than Diana Gabaldon’s “Outlander” series?  I think not!!

  17. Karen in Ohio says:

    Two books by Laurie Viera Rigler:

    Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict, and Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict. They’re sort of “e-quels”, since their stories are going on at the same time, about two young women who switch times, one of Jane Austen’s time, and one from modern-day Los Angeles. Their common bond is a devotion to the writings of Austen, and the stories are really well done.

  18. HelenK says:

    I loved Jack Finney’s Time and Again. I thought it was romantic.

    I just read a book (in the last year) about a painting. It was hanging in the museum and the heroine stopped by every day to stare at it. The museum guard shoved her into the picture and she was sent back to the hero’s time (and bedroom – the scene in the picture)  Very cute, but I can’t remember the name.

  19. Lostshadows says:

    The Johanna Lindsey title you referred to is Until Forever

    Since this got a mention, I’d just like to say: this was the first time travel romance I read, and the reason I’ve avoided them like the plague since.

    Based on the comments on this thread, I’m probably going to rethink that stance.

  20. StephN says:

    A little late to this discussion, but Joanne Rock wrote one called Hidden Obsession a while back that I totally loved!

  21. Tibbles says:

    All The Time We Need (Meghan Daniel)
    1990’s New York woman goes to New Orleans for business falls in the Mississippi River and comes to in the late 1850’s.  Pretty good read.

  22. Jan says:

    The Outlander series by far. Can’t wait for the new one!

  23. krsylu says:

    Jody, I’m not sure if “A Traveller in Time” is it, but the timing is right. It was originally published 1977, and I was in Jr.Hi. from 1979-1981. Unfortunately, neither my library nor PaperbackSwap has it. I’ll have to buy it to find out for sure!

    Thank you so much for the suggestion. 🙂

  24. Another Damn Sarah says:

    The Hourglass by Barbara Metzger is also quite good.  A not-especially-nice medieval knight dies in battle, works for a while as a minion of the devil ferrying souls to hell, and then wins a bet with the devil to be returned to life.  He pops up again at the Battle of Waterloo, and there meets a woman who has been widowed in the battle.  He ends up marrying her as part of his resolution to do good deeds in his new life.

    Hmm, maybe that’s not quite time travel, since he dies and is resurrected, but it does deal with that culture shock element.

  25. Bea says:

    Some of them can be a bit formulaic, but I like Lynn Kurland’s stories.  I think the first was a Dance Through Time.

    She did some excellent time travel love stories. Stardust of Yesterday was very good.

  26. Jessi says:

    Surprised to still see comments on this thread as of 9/10, but maybe it’s the time difference. I usually lurk, but threw in my two cents yest., re: Brenda Joyces’ Master of Time series.
    In my first (I think) bitchery appearance, I spewed about Ms. Joyce’s ability to awe simply by reading an excerpt -or two-from her website.
    In all fairness to Brenda Joyce, thirty-two hours and one and a half books into the series later, I just have to say, OMG!!!  iamsotiredireallyneedsomesleepmykidshatedwhattheschoolservedforlunchtodaybuttheyhadtoeatit’causeIdidn’tgotothestorelastnightandgoodthingtheyhadumbrellas’causeitrainedandididn’tpickthemupafterschool….Oh…and Did I mention I’m still heaving over Aidan and Brie’s first “time”?
    Yep. I stand behind my recommendation. 🙂

  27. Alyssa says:

    Let me start by saying that I cannot stand time travel romances.

    That being said, there is a fantasy book that I love that has the trappings of a time-travel romance (modern woman named Tessa transported from California to feudal society) but is about a travel between worlds rather than between times and involves Celtic knotwork and mercenaries and magical talismans trapped between worlds by dark magic and two very alluring, scarred underdog heroes and a really insanely creepy villain. Admittedly the romance does take a backseat to saving the world.

    The book is The Barbed Coil by J.V. Jones. Give it a try.

  28. karen says:

    Janice Bennet wrote several time travel regencies in the 1980s-1990s. Here’s one with an annotation: A Timely Affair; Because of her passion for Regency novels, Andrea travels to England. As she visits the famous places of the Regency period, she can almost imagine herself transported from 1990 back to 1810. A newspaper article about the former Viscount Grantham fascinates her so much that she visits his ancestral home of Greythorne Court. There his portrait mesmerizes her and draws her back in time to Regency England and a man she is fated to love. 1990.

  29. judy says:

    One of the first romances I read is still one of my favorites… Terri Brisbin’s A Love Through Time – and the sequel, A Matter of Time.  Linda Howard also wrote one, a bit sci fi-ish, a few years ago, about a woman from the future who travels back to our time.  I also remember one, actually, I don’t remember it, except for the end – a modern girl goes back in time – and later on someone looking at a history book sees that the couple had a child that was named after her mom (Catherine?) – letting everyone know that the girl was in fact ok back in the past.

  30. Audrey says:

    I must have been loving the time travel because I’ve read most of these and have a couple more to add. There’s another Judith O’Brien called Ashton’s Bride that was TT. Also wasn’t the first Robin Schone about a woman who time travelled while she was making sweet love to herself?

  31. Sandy Martins says:

    I read a time travel novel when I was 13 and all I can remember is that the woman goes to the dentist to get a filling. Some how she goes back in time with a numb mouth and people think she’s “special”. I can’t remember anything else about it. Does anyone know?
    Sandy

  32. Qadesh says:

    O.M.G.!!!!  Karen, a thousand thank you’s wouldn’t be enough.  I do believe that is the title I’ve been looking for.  The cover art looks vaguely familiar and the date of the publishing would be correct.  I do believe I can scrounge up a penny to buy a used copy and verify for myself.  Thanks for helping this bitch out.

  33. Okay, must throw out a new read: All Fired Up by Kristen Painter! Great read about a Viking in modern day. All I can say is you will crave Cinnabons after reading…be prepared! Oh and KMM Highlanders are delicious! I just finished The Immortal Highlander…I actually cried. Gabaldon is my favorite…I love the entire series! And Linda Howard’s Son of the Morning is still on my keeper shelf! Beyond Forever by Debra Dier is good as well!

    SPAM Filter: Would89 Yes, I would read 89 TT Romances!

  34. ronilynn19 says:

    I know someone already said knight in shining armor, but I wanted to let you know that if you go to a used book store to get it, it is classified as historical not time travel. it is a really great read!

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