We received this request from Scarlett some time ago, but it got lost in the inbox ether. However, it’s been recovered and it’s a great one. Thanks, Scarlett!
I was recently reminded how much I enjoy a good time-travel romance…except for one thing. The ones I’ve read have all been modern woman/historical man, and they all end with the woman giving up her modern life to live with the hero in the past (see Outlander, et al). This offends my feminist sensibilities, and an otherwise enjoyable book ends up leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
So anybody know of any that go in the other direction? Either historical man ending up in the present, or maybe even modern man/historical woman?
Amanda: I’m with Scarlett in that I don’t think I could give up my modern comforts to kick it with a dude in the past.
Sarah: Not specifically a romance, but The Phantom Tree has a heroine who goes from Tudor England to the present day (as do a few background characters)
In A Knight in Shining Armor (WOOL CHALLIS SKIRTS FTW) the hero comes from the Tudor era to the present day of the novels, which is so very extremely 80s. Beware of fat shaming in the story, among many other things. It’s a bit of a nostalgic relic romance.
Susanna Kearsley’s time slips sort of apply ( A | BN | K | G | AB | Au ); sometimes characters inhabit the past or the future at the same time.
Oh – There’s a Teresa Medeiros. Breath of Magic! Witch goes from Colonial era to present day and there’s a billionaire I think.
So yesterday I couldn’t remember what our pediatrician’s name was, and Monday I couldn’t remember what our recycling can looked like so I could bring it back up to the house. Yesterday I couldn’t remember which direction I wear one of my rings, despite putting it on every day. BUT APPARENTLY MY BOOK MEMORY IS TURNED ALL THE WAY UP TO ELEVENTY.
Carrie: A Knight in Shining Armor was probably my first Romance Novel (as in – a book actually marketed as such). I love that book!
Sarah: Mine too! One of the first I remember reading as “this is a romance” I mean.
Otherwise it was “what are these salacious wonderful books in the spinny rack at the library to which I have been introduced so marvelously?”
Amanda: Also, as we were discussing this this tweet, I came upon that was highly relevant:
https://twitter.com/bimadew/status/1108403862220800004
What about you? Know any romances where someone from the past travels to present day?
The Pleasure Chest by Jule McBride. It’s a 2006 Harlequin Blaze that features Stede O’Flannery, Revolutionary War era privateer, cursed to live in a painting until he finds his true love in the modern US. Personally I’d hoped it was going to be much more “pirate discovers the joys of sex toys” than it was given the title, but Sweet Sons of Liberty, it’s a fun and campy book. It’s available in digital.
There is a Nora Roberts duology -Time Was and Time Change in which the heros come from the future to the current day ( ok maybe 1990s – early 2000s current day) and end up staying with the heroines in the current day
Sandra Hill’s Viking II series have historical man (and woman) from Viking era that swept into modern era and end up with their HEA in the present. Some of them also become NAVY SEALs, although the latest two books in the series have the modern heroine went backward to Viking era and the book lost its charm for me *shrug*
Gwyn Cready’s Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands series have modern hero/historical heroine
Oh I got a few for this one.
Ghost of a Chance by Nina Bruhns features a cursed pirate hero who is immortal(ish) in a “contemporary” setting. The scare quotes are because it’s from the early 2000s and there are some delightfully antiquated technology references.
Truly, Madly Viking by Sandra Hill features a Viking hero pushed into contemporary times by, I shit you not, a “randy she-whale”. It’s completely wacky but enjoyable.
The Dark Highlander by Karen Marie Moning features an immortal cursed highlander in modern times, with some backwards time travel. In my opinion best read as a duet with the preceding in the series Kiss of the Highlander. Heavy on the paranormal elements – suspend all disbelief.
Lynn Kurland has a lot of light, PG-but-still entertaining time travel romances. “My Heart Stood Still” has a historical woman/modern man romance. Also, one of the RITA nominees I reviewed for SBTB a couple of years ago features a historical man coming to the present (and spends several chapters on how she helps him adapt, which I love), although the book had some other issues that made me give it a mediocre grade.
*Forget to mention the name of the second book: “Must Love Chainmail,” by Angela Quarles.
I know some of Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander books have heroes ending up in the future / present time period. I think the H/h may bounce a bit between periods in those books.
I’m sorry I don’t know how to code the Spoiler box, so let me just say:
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER regarding A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR…
…which I loved but which I admittedly haven’t read in over 25 years, but iirc, at the end of the book, the hero stays in his era and the heroine stays in the present (1980s) day. At the very end of the book, she meets a man (on a plane?) who is obviously the “reincarnation” of her knight, but not actually him because he died unmarried and childless. So technically, although both h&h travelled through time at different points, the hero does not stay in the present day. I always found that ending to be simultaneously bittersweet and perfect.
“they all end with the woman giving up her modern life to live with the hero in the past (see Outlander, et al). This offends my feminist sensibilities, and an otherwise enjoyable book ends up leaving a bad taste in my mouth.”
Oh my god, yes, Scarlett, & thanks for expressing it! I love Renaissance Faires as much as the next history/D&D nerd, & I devour Tudor history, but there is no way in hell I can relate to a heroine who’d voluntarily go backward in time, legal status, independence, health care, etc. Just can’t suspend disbelief enough to enjoy it.
Also, of course, horribly near-sighted here, so no glasses = no thanks.
A second recommendation for Lynn Kurland’s books. There’s a great scene in one where she has to keep her medieval knight from sticking his sword down the modern plumbing. And the short story, “And the Groom wore Tulle” is my favorite time travel. Imagine a highlander waking up in a NYC bridal shop and thinking he was in heaven – after all the white dresses had to be angel’s robes.
For heroines from the past who are in the present, the two I remember liking are:
Still Life, by Aimee Love
Ageless, by Louise Titchner
Neither are conventional romances, but both stayed with me in memory.
Should Connie WIllis’s oeuvre be mentioned? They’re not romance, but (the ones I’m thinking of) often have strong romantic elements. Doomsday Book was the first (content warning for sympathetic characters dying), then To Say Nothing of the Dog which is a total comfort read (content warning for laughing oneself into hiccups). Blackout and All Clear feature lots of heartbreaks and heart-lifting reunion or two.
Tagged as Science Fiction, but maybe worth reading for the relationships? Which is one of the reasons I’ve reread them several times, at least.
Out of the Blue by Kasey Michaels. They both wind up in present day London in his mansion held in trust.
“Into the Scottish Mist,” by Beth Anne Miller, is a romance where the present-day heroine accidentally ends up in the past and the present-day hero has to travel through time to find her. It’s a great read!! Check it out.
Not strictly romance, but “Rude Awakenings of a Jane Austen Addict” by Laurie Viera Rigler has Jane Mansfield waking up in modern day Los Angeles. It’s the sequel to “Confessions of a Jane Austen Addict”, which has her Los Angeles counterpart traveling back in time to Regency England.
Secrets in Time by Alison Stuart is a delightful novella, in which a wounded solider from the 17th century lands in 1995 England. The author chose this date (’95) deliberately as it predates events of 2001 which leads Britain to tighten its anti-terrorism laws. (The book itself was pubbed in 2013, i believe) it was a funny romp in both the 17th and 20th century and currently $0.87 on Kobo .
In The Time Traveler’s Christmas a modern man goes back in time and falls in love with a medieval woman…and discovers he’s the son of William Wallace. Though Christmas is an underlying theme, the story takes place over the course of an entire year.
Out of Time (Time Series Book 1) by Deborah Truscott. There are four books in the series(I’ve only read the first two). The book takes place in America and it’s the hero that ends up going forward in time.
Not a romance but the movie Kate & Leopold has a historical Hugh Jackman stranded in modern times with Meg Ryan.
Was also going to recommend Connie Willis’ To Say Nothing of the Dog in which both the h/h travel to Victorian England and shenanigans ensue.
In one of my time travel books, the hero from 1880s New York chooses to stay in the present. (Blue Skies has two romances, m’f and m/m, and is set both in the present and past.)
I’m not sure if it’s appropriate to mention our own works in Rec League posts, but this was a rare instance of being on topic for me. Thanks.
Thirty nights with a highland husband by melissa mayhue. It’s really good and entertaining. Also, i second Katen Marie Moning’s highlander books
Some old categories with this theme:
– QUINN’S WAY by Rebecca Flanders – The hero is a scientist from the future. He stays in the present (1994) in the end.
– HUNTER’S MOON by Dawn Stewardson – The contemporary heroine travels back to 19th century Transylvania and gets caught up in a series of killings supposedly committed by vampires. In the end, she returns to the present (again, 1994) and the hero follows her.
– THE DESPERADO by Patricia Rosemoor – The heroine travels to New Mexico in the 1880s. In the end, she and the hero both return to the present (1995).
All are available on the OpenLibrary.
One more: THE PIRATE AND HIS LADY by Margaret St. George, a Harlequin American Romance from 1992. The hero is pulled from the 18th century to 1992. In the end he has the chance to go back and chooses to stay in the then-present with the heroine. Also on the OpenLibrary.
https://openlibrary.org/books/OL9441964M/Pirate_And_His_Lady
This is sort of a once-removed recommendation, since it involves a fictional character writing a fictional character. Kasey Michaels had a mystery series (“Maggie needs an alibi”, “Maggie without a clue”, etc.) in which the hero of a Regency series shows up on his author’s doorstep. She has to figure out how to explain him–and his sidekick–to the world of reality, and he has to figure out how to be a real person in a modern world.
Gina Lamm’s Geek Girls books have the women go back to the past, the at the end the guys come to the future. So it’s kind of what you’re looking for?
This request brings to mind a movie, which was based on a book. The movie is “Somewhere in Time”; both the book and screenplay by Richard Matheson. I haven’t read the novel, but with Christopher Reeve, Jane Seymour, Rachmaninov’s music and the Grand Hotel, the movie is outstanding.
In Timeless Desire by Gwyn Cready, in the end, the Englishman is transported to present day and he stays.
This thread is all my catnip. What I mostly remember about Out of the Blue is the Regency-era hero being horrified at the baggy, brightly-patterned shirt he wears to travel forward to the 1980s. Also, I learned about the assassination of Spencer Percival from that book.
The Vision of Stephen by Lolah Burford isn’t romance—it’s very old YA—but it’s a beautifully written novel about a 7th-century Anglo-Saxon prince who travels forward in time to 1822 Yorkshire.
@DiscoDollyDeb, I agree, that ending! Siling through tears.
I agree with DiscoDollyDeb that A KNIGHT IN SHINING ARMOR has a controversial ending. Some readers, like myself, consider it to be not an HEA.
Susan Grant’s Once a Pirate has a heroine who goes back in time but at the end of the book they’re both in the present.
I have vague, sad memories of reading Somewhere in Time back in the day and it not being a romance.
SMILING through tears. Geesh, where’s the stupid autocorrect when you need it?
Janet Chapman’s Highlander series. A group of Scottish warriors get sent to the future and stay. There are several offshoot series that don’t involve time travel. The first series is about the warriors finding their partners.
I haven’t read them since I was a teenager, but one of the books of the Time Travelers Quartet by Caroline B. Cooney has a girl from Gilded Age New York traveling to the 90s. Her observations about modern life are kind of funny but it’s not the most satisfying book of the series. There’s romance but not really HEA
Linda Lael Miller’s Beyond the Threshold is a Western time travel duology. The first book, There and Now, has the woman going back in time. The second book, Here and Then has the man coming forward in time.
And don’t forget Jack Finney’s Time and Again. It’s not a romance, but it’s an early time travel classic where a man travels back in time.
There are a couple more with male time travelers that I used to own in PB, but I’m having difficulty remembering the titles now. I’ll add them if my brain starts to fire on all cylinders anytime soon.
I remembered one of the other books I was thinking of: Lady Reckless by Leslie LaFoy. It does fit Scarlett’s requirements even tho it might not seem so at first. (Can’t say more without getting into spoiler territory.) It’s been years since I read it, but liked it quite a lot at the time. Sadly, it doesn’t appear to be available in digital format.
I still can’t remember the other book I was thinking of. It involved a modern day woman who inherited (?) a bookstore or antique store (maybe?), and a time-traveling Highlander. I’m pretty sure “Highlander” was in the title. I thought it might have been one of Janet Chapman’s books, but when I checked her catalog nothing seemed to match. Now it’s bothering me so much I feel like I need a HABO! LOL
(On a sad note, while I was looking through Janet Chapman’s GR page, I saw that she had died in 2017. I hadn’t heard. I’ve read and enjoyed many of her books over the years, and was sorry to learn that we’d no longer have the pleasure of new stories from her.)
Nora Roberts did a time travel book involving a history professor who buys a historical sword. The sword is tied in to an ancient curse and the original owner of the sword is forced to do whatever a female possessor tells him to. She gets him to take her back to the Norman Invasion which is her specialty, but every time she goes she changes one little thing that is a huge thing by the time she gets home. Sadly, the book ends with “and then she woke up and it was all a dream, but she has a cute new neighbour.”
If I hadn’t rage-donated it to my local library book sale I might reread it, just to see if the ending is as rushed as I remember.
The house of oak series by Nichole van! In at least one of the books, the hero jumps forward to live with the heroine. There’s also a hero that goes back to live with a heroine in the past.
I loved those Janet Chapman Highlander books. In one of the stories the heroine is a rocket scientist and one is a physician in another book. I’m going to have to read them again to see if they hold up. Chapman’s later books were too crazy-sauce for me. I also remember liking the Lynn Kurland books. The one mentioned above about the guy time traveling to a bridal shop is in an anthology and is hilarious. I like that in most of the books the they spend time in both worlds and usually stay in the future. The first book with a hero named MacLeod and a heroine named Elizabeth was inspired!
Morgan O’Neill has a Roman time travel trilogy (Love eternally, After the fall, Return to me). The heroine is transported to 5th century Rome, marries, and eventually returns to the present day with her husband.
Perfect Timing by Catherine Anderson has a medieval-era (like, 1300s/1400s) Irish heroine who time-jumps using her inherent magical talent to the present day because she senses that’s where her soulmate is, and is quite happy in the 21st century once she gets used to everything. I rolled my eyes so often at the plot I may have hurt myself (she actually calls her mom via crystal ball once she’s settled, just to let her know the time travel was great and everything’s fine!), but I know a lot of people like CA’s writing.
The Circle Trilogy by Nora Roberts had a wizard from the 12th Century sent to the 21st to fight an evil vampire queen. He falls in love with a modern woman and even though they talk about her going back with him, he chooses to stay in the present because going back would change history. Also in that series, the wizard’s brother, a vampire, decides to stay in a parallel world where it is more or less the 12th Century, a period he’d already lived through on his Earth, for his heroine.