Excerpt: The Whirlpools of Time, Anna Belfrage
Hello Readers,
It is a pleasure to be today’s stop on the book tour for The Whirlpools of Time by Anna Belfrage. Thank you to Amy Bruno at HFVBT for the invite! Check out this great new release and enjoy the excerpt below. Thank you for visiting The Cozy Book Blog. Enjoy the tour!
Best, Diane-Lyn
THE WHIRLPOOLS OF TIME BY ANNA BELFRAGE
Publication Date: June 11, 2021
Timelight Press
Series: The Locket, Book One
Genre: Historical Romance/Scottish/Time Travel
Synopsis:
He hoped for a wife. He found a companion through time and beyond.
It is 1715 and for Duncan Melville something fundamental is missing from his life. Despite a flourishing legal practice and several close friends, he is lonely, even more so after the recent death of his father. He needs a wife—a companion through life, someone to hold and be held by. What he wasn’t expecting was to be torn away from everything he knew and find said woman in 2016…
Erin Barnes has a lot of stuff going on in her life. She doesn’t need the additional twist of a stranger in weird outdated clothes, but when he risks his life to save hers, she feels obligated to return the favour. Besides, whoever Duncan may be, she can’t exactly deny the immediate attraction.
The complications in Erin’s life explode. Events are set in motion and to Erin’s horror she and Duncan are thrown back to 1715. Not only does Erin have to cope with a different and intimidating world, soon enough she and Duncan are embroiled in a dangerous quest for Duncan’s uncle, a quest that may very well cost them their lives as they travel through a Scotland poised on the brink of rebellion.
Will they find Duncan’s uncle in time? And is the door to the future permanently closed, or will Erin find a way back?
Excerpt:
The first thing she noticed was that the sun was shining. For a moment, that made her smile,
thinking the terrible events of the night had been nothing but a really bad dream. Until she
stretched, bumping her hand into a wooden bedpost. She sat up. Shit! Not a dream, none of it was a
dream, because here she was, presently sitting in a bed that looked as if it belonged in a museum.
She was wearing some sort of nightgown that smelled faintly of lavender. So did the sheets
and the pillow. One arm was bandaged as was her left hand. The arm did not bother her, but the
hand hurt, a constant dull throbbing reminding her of that damned locket. She shivered. Beside her,
Duncan was fast asleep on his back and she just had to slide down and snuggle into his warmth for
some moments, taking several deep breaths. At least he was here with her, and she definitely
remembered him talking to a man he knew, a short, fat guy.
She sat up again. She needed to pee—badly. She was also parched, her lips so dry it hurt to lick
them. She stood. The room spun. A strong arm grabbed her before she hit the floor.
“It’s no big deal,” she said some time later, smiling at how concerned he looked. They were
back in bed after he’d helped her locate the chamber pot, politely keeping his back turned as she
used it before using it too.
“You fainted!” he said.
“Not because of this.” She set a hand to her arm. “More because of the whole mess. You know,
Steve and Josephine showing up and Dylan being shot and then…then…”
He nodded, offering her a mug of lukewarm beer and it was godawful but she was so thirsty
she drank it all down.
“Where are we exactly?” she asked.
“In London. It is 1715—August, Ben says.”
“Ben?”
“He works here,” Duncan explained. “My man, originally, but he was so taken with London I
allowed him to stay behind when I returned home some years ago.”
“Oh.” She sent him a dark look. “How come we ended up in your time?”
“I do not know. Chance, I assume.”
“Damned fortunate—for you,” she said.
“Fortunate?” He sat up, looking down at her. “What exactly are you implying?”
“Nothing.” She turned her back on him, not wanting him to see the tears in her eyes. She
cleared her throat. “Damned fortunate I had that locket lying around, hey?”
“Aye, as otherwise we would likely have been dead by now.”
“As if this is much better,” she muttered.
“You’d prefer to burn to death to being here with me?”
“Yes! Well, no, of course not, but—”
“But what? It was not me who brought the Wilkes family to your door. It was not me who was
foolish enough to embark on a one-man crusade to bring down a powerful criminal organisation. It
was not me, who—”
“I got it, okay?” She rose to her knees, glaring at him. “Yes, I brought all this down on us, but
you knew what that damned locket was. And I can’t help wondering if you were planning on using it,
slip out of my life just as quickly as you came.” Shit. She shouldn’t have said that—besides, she’d
wondered no such thing. He gave her a hurt look that left her twisting inside “Sorry,” she added
hastily, placing a hand on his arm. He shook it off. “Sorry,” she repeated. “Please, Duncan. I didn’t
mean that.” She took his hand, and it lay unresponsive in her hold. “I’m scared,” she admitted in a
low voice. “And when I’m scared, I lash out.”
In response, he sighed, squeezing her hand. “Aye, I suspected that locket was some sort of
time mechanism. I recognised those damned swirling colours, that horrifying sensation of pitching
forward over a ledge to stare at a bottomless chasm—” He broke off, looking as if he was going to
throw up. She could totally commiserate: that fall through time had been the most terrifying
experience in her life—like riding a rollercoaster on the downward drop only to realise it was never
going to stop going down and down and down.
“We were trapped,” he said in a calmer tone. “The locket offered a way out.”
“And lucky you—here you are, in the time you belong in!”
“I didn’t know we’d end up here! But I saw a face I recognised and focused on it. And
reasonably it is better we are here, in my time, than in a time none of us belong in.”
Well, she had to agree with him on that—but she had problems saying that out loud. She gave
him a grudging nod.
“I’d have preferred it if we were back in my time,” she said.
“So would I,” he said. He pressed a quick kiss to her head. “But now we are here, and even if
we could attempt to travel back, I am not sure I’d dare to try.” He shivered. “What if we fell
somewhere else entirely?”
“You would?” she asked.
“Eh?”
“Do you mean it? Would you have preferred to remain in my time?”
“Aye.” He gave her a small smile. “And not only for the cars.” He tucked a strand of her hair
behind her ear. “This is a difficult age,” he continued. “Even more so for a beautiful woman with skin
like molten syrup.”
She didn’t understand.
He sighed, cupping her cheek. “A woman of colour is usually the fruit of a white planter’s
lustful assault on his female slaves. And a child born to a slave, is—”
“A slave.” She grimaced. “But I’m not.”
“No.” He smiled. “And once they get to know you, they will all recognise that a spirited,
determined woman like you was born as free as any of us. But before they do, they will likely
whisper behind our backs, snickering at the man who was fool enough to wed his slave mistress.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders slumped. She felt devalued, somehow.
“That is why we must formalise our union immediately,” he added, hopping out of bed. “I will
have the contracts drawn up in some hours and then God save whoever as much as eyes you
askance. I will skewer them on my sword.”
A warmth spread through her at his words. He did love her, even to the point of risking the
derision of his contemporaries. He must have guessed what she was thinking, because he leaned
over her and kissed her thoroughly.
“I’ve pledged myself to you,” he said softly. “And now, Mrs Melville, you must rise and dress.”
“You seem very familiar with all these garments,” she said a while later. She’d washed in cold
water, been surprised to find clothes in a neat pile on a chair, had at first refused to wear that
strange corset contraption, but at his insistence had slipped into it, gasping out loud when he'd
twirled her round to tighten the lacings. Now he was fitting something he called a bumroll round her
hips and then there were petticoats and uncomfortably heavy skirts in dark blue with a matching
bodice. She liked the pewter buttons adorning the bodice. That was the only think she liked, actually,
feeling so constrained she could barely walk as he led the way downstairs.
“No way am I going to wear stuff like this all the time.”
He chuckled. “You look very pretty,” he told her.
“I’m used to wearing jeans!”
He drew her to a halt. “Women in this time do not wear breeches.” His long mouth curved into
a smile. “But when we are alone, or when we are riding, I’ll let you wear them.”
“You’ll let me?” she spluttered.
“Aye. I am a good husband like that—I spoil my wife.”
“Huh. You’ve never been a husband before.”
He cradled her face and kissed her nose. “I know. But I aim to be the best husband the world
has ever seen. For you.”
Which was enough for her to grip his hand hard and follow him down the stairs.
AMAZON
About the Author
Had Anna been allowed to choose, she’d have become a time-traveller. As this was impossible, she became a financial professional with two absorbing interests: history and writing. Anna has authored the acclaimed time travelling series The Graham Saga, set in 17th century Scotland and Maryland, as well as the equally acclaimed medieval series The King’s Greatest Enemy which is set in 14th century England.
More recently, Anna has published The Wanderer, a fast-paced contemporary romantic suspense trilogy with paranormal and time-slip ingredients. While she loved stepping out of her comfort zone (and will likely do so again ) she is delighted to be back in medieval times in her September 2020 release, His Castilian Hawk. Set against the complications of Edward I’s invasion of Wales, His Castilian Hawk is a story of loyalty, integrity—and love.
Find out more about Anna on her website or on her Amazon page. You can also follow her on Facebook or Twitter.
Blog Tour Schedule
Monday, August 23
Guest Post at Novels Alive
Tuesday, August 24
Review at Pursuing Stacie
Excerpt at Books & Benches
Thursday, August 26
Review at Reader_ceygo
Friday, August 27
Review at Novels Alive
Monday, August 30
Review at With A Book In Our Hands
Wednesday, September 1
Review at The Book Review Crew
Friday, September 3
Excerpt at Historical Fiction with Spirit
Monday, September 6
Review at Chicks, Rogues, and Scandals
Wednesday, September 8
Review at 100 Pages a Day
Friday, September 10
Review at Rajiv’s Reviews
Monday, September 13
Guest Post at Hoover Book Reviews
Wednesday, September 15
Review at Books, Writings, and More
Friday, September 17
Excerpt at Reading is My Remedy
Monday, September 20
Review at Amy’s Booket List
Tuesday, September 21
Review at Anna’s Book Blog
Wednesday, September 22
Excerpt at The Cozy Book Blog
Friday, September 24
Review at Passages to the Past
Monday, September 27
Excerpt at Cross My Heart Writing & Reviews
Wednesday, September 29
Review at Coffee and Ink
Giveaway
Enter to win a copy of The Whirlpools of Time by Anna Belfrage! Two copies are up for grabs!
The giveaway is open internationally and ends on September 29th. You must be 18 or older to enter.
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Thank you so much for hosting The Whirlpools of Time! It’s a wonderful read!
Amy
HF Virtual Book Tours
Definitely! Thank you for inviting me!