FOR ALL TIME by Jude Deveraux

Publisher:  Ballantine

Published:   July 1, 2014

ISBN:  978-0345541826
Genre:   Contemporary Romance

Format:  Paperback
Obtained via:  Edelweiss – Above the Treeline

Reviewed by name and email address:  Gina Gina@loveromancesandmorereviews.com

TWO-1/2 HEARTS

 

At the end of TRUE LOVE, book 1 of Jude Deveraux Nantucket Brides series, Alix Madsen had won the man of her dreams, Jared Montgomery.  As FOR ALL TIME opens it is time for their wedding and what an amazing event it is starting with the charming little chapel in the woods.  After the ceremony friends gather for dinner and dancing and Toby Wyndam, who has planned much of how the nuptials were celebrated catches Jared’s cousin’s eye. At first uncomfortable under Graydon’s unmoving stare and not at all happy with what she knows is a lie, Toby quickly finds that maybe all isn’t as it seems.  While Graydon pretends, for his own reasons, to be his younger, twin brother, Toby knows the difference. She can’t quite say why, but she can tell the two brothers apart.  Graydon is charmed and delighted until he realizes that there is no way the two can be together. 

Graydon is caught between the proverbial rock and a hard place—he is not only a Lanconian prince, but he is also the heir to the throne and as such, his bride has already been chosen for him.  Still, he cannot help his quickly growing feelings for Toby, so much so that he manoeuvres a week in Nantucket but sending his twin, Rory, back to Lanconia in his stead.

As Toby and Graydon become closer and closer, the reality of their situation becomes more and more clear—Graydon will leave and marry another.  They cannot, will not, have a happily ever after.  Struggling with her growing feelings Toby finds herself having more and more dreams but these aren’t ordinary dreams.  They are dreams of another time and place.  Could that time and place be the answer to how Graydon and Toby can be together for all time?

I have been a Jude Deveraux fan since I first read THE BLACK LYON and more recently I’ve waited not too patiently for each of her Edilean books.  She has always been one of my most favourite story tellers, penning romances that had me closing my eyes and being carried away to another place and time.  Something happened with this Nantucket Brides series that has had me scratching my hear wondering where the author whose books I have read over and over again has gone. 

FOR ALL TIME started out pretty darn wonderful.  I could picture the chapel in the woods, Graydon, Toby and the other characters so clearly.  Graydon and Toby’s first encounter was really well done.  And while the twins changing places story line is one that has been done many times over, this one had some wonderful twists.  I could hardly put FOR ALL TIME down because I couldn’t wait to see how Ms. Deveraux was going to resolve their dilemma. 

And then the paranormal aspects of the story happened.  That is where she lost me and I began to wonder if perhaps there was a co-author who will soon be introduced or perhaps even a ghost writer who hadn’t read Ms. Devereaux’s earlier books because those segments were nothing like the author I love.  Those segments were choppy and hard to follow.  And then suddenly a new character is introduced and everyone just accepts her.  Not one person wonders where she suddenly comes from.  I went back and re-read sections trying to figure out what was that all about.  No answer was to be found but I kept reading.

Ultimately the story returned to the kind of romance Ms. Deveraux is known for. 

There were times when initially I thought “just get on with it.”  And then I sat back and took a breath and realized that it had been so long since I’ve read a sweet romance.  FOR ALL TIME is truly the kind of sweet romance that had me falling for the romance genre years ago and Ms. Deveraux’s story telling took me back to that time and how much I loved and still love watching wonderful characters fall in love.  And that’s one of the reasons why I love reading romance—watching the characters find each other and fall in love.  Not in lust, not into hurried sex, but falling in love.

If you are a Deveraux fan you’ll enjoy FOR ALL TIME.  While not among her best, it is about a forever romance and has some fun elements.  If you are new to her writing, it is a good sample of what falling in love with all the romance that makes you sigh, to it. 

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.