by Gwyn Cready
Release Date: March 30, 2010
2010 Pocket Books
ISBN: 978-1-4391-0724-9
Trade Paperback; 415 Pages
Genre: Romance/Time-Travel
Source: Review Copy from Publisher
3.5 / 5 Stars
Summary
Art historian Campbell Startford is about to make a name for herself with her scandalously sexy tell-all "fictographies" of famous seventeenth-century artists, but she's more intimately familiar with her subjects than her eager readers can imagine. Thanks to a time portal she accidentally discovered, she has caused quite a stir in the Great Beyond. To save their reputations, the Guild protecting dead artists convinces playboy Peter Lely, portraitist to the king, to sabotage Cam's latest project. A few hours posing on Sir Peter's chaise leads to a night of seductive passion - then Cam returns home and discovers her betrayal. But before she can turn her angry pen on her lover, Sir Peter makes a surprise visit to the future and transforms Cam's twenty-first-century life into chaos of classic proportions...
My Thoughts
The cover of this novel is certainly beautiful and intriguing, and looked like Flirting With Forever was going to be filled with magical romance and adventure. And while there was definitely romance, adventure, time-travel, and humour, I don't really feel like the novel lived up to the expectations of its cover.
I adore time-travel and really enjoyed Cam's travel back in time where she meets Peter Lely for the first time. Cam also meets a bunch of quirky characters from the historical past who create a lot of chaos for the King and for Peter; this was a lot of fun to read and I really enjoyed the byplay amongst all these characters. Some of the scenes where Cam is trying to get service on her cellphone are really funny and she certainly gets herself into some interesting predicaments because of this.
I really didn't feel the connection between Cam and Peter and I definitely didn't feel any connection to Peter himself as the character seemed aloof and withdrawn. I thought Cam was sweet, trusting, somewhat naive, goodhearted, and a bit bumbling as she always seemed to get herself into trouble, but that was part of her charm. I really wanted her to succeed and mostly, I wanted her to go back to the seventeenth century as I really enjoyed that part of the novel.
While the plot had a lot of potential, and there were some twists and turns that were unexpected, I didn't feel satisfied with the ending and I was overly confused with the Prologue. I often felt like the plot jumped from scene to scene without a lot of explanations, and I found myself re-reading scenes just to make sure I didn't accidentally miss anything in the previous chapter. It was somewhat frustrating and I didn't enjoy having to do that on a regular basis. I also found the ending unsatisfactory, not in the sense that I didn't like what happened, just that I didn't find it very clear.
Verdict
Flirting With Forever was a fun novel to take to the beach and enjoy, but at the same time I found it somewhat frustrating and scattered. I am however, willing to give Ms. Cready's time-travel romances another try as her next book is scheduled for release in September.
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