October 1, 2022
Captain Marcus Weatherford is increasingly burdened by the secrets of his job as a spy for the British Crown in World War I. He would like nothing more than to settle down with his sweetheart, young single mother Clare Danner, but his assignment to find the assassinated Russian Czar's missing family ends badly. Marcus returns to England with a beautiful woman in tow and no memories of anything past his teenage years. The mysterious woman says he hit his head, but he also has a gunshot wound. As Clare nurses him back to health, she desperately tries to get him to remember her and her daughter. VERDICT Breslin (As Dawn Breaks) weaves a tale of intrigue, secrets, romance, and redemption in wartime England that will satisfy demand for light-hearted historical reads. Fans of Tracie Peterson, Deanne Gist, and Mary Connealy will enjoy this.--Christine Barth
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October 24, 2022
In this lackluster WWI romance from Breslin (As Dawn Breaks), a woman fights to keep custody of her daughter after the death of the child’s father. Clare Danner is an unwed mother who has made inroads into London society by posing as a war widow. Only her close friends and her lover, Capt. Marcus Weatherford of the British Navy, know that her two-year-old daughter, Daisy, is the illegitimate child of her affair with Elliot Lange, the son of the viscount for whom Clare once worked as a maid. After Elliot dies in combat and leaves Daisy as his heir, his family determines to take Daisy from Clare and raise her as their own. Desperate to keep custody of Daisy, Clare turns to Marcus for help, only to find that he’s lost his memory after a head injury and that a Russian ballerina named Natalya is claiming to be his fiancée. Unbeknown to Clare, Marcus is a British spy on a mission with Natalya to save the Romanov czarina and sustained his injury in an attack by Bolsheviks. Clare must trust in God to help her keep Daisy and restore Marcus’s memory. Marcus’s spy maneuverings never quite mesh with Clare’s custody battle, resulting in an overstuffed historical that’s further dragged down by wooden dialogue. This never quite takes off.
Starred review from November 1, 2022
MI6 agent Marcus Weatherford lives by the principle of duty before love, but with WWI nearing its end, he hopes to finally fulfill his promise of forever to Clare Danner. When Clare discovers that Marcus is allegedly engaged, he has no chance to explain the ruse for his latest undercover mission in Russia before suffering a debilitating head injury. With the mission's success dependent on top-secret information only Marcus can provide, a devastated Clare agrees to serve as Marcus' nurse during his recovery in the hope that his heart finds a way back to her again, even if his memory cannot. Rife with twists and tender drama, Breslin's new novel shines as a beautifully crafted tale of the intimacy of falling in love again. Set in 1918 in England, In Love's Time features the tender rediscovery of love amidst the high-stakes danger of wartime espionage tied to the Russian Empire in WWI. Clare embodies emotional vulnerability, resilience, and faith in the face of the unknown. Readers will be thrilled by the race-against-the-clock conclusion and the palpable passion between Marcus and Clare that is simmering below the surface.
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