Breaking Time and Breaking Hearts
Breaking Time
Fantasy
Inkyard Press
June 14, 2022
Kindle, Hardcover
352
When a mysterious Scotsman appears out of nowhere in the middle of the road, Klara thinks the biggest problem is whether she hit him with her car. But, as impossible as it sounds, Callum has stepped out of another time, and it’s just the beginning of a deadly adventure. Klara will soon learn that she is the last Pillar of Time—an anchor point in the timeline of the world and a hiding place for a rogue goddess’s magic. Callum is fated to protect her at all costs. A dark force is hunting for the Pillars, to claim the power of the goddess—and Klara and Callum are the only two standing in the way. Thrown together by fate, the two have to learn to trust one another and work together…but they'll need to protect their hearts from one another if they're going to survive.
Breaking Time is a book that is hard to categorize. While there is time travel, there is also magic and Celtic Mythology, romance (of the non-spicy variety), and themes of coping with grief, and coming of age. The time travel aspect fell short for me, because there didn’t seem to be a great deal of research that had gone into the time period from which the male main character, Callum, came from. Despite this, the budding romance between Callum and Klara was sweet and gentle, and Klara’s grief over her mother’s death and trying to find her intended path in life was relatable, making the book enjoyable despite the time travel pitfall. The book ends with a cliff hanger that deftly sets the stage for a second, possibly darker, installment in the series.
The use of magic throughout the story line was an interesting mix of Celtic and ancient mythology, naturalism, and family folklore. Klara’s stance as a science-loving skeptic, added just the right touch of friction to her initial friendship with Callum to keep things from seeming too trite. And if that sounds a little bit like Claire Randall-Fraser from Outlander, it’s supposed to: Sasha Alsberg gives credit to Sam Heughan (the actor who plays Jamie Fraser in the television series) as her Scottish warrior muse. The role-reversal from Outlander, of having the male character be the one out of time and struggling to adjust, was another aspect of the book that I enjoyed. But that is where any similarities end, as the rest of the plot is fueled by goddess magic and an ancient demigod, trying to break time and the natural order, to become immortal and all-powerful. But, as Klara finds out, perhaps he was not her only enemy, or even the enemy she should have feared most…which will lead into the sequel, that I plan on reading. Also thrown into the mix are cameo appearances by Cernunnos, a banshee, and some hell hounds, all of whom guide Callum and Klara on their collision course with destiny.
The action fittingly comes to a head on Samhain, during the bonfire festival, near a mystical site where ley lines converge. As the veil between worlds grew most thin, Klara came fully into her powers and was faced with the choice of remaining safe forever in the Otherworld or saving the human world full of her loved ones– and time itself. No matter which she chooses she will lose something she has long desired and break her own heart in the process. In the end, her choice is startlingly simple, but opens up a whole new set of dangers and challenges, that it seems not even the goddess was able to foresee, and which Klara feels ill-equipped to handle. I am looking forward to the sequel, to find out if all is indeed lost, or if Klara will find a way to bend time to her will and save humanity, and her own heart.
