Today I present to you the self-published novel Once Upon a Remembrance. The author, Grace Brannigan, sent me a bunch of her books to review, so expect to see more of them in the upcoming months!
The Book
“Once Upon a Remembrance”
The Genre
Romance
The Author
Grace Brannigan
The Plot
Photographer Isabeau Remington is transported to 1894, where she falls in love with a man she must ultimately leave behind when she returns to her own time. But things are not always as they seem, and Hawk Morgan has a secret. Someone is trying to kill him, and a prior attack has left him with no memories to defend himself against his mystery assailant. Isabeau must protect the man she loves, all the while knowing that at any moment she could return to her own time and leave him alone to face down his would-be murderer.
The Review
I really enjoyed this book. It had everything I like in a story – romance, a hint of the supernatural (time travel), a strong heroine, a dashing hero, a mystery assassin, poofy dresses, etc. The protagonist, Isabeau, was a perfect mix between confident, independent woman, and swooning damsel in distress. Not that she did a lot of swooning; usually she was the one saving Hawk (the leading man).
In terms of plot, it was fast-paced, intriguing, and had a few twists that I definitely didn’t see coming (although hints are dropped, if you pay enough attention). I found myself cheering Isabeau on as she struggled to navigate 19th century society. The love scenes were very tastefully done, and nothing R-rated was shown, but I had no trouble feeling the passion and heat the two characters were sharing.
I found a few typos, and a fun mix-up between the words “descendant” and “ancestor”, but other than that, it was a smooth read. It’s been a while since I read something in the romance genre, so this was an enjoyable return for me. In conclusion, I found Once Upon a Remembrance to be a great read, and I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of romance novels.
The Rating
5 out of 5 stars
http://www.gracebrannigan.com/
Related image of the day:
Michelle Proulx - Author 
Thank you Michelle!
Not a problem 🙂 As you can tell, I quite enjoyed the book!
Thanks for this review…I will definitely be checking it out!
My pleasure 🙂
Hi Michelle, I found you via a comment on Joanne Phillips’ blog, where you mentioned the difficulty of giving a review when you really don’t like the book.
I want to do a blog post about this… and would love to include some wisdom/opinions other than my own.
If you’d be prepared to answer a couple of questions for me to compile into a post featuring other reviewers, please could you shoot me a line at paulinewiles@gmail.com?
Thanks 😉