Tracy’s review of Midnight in Your Arms by Morgan Kelly
When psychic Laura Dearborn inherits Stonecross Hall in 1926, she has no idea she’s inheriting a love story too-one that she’s lived again and again. But as Alaric Storm III, the handsome owner of the mansion from sixty years earlier, starts to haunt her waking dreams, Laura discovers her heart’s true home has always been within Stonecross’s walls.
Tormented by memories of war, Alaric Storm III is used to spirits-just not ones from the future. Set on fire by Laura’s ghostly affections, Alaric is forced to choose: follow his heart and grasp Laura’s hand through time, or surrender to the call of duty and live without love.
As All Hallows’ Eve draws near, Alaric and Laura must find a way to hold on to each other forever-or risk repeating their tragic romance until the end of time.
Laura Dearborn has been dreaming about a house since she was a kid. Now it’s 1926, she’s 28 years old and an honest to God psychic. She makes her money now that the wars over reaching out to the dead to try and heal the living. She’s contacted on her birthday and told that a house, Stonecross, has been willed to her by Alaric Storm III who willed it to her in 1866, before she was ever born!
She heads to Stonecross and lo and behold it’s the house she’s been dreaming of. The very first night she’s there she thinks she sees a man but she’s not sure what she’s seeing as he doesn’t seem dead. When she’s in bed at night he’s feels very real when they’re laying side by side but she honestly starts to think she’s going a bit wonky.
Slip back to 1866 and we see Alaric Storm who thinks he’s going a bit crazy because he keeps seeing a beautiful woman but she’s never substantial. This keeps happening and one night she actually becomes solid and he’s dazzled. He knows almost immediately that this is his true love but he can’t quite figure out how to keep her with him for an extended period of time – she’s really only completely solid around the midnight hour. They meet off and on for a time but from what Laura knows from history they are never truly together.
Laura in 1926 meets Tess who is a woman in her 70’s. She actually met Tess when she was 14 and Laura had gone back in time. Tess tries to explain things to Laura and lets her know that she needs to be with Alaric and needs to somehow force herself to stay with him. She figures out that this is a Mobius strip of sorts. It’s time that’s in an infinite circle and the same scenario keeps happening again and again until she changes it somehow. She has to figure out a way for her and Alaric to be together, but how?
This was a slow starter for me but it definitely got more interesting as the book went on. The idea that Alaric and Laura had done this before and therefore had fallen in love time and time again was intriguing. Unfortunately because of that I think there’s was more of an insta-love feel to the story. Now it was deep and abiding but we didn’t get to see any of how they fell in love which was a bid disappointing because it was obviously such a strong love.
Keeping the times and places straight wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be but the end had me a bit confused. It was most definitely an HEA but how they got to where they were was not explained at all – just put down to being the supernatural. I did have a problem with how the couple was going to live but you’d have to read the story in order to understand why I had a problem with it. If I tell you I’ll ruin it all. 🙂
I liked the writing in the story. I think there was a bit too much description at the beginning but it got less as the story went on which made it more enjoyable for me. In the end I would recommend this to those readers that enjoy time travel but don’t mind a slightly darker story.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
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This book is available from Avon Impulse. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.
