"Come Back to Me" by Jody Hedlund - Waters of Time, book 1

The ultimate cure that could heal any disease? Crazy. That's exactly what research scientist Marian Creighton has always believed about her father's quest, even if it does stem from a desire to save her sister Ellen from the genetic disease that stole their mother from them. But when her father falls into a coma after drinking a vial of holy water believed to contain traces of residue from the Tree of Life, Marian must question all of her assumptions. He's left behind tantalizing clues that suggest he's crossed back in time. Insane. Until Marian tests his theories and finds herself in the Middle Ages during a dangerous peasant uprising. William Durham, a valiant knight comes to Marian's rescue and offers her protection . . . as his wife. The longer Marian stays in the past, the more she cares about William. Can she ever find her father and make it back to the present to heal her sister? And when the time comes to leave, will she want to?

I like the premise for the series and am certainly interested to see where it goes from here. The time travel theory was one that I had not heard before, but it posed some interesting challenges, and it certainly made me wonder how it would work out in the end--particularly the conundrum of having a physical body simultaneously in two timelines, yet only one spirit to inhabit them (and thus able to die if something should happen to either body). The one thing that I struggled to suspend my disbelief over--and only because I love languages--is that Middle English is not modern English. Between the lexicon, cadence, and sentence structure, the inhabitants of the 1300's would have been pretty much incomprehensible to Marian, and vice versa. I do think that could have been a really interesting problem for Marian to overcome, along with the other significant cultural differences that she encounters.  

I liked Marian, but she falls in love awfully quickly--within two weeks, she's willing to set aside her entire life for a near-stranger of a completely different time and culture, though with no guarantee she can stay in either time period. If you like steamy romance, though, this would fit the bill. Marian's story concludes well enough to stand on its own; some related threads are left open for Ellen's story in the next book, but there's no cliffhanger to worry about.

Thank you Revell and NetGalley for the complimentary e-book. I was not required to write a positive review, and all opinions are my own.