Author:  John A. Heldt
Release Date: 14th April 2016
Series: American Journey
Genre: Historical Fiction, Time Travel, Romance
Edition: Ebook
Pages: 295
Publisher: Self-Published

Rating: ★★★★★

Blurb:

Providence, Rhode Island, 2017. When doctoral student Cameron Coelho, 28, opens a package from Indiana, he finds more than private papers that will help him with his dissertation. He finds a photograph of a beautiful society editor murdered in 1925 and clues to a century-old mystery. Within days, he meets Geoffrey Bell, the “time-travel professor,” and begins an unlikely journey through the Roaring Twenties. Filled with history, romance, and intrigue, INDIANA BELLE follows a lonely soul on the adventure of a lifetime as he searches for love and answers in the age of Prohibition, flappers, and jazz.

Review

To say this book surprised me would be an understatement. I mean, wow. I didn’t look at the Goodreads tags for this book so I was extremely intrigued when the word time-travel popped up. After that, I was hooked. I could not put it down until I reached the very last page.

It starts with Cameron, a dissertation student, researching the state of Indiana who comes across a picture of a woman and tt is pretty much love at first sight for him. He is then presented with the opportunity to travel back in time and actually meet this woman, and at the same time add some adventure to his otherwise lonely life.

Although time-travel is a major aspect of this tale, it’s more about adventure, romance, and a little mystery. It’s about a man and woman who are nearly a century apart but have the same dreams and aspirations and, decide to take a few risks because life’s too short to keep second guessing everything.

I adored Cameron. He was charming, intelligent, witty and an absolute gentleman. I could relate to his lonely existence and his thirst for some excitement in his life. I was rooting for him right from the start. Candice was a delight and extremely likable. All characters, including the supporting ones and the bad guys, were very well developed and well written.

The writing was amazing, with an almost poetic atmosphere. The author did a great job in bringing the Roaring Twenties alive; from the quaint little town to the illicit clubs, from the church to the Ku Klux Klan, this book had it all. And the author managed to weave everything together beautifully.

The book began with the right pace, setting up the plot and characters quite early on and I held onto them until the very end.

I had predicted the ending but I was pleasantly surprised by the twist. It had the right amount of action without being overly dramatic. In short, I loved it.

I loved the romance. It was light and sweet, and a pivotal part of the story. Cameron had already decided that he had fallen in love with the woman in the photograph but to actually see it happen when he was with Candice was even more amazing. Their scenes were incredibly sweet and their relationship progressed naturally.

It’s no surprise that the cover art features the very picture that sets the plot rolling. It’s lovely and fits the book perfectly.

Goodreads and Amazon