Come Back To Me hooked me from the start with its premise—a time-travel tale centered around the Tree of Life with a medieval marriage-of-convenience in the mix. I’ve read some of Jody Hedlund’s historicals, so I was more than curious about this one.

While the first quarter or so of the book took a minute to get fully on its feet, once the time-travel occurred, I was all in. Even though the heroine Marian grated on my nerves a bit, the more time she spent in the past, the more she acclimated and became more likeable. And William. William definitely helped! Their relationship and the glimpses into the medieval time-period were easily my favorite parts of the book.

What I liked less was the amount of “telling” that put distance between me and the story. I somewhat wished less time had been spent on the scientific side in order for the storytelling to feel stronger. Also, you do have to overlook some Biblical teachings to suspend reality enough to get through the actual time-travel part. Of course, this is fiction, so once I did that, I didn’t want to stop reading. This is definitely a page-turner full of chapter-ending cliffhangers!

All things considered, Come Back To Me was an exciting taste of time-travel fiction. I’m looking forward to book two in the series to see what happens next!

*Because of the marriage-of-convenience aspect, I wouldn’t personally recommend this for a younger audience despite the fantasy time-travel angle.

**Thanks to NetGalley and Revell for an e-copy to review. All opinions are my own.**

**sigh** Oh Jody, I am so ever grateful that you daily choose to pursue writing.

First, I love stories set in the Middle Ages. Jody Hedlund's Noble Knight's series was spectacular and both my teenage daughter AND I loved them. This story, however, I will not be sharing with my daughter. With its startlingly intimate scenes, this story may leave some readers jealous of the character's relationship. I do see why Hedlund included the scenes--it builds upon the true intimacy of the two characters and at the end of the book, you can really feel the treasure of their relationship--no matter how long it lasted.

Second, I thoroughly enjoy true historical fictions--the ones where you learn something about history and can picture yourself there in the moment. Well done, Jody! You are a master of drawing the reader in.

This story caused me to think a lot about things in my life and the incredible blessing relationships are.

I rate this book a high 3.8, just drawing it back for the intimacy content that I wasn't expecting. Unfortunately this book will not make it onto my bookshelf because of the scenes mentioned, however I am very grateful to have read this book and I look forward to the next book in the series.

Thank you to Netgalley and Revell for the advance copy of this book. The opinions here are my own true thoughts on this book.

3.5 stars rounded to 4.

When I heard Jody Hedlund was publishing a time-travel novel I was intrigued.

Time-travel isn't a genre I normally read as I find it interesting just not very... Interesting as they are so outlandish and, yeah, I can't really say as I agree with them since it is after all time-travel.

Come Back to Me mixed some of my favorite parts of Hedlund's writing with a new idea and into fantasy which I found neat through not my favorite subject.

Now, I can't say I agree with the way Hedlund went about with the time-travel and am still unsure if I like it but it was for sure an interesting idea.

Warnings: 16/18 up due to attraction, suggestiveness and some descriptions.

All I can say is GOOD (K)NIGHT Jody Hedlund!!!

I have never read a time travel book before, as I've always thought historical fiction was enough of an adventure. But after enjoying A Cowboy For Keeps, I thought I'd see if Judy Hedlund could make this type of fantasy story halfway believable. Well, I'm a believer, I loved it!

It took me a while to get into the opening chapters and the laying of the groundwork concerning time travel between modern day and medieval times . But once I "arrived" in 1381 England the story grabbed me and did not let go. I was captivated by knight Will Durham. What a rescuer, what a hero! He literally leaps of the page and the chemistry between he and time traveling scientist Marion Creighton is off the charts. He's as fascinated by her brains and beauty as she is by his strength and power.

I have never heard of the genetic disease, Von Hippel-Lindau syndrome and stopped reading when I crossed it to look it up and discovered it was quite real. Marion and her father's quest to find a cure made the story all the more interesting. I really enjoyed the tie in to the Tree of Life and healing waters. Very cool!

Before I started Comeback to Me I was already wondering if I would read another time travel, specifically the next book in this series. The answer is a resounding yes! And I'm thrilled that I might catch a glimpse of Marion and Will in the second book!

I appreciate Revell, via Netgalley, for making a copy of Come Back to Me available for review. All thoughts and opinions are my very own.

This is a romance story but so very different, one you certainly never expected, it is also the love of ones family and willingness to give the ultimate for their survival. How do you fall in love with a man 640 years in the past? Well, the author shows us a way!

We are given a father desperate to find a cure for his daughter, and then another daughter attemps to save her father, but why are so many tying to take what they know? Danger lurks everywhere!

This book is deep in faith, and love of family, and yet historical in that we travel to the middle ages, we sure take a lot for granted!

While I sill have questions when I turned the final page, I am excited to see that there is another book to come, and with it the answers we seek.

I received this book through the Publisher Revell, and we not required to give a positive review.

2.5 stars

I received an ARC from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily posting a review. All opinions are my own.

Come Back to Me is a perfectly fine book. It’s well-written and has a decent premise. Yet, I read this book with more apathy than engagement, the second in a row that I’ve felt that way about, so it could easily be another case of my mood.

I did like that this book decided to change up the traditional time travel formula of having a lead with a useless profession to their predicament, with Marian being a scientist. I’d have liked more of how her knowledge impacted her interactions with others in the past, but otherwise there are good stakes, with her having to choose between helping her sick dad in the present and love in the past, even if the story didn’t fully resonate.

But Will was not written in a compelling enough way to make the “stay in the past” choice viable. I didn’t get him at all, he was just the typical medieval Knight without a lot of nuance. And with so much of the story exploring Marian’s life, I feel like he wasn’t given much page time to grow.

This book really fell flat, lacking a lot of the immersiveness and charm of Jody Hedlund’s other work that I’ve read. I can see a diehard fan of her work and that of similar Christian fiction authors liking it, but it’s not one I’d recommend enthusiastically.

I'm not a fan of time travel novels, but I like Jody Hedlund, so I wanted to give this a try. I read it in two evenings after the kids went to bed. It's that good! When you read it, don't try to authenticate the science behind switching time periods or drinking Holy water. Just enjoy it for what it is: Christian fiction.

I thought the plot line was great, the characters likeable, and the situations within the book are both sorrowful and exciting. My only complaint was the book was very sensual. I'm a little surprised that Baker/Revell let this one through. Don't get me wrong, I like some romance, kisses and declarations of love as much as the next woman. But I'm more of a fade to black screen or fluttering curtains in a window when it comes to sex. Let your imagination take over. This was pretty steamy. I won't let my teen girls read it.

Beyond that it was a great story and I will be reading the next in the series.

An amazing piece of historic fiction! I'm not usually a reader of middle ages / medieval stories, but I do like Jody Hedlund's books, so I picked up this one to check it out....and was blown away! Set in both the modern era and the end of the Hundred Years War, the story follows Marian, who is able to time jump, through a series of adventures. She begins the story on one mission and ends up with another.... The author has done a fantastic job researching her history and including small elements and details the put the reader right into the past. I only wish we knew what happened at the end of the modern day timeline...

Jody Hedlund has written a time travel book taking the reader to the year 1381 in search of the ultimate cure. A modern day woman, who is a scientist is searching for a cure for her sister. She arrives in 1381 and falls in love. Should she stay in the past or go back to the future? This was a good read and I thoroughly enjoyed the storyline. The romance between Marian and Will was awesome. I'm excited this is a series and there will be another book to continue the story with Ellen and Harrison.
*I was given a copy of this book by the publisher and this is my honest opinion.
4.5 stars

I received a free e-ARC of Come Back to Me by Jody Hedlund in exchange for an honest review.

This book was FANTASTIC. Run, do not walk, to purchase it wherever you buy your books.

Come Back to Me is a magnificent historical fiction featuring Biblical history, time travel, and important ethical questions about the science of medicine. The main character, Marian, is on a quest to continue her father's work in finding a cure for a rare disease to save her sister's life.

There is some romance but it did not feel like the dominant theme of the story for me. I will also say that there were other reviews that felt the romance was inappropriate for a Christian novel, but I didn't think that either. I thought the level of romance was very true to life and at times even funny as Marian and her knight tried to figure out a relationship from two different periods of time.

Most intriguing for me were the elements of Biblical knowledge and medieval history, and the ethical questions about science and medicine. How far would we go to save the ones we love?

Most touching for me was the reminder of a Creator whose love is not limited by time and space, that love has the power to transcend any boundary we try to give it.

This was the first book I read from Jody Hedlund, and I'm counting Come Back to Me as one of my favorites.

Come Back to Me is a time-traveling romance that actually wears a lot of hats. It contains strong Christian elements, some action, historical fiction, and even a little bit of scifi.

Marian’s journey through time forces her to not only question her own priorities (her career and running water to name a few) but also the moral ramifications of releasing the cure for all sickness upon the world.
Even with these speculative side-themes, Come Back to Me is a romance at heart. The story focuses on Marian and Will’s relationship and the conflict between an independent, modern woman and a medieval man. Expect to read some steamy (but clean) scenes and some love-angst.

What I Liked:

William.
He’s your steamy tall, dark, and handsome type. Jody Hedlund gave us a classic hero, but I loved how she deviated from making him the “you’re mine and I’m going to throw you over my shoulder and have my way with you” standard. Marian is surviving in the middle ages, when women were under-valued. I think the clash of wills between Marian and Will was necessary, however, I loved Will’s journey from carnal desires, to respect and friendship, to a love that would be rare for his time period.

The Pacing
After I got past the first few pages, I really enjoyed Come Back to Me and couldn't have put it down. I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. reading it because I just had to find out if Marian would stay in the past or go back home. I feel like Jody did an excellent job of building suspense and resolving the plot in a satisfying way.

Tying Lore with History
As an avid speculative fiction fan I'm surprised that I didn't know more about the whole tree of life theory. I just love how it ties with actual history!

Things I didn't like...

The Beginning
Just Marian’s reactions and how the plot progressed in the beginning. For example, I felt like Marion's reaction to her father falling into a coma wasn’t very realistic (immediately after she found out, she began thinking about her sister, her sister’s illness, etc. etc.) I also felt that the beginning was hindered by a few information dumps. It took about 20 pages to reel me in. After that I was really well invested.

The Characters.
The characters weren't quite as fleshed out as I would have liked. Except for William. I felt like he was the star of the show thanks to his trauma and the depth of his feelings for Marian.
Having said that, I also struggled with the emotional connection between Marian and Will. The attraction was sizzling, but I never got the sense that they really knew each other.

The Science
Obviously, there isn’t any “real” science behind time-traveling holy water...but the fictional science didn’t make sense to me. The time-traveling rules didn’t either, unfortunately. This wasn’t a deal breaker though. I kind of just shrugged and moved on.

The Sexy Thoughts
Okay, this isn’t necessarily a complaint, more of a disclaimer. This book is steamy. Christian steamy, but steamy nonetheless. The main characters are very attracted to each other and are very single-minded at times. While the content is clean, the amount of “bedding” thoughts may be too much for more conservative readers.

Hedlund is a must read author for me. Oh my goodness I loved this. This one is different from anything she's written because of the whole time travel thing. If you ever read Michael Crichton's Timeline you'll enjoy this. Marion's father is a scientist who's discovered holy water from Canterbury England has healing qualities like the myths say. It also has the ability to transcend time. I don't want to give to much away, but let's just say there's definitely some Outlander type things happening with marrying between times. I love time travel novels done well, and this one is up there. I'm so excited she branched slightly out of her genre (although she has done medieval) and involved modern day as well. I love the literary references. Starting with Arthur from Connecticut just makes me think of a Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. The prioress and setting of Canterbury makes me think of the Canterbury Tales and other works from the Middle Ages. I was able to picture England and the accents very well, having lived there, but she describes it well.
I appreciated some of the observations Marian makes about her new clothing feeling strange and what would she do if she got her period with no underwear. Things females wonder about time travel.
The peasant rebellion was interesting to read about and I found myself thinking of Philippa Gregory books as well as Outlander like I mentioned.
I absolutely loved this because it was a clean version of Outlander, which I had to stop watching because it got disturbing. I've seen some comments about it being steamy for a Christian novel, but personally I wasn't uncomfortable with it. I'm not married though and haven't experienced feelings like the characters so maybe there's some things I didn't pick up on? It didn't strike me as much more than some other ones I've read by her or other authors. I feel like she does an excellent job describing people's emotions and physical attraction. Plus I mean they've known each other days, so what else is there to go on besides the physical at this point? I think her descriptions of the attraction make it more believable as to how a 28 year old from the present day can fall in love and marry a person from 1381. Well not that she had a choice. Oops I'm giving some away.
I loved this. I love that a Christian author is tackling time travel with a unique way that ties it in to the water from the Tree of Life in Revelation. It's genius and miraculous like God, so you just go with it.
I can't wait to see how they explain what happens in the next one! I have a feeling her father and sister are going to show up in the 1380s as well. I loved this book so much.
Thank you so much netgalley and Revell for the chance to read this!

I loved this book. It started out a little slow for me but then really hooked my interest. When we think of going back in time, it's easy to forget that there were a lot of hardships that we may not know how to navigate. Such is the case for Marian when she ends up in the middle of a peasant uprising in 1381.

What I loved most about this book was the impact Marian had on Will and his sons in a short amount of time. Her modern ideas of family and relationships challenge the norms of Middle Ages life and it opens Will up to wonder and joy in the little things of life. It was beautiful watching things unfold. I really hope they are prominent in the next book.

At the end, I was left wondering about a few things and then shouted an excited "YES!" when I saw that the story will continue for Harrison and Ellen. I'm hoping all will be resolved in time. I can't wait to read the next book in the series.

Thank you to Revell for providing me with a free e-copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

I have to start off by saying I am not usually a fan of time travel, but this book might have changed that. I was really intrigued by the mix of science and stories that lead to time travel being possible in this book. Marian is a scientist as well as her father trying to discover a cure for her sister Ellen's rare disease. The disease also killed her mother so they don't want to see the same happen to Ellen. It starts with her dad going into a coma and her finding out that all her dad's research about holy water and the tree of life seeds wasn't just crazy talk.
She ends up visiting the past in glimpses and viewing a man that she instantly wants to know. Later she completely goes back to 1381 and ends up meeting the strange man when he saves her.
William Durham is a knight with emotional baggage. They are thrust together and marriage is the only solution they can come up with. Then begins their love story, but will she get to stay with him and still save her sister?
At times I feel like I wanted more info on the time travel and was a little confused but in the end I still found it a fun read.
I received a free ebook thanks to net galley in exchange for an unbiased review.
#netgalley #comebacktome

Scientist Marian Creighton is on a quest to discover a cure for her sister’s terminal illness when she receives word that her father has inexplicably fallen into a coma. After traveling to England to be by his side, she makes some startling discoveries about a miracle cure for all diseases that involves...time travel. With a rival pharmaceutical company in hot pursuit, Marian makes the decision to test her father’s theory for herself, and finds herself taken back to 1381. While there, she is rescued from a dangerous situation by the handsome, yet troubled, knight Sir William Durham. When Marian is faced with a choice about returning to the present or remaining in the past, what will she decide? The numerous plot twists will keep readers guessing in this masterfully-written tale of love and suspense.

This was one of those books that stays with you when you finish! It was an amazing book and I’m so excited there will be another! I can’t wait for the next book!

So this book is not a like other books by Jody Hedlund. If you’ve read her books get ready for something totally different. Time travel, romance with some clean steamy writing and a story that will keep you reading!

I always enjoy reading books by this author. This book was made even more interesting as it involved crossing time. I really enjoyed the characters of Marian and Will. I found the piece about the healing waters such an interesting one.

Thanks so much to netgalley and the publisher for the arc. The opinions are my own.

I normally like time slip novels but I just couldn't get into this one. And I know it's because I couldn't stand the heroine she got on my nerves from page one. .

I love when I learn something new in a book, and Come Back to Me had a lot of really interesting historical and religious information that I hadn't heard before. It was a bit difficult at first to make my way through the story, given the almost overload of information the reader received in the first few chapters. But it's necessary to really understand what happens as the story progresses. The story is about the Tree of Life, thinking on if it existed and what it would mean for modern medicine. It's also about forgiveness when a loved one causes you pain, and it's about loving someone even when you're from two different worlds (literally, in this case). I have never read a time travel romance quite like this one, and I wasn't sure how we would get a happy ending. If she doesn't return home, she'll die. How does everyone win with an ending like that? You'll have to read to find out.

"Your father is in a coma." This is how Marian Creighton's story begins, when she realizes that she has lost her mother and may now lose her father. In his quest for a cure for her sister's illness, the same one that killed their mother, their relationship has crumbled, and she has begun to resent how distant he has become. Each are scientists, focused on their own work, but Marian has missed her father greatly. Heading to England to be with him in the hospital, she arrives to find out that there is no reason why he is in a coma. It's a medical mystery. But a clue in a safety deposit box and a sudden interest from dangerous individuals leads Marian to the conclusion that her father has finally done it - he has found the Tree of Life. Determined to save him, she researches what may have happened and discovers that he drank from the remnants from the tree, kept safe in a flask held by religious communities for centuries. Now she must do the same...and travel back in time to save her father.

As I said, this book had a lot to unpack, and I was confused at first. However, as the story progressed and Marian traveled back in time, I became more and more invested in the story. She meets a brave, progressive young man in 1381, and he saves her from a situation that would have been unthinkable in modern times. They must stick together to keep her safe, while she also hides her true identity from him. It becomes increasingly difficult as she begins to fall for him, even while knowing they could never be together. If she doesn't return to present day, her body left behind will eventually die, and so will she in 1381. It's a race against time and against her heart's desire. Who will win? It was thrilling, a book I couldn't put down, and I had no idea how it would end, even in the last few chapters. That's always a fun experience and one I think you all would enjoy.

Even if you're not Christian, I think you could appreciate the story and see the inspirational elements to it. To me, it was more about spirituality and the belief in something greater than yourself. And having faith in spite of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The story telling of this book is in the descriptions. The style is different than any other that I've read. It's not a fast moving story, but interesting just the same. I'm left with the feeling that I enjoyed the story, but there was a lot of descriptions to wade through to find the action. The descriptions were well thought out and moved the story along some, many times giving back story. I like the thought of being able to travel to another time, but I'm not sure I'd want to do it. I was kind of hoping for a different ending, but I'm happy with the way it did end.

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC for an honest review.