Till There Was You

Title: Till There Was You
Author: Lynn Kurland
Series: MacLeod (Book 12) / De Piaget (Book 12)
Genre: Time Travel, Historical Romance

Zach, Elizabeth's brother (Jamie's wife; A Dance Through Time) has sworn off time traveling. Although he's done a lot with Jamie in the past, he wants to turn his life around. So he makes a list of all the things he's not going to do. Of course, this means that he is going to end up doing exactly all of those found on the list. He visits Artane and while stepping through a doorway in the keep is transported to the 13th century where he meets Mary.

Mary is somewhat of a tomboy. She loves to muck out horse stalls and care for her horses in general, including training/breaking them. Her father mentions several times that he went wrong when he set her on a horse for the first time. She is being forced into marrying a man from her time, but fears for her life.

Zach and Mary seem to fall for each other the minute the meet. Zach then continues to unintentionally woo her with his chivalrous side. The rest of her family treats her like one of the guys, so to be treated as a lady, yet accepted as she is makes her fall for Zach.

Unfortunately, Zach has had it drilled into him throughout his travels with Jamie that he cannot change the past or leave any "footprints." He suffers through knowing he can't have Mary but seems to come to terms with it. That is until he remembers that he saw her death date and it's only a few days from where he is. He throws caution into the wind and tries to save the one he loves.

I spent a lot of time consulting the family trees that are included in the back of the book. I feel like I'm really starting to get a handle of them. I definitely didn't do myself any service reading the books in a mixed up order. There is also a lot of references to previous books that I often don't understand.

Aside from that, I enjoyed Mary and Zach's story, but had one problem with it. I didn't feel like in any of the previous books leaving footprints seemed to be an issue. People were flying back and forth between times, taking items and animals through to different times and no one mentioned anything. Then, in Till There Was You, leaving a footprint is one of the main concerns. I feel like it kind of came totally out of left field.

Because I read the stories out of order, this is the first time that I am able to see a character from the past have to come to terms with living in the future. Previous to this, all of the past characters living in the future have already acclimated before their story takes place. I enjoyed hearing Mary describe the marvels of the future.

This is currently the last book in both the De Piaget series and MacLeods series. I've gotten my hands on all but 2 of the MacLeods series, and those two are on hold at the local library. This means I'm starting over at the beginning. Hopefully it will all come together.