Thursday, June 11, 2015

"The Reckoning" by MaryLu Tyndall

A book review of "The Reckoning" by MaryLu Tyndall

You know when you pick up a historical novel and you travel back in time? How you wish you were actually there? From the moment I had heard that MaryLu Tyndall had written a novel based on time travel back to the 17th century, I couldn't wait to read it. I mean, someone from the 21st century having to live in a time without electronics and modern medicine, surrounded by pirates and trying to absorb the culture. MaryLu didn't disappoint. A captivating read!

Morgan Shaw

She had it all. Rich parents, a good job, a handsome boyfriend. But did she really have it all? When she gets some devastating news that shakes all that she knows, she feels even more lost and alone than she ever had before. Dragged by her friend onto a pirate ship replica in San Diego harbor during a festival, she wanders to the depth of the ship to be alone, and suddenly finds herself transported back in time. Or is she? Morgan thinks her father has payed for an extravagant distraction, and is thoroughly convinced that everyone on the pirate ship is under her father's employ. Will something happen to her due to naivety, or will she find out that everything is real, and discover she has no way to return back home? Plagued by fears and anxiety, will Morgan ever learn to trust God the way she needs, and what will happen to this growing attraction to the devilishly handsome pirate that she seems to have no fears of?

Rowan Dutton

Rowan, having stolen a ship from his sister, has become a pirate and roams the seas looking for ships to plunder. Everything seems to be going perfectly, when he discovers a stowaway on his ship. Who is she and what is she doing on his ship? With a strange way of speaking, ridiculous male clothes, and speaking to a mysterious father in thin air, Rowan fears she is either crazy or possessed. No longer believing in the God who made him, his goal in life is to become rich, famous, and to eventually reconcile with his sister. As time goes on he begins to wonder if that will ever satisfy him. What is Rowan supposed to do with this mysterious woman, and what will happen when his womanizing ways catches up with him?

Morgan and Rowan. Two completely different people from two different worlds. One, a pirate and womanizer, and the other a software engineer who seems destined to fall for the wrong guys. Will Morgan learn to ever trust Rowan, and put her faith in God, and will Rowan ever learn to love one woman and to put aside his pride and reconcile with his family?

From the first moment I picked up the novel I felt a connection to Morgan. I mean, a distant father, a mother distracted by life and fears, the discovery of an illness that pushes all her fears to the forefront, and a penchant for dating all the wrong men. I loved how MaryLu Tyndall input all of her characteristics at the beginning. Some characters you slowly learn more about throughout the novel, but Morgan I felt I understood and got from the very beginning. I felt myself nodding or remembering times in my life when I felt the same as her, I may have even cried at one point in the novel. 

I never considered how difficult it would be to write a time travel book, but as I was reading the more fascinating I found it to be. MaryLu meshed the two worlds perfectly, catching everyone's confusion over the simplest of terms that we use today. Too often you read an historical fiction novel and the speech that you and I use today is the speech that they use, which bothers me because it makes it seem less real. Somehow MaryLu captured both modern language and 17th century lingo, meshing it so well that you truly felt you had been transported through time along with Miss Shaw.

A book of sacrifice, of courage, love and redemption. A book where you realize your dreams of living in the past may not be as easy as you always thought. Do you have the courage to step into a world of vicious pirates?  If you do, I recommend picking this phenomenal book up. Preorder today!

-- I received a copy of this book from the author and was asked for my honest opinion. I am under no obligation to give a good review of this book --