After watching several movies with the holiday theme, I thought it was time to read a holiday-themed romance next. I found the book A Timeless Christmas by Alexis Stanton on Amazon and decided that this time-travel Christmas romance would be the best one to try.
The story
is about inventor Charles, who buys a clock that somehow takes him to
the future. He discovers that according to history, he suddenly disappeared
from his home and that his property has since become a museum and tourist
attraction. With the help of Megan and the rest of the people who work in the
museum, Charles tries to navigate his way around his modern surroundings as he
searches for a way to return to his own time.
As a romance, it is, of course, expected that Charles and Megan end up falling in love as she helps him figure his way around modern times. It also helps that this all happens during the holidays which, for me, adds to the romance factor. Love stories feel more romantic during this season for me.
I have been reading
reviews where people mention the similarities between this book and the movie
Kate and Leopold and in some ways, I think that it is the same, but also
different, if that makes any sense.
Being won
over by the old-fashioned ways of the male time traveler is one of the things
that is the same. I think that is part of the appeal of the story. In these
modern times, it is charming to find men who are still gentlemen and have
manners that are different from this day and age. In terms of time-travel, however,
the stories are different.
In A
Timeless Christmas, there seems to be no concern over how things will change in
terms of the time travel aspect when everyone is helping Charles to try to find
a way home. Considering that they are making a living off his home as a result
of his disappearance, you would think that they would be concerned about how
their lives will turn out if he makes it back to his own time. Plus, while Kate
and Leopold explain time travel more scientifically, A Timeless
Christmas attributes the occurrence to something more magical.
A Timeless
Christmas is a feel-good, wholesome romance typical of just about any Hallmark
book, I am not surprised that they turned it into a movie. Having people from
two different times fall in love and having the conflict of him wanting to go back
to his own time even when he knew he was going to leave someone he loved made
the story interesting to read, just to see how it would play out. I did not expect
it to go the way it did (spoiler alert!), I honestly expected the Kate and Leopold ending where
the woman joined the man in his time. I feel like it made more sense than having
Charles stay in the future. I think having someone appear out of the blue would
be easier to explain in the past than in the future. It was still a good ending
to have him stay and build a life with Megan, but I found myself wondering if
that was plausible (look at me talking about plausible when the guy TIME
TRAVELED).
If you are
looking for a holiday-themed romance, A Timeless Christmas would be a book for
you to read. But if you are not the book-reading type, watching the movie would
be a good alternative. The background characters are a little different, but
the story is still pretty much the same. Personally, the book is better for me
than the movie, although the film does explain Charles’ motivations more than the
book, and Megan’s career choice makes a bit more sense in the movie than in the
book.
So, if you
were given the chance to fall in love during the holidays with a time travel
element, what would you choose: to fall for someone who traveled to your time
or to a time that YOU traveled to? Leave me a comment and tell me what you
think!
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