Timeless Heart by Karyn Gerrard

Timeless Heart (novella)
Timeless Hearts #1

Karyn Gerrard
Contemporary Romance/Time Travel/Erotica
Published in 2011

H/h - Jerrod Ross/Sandra Cranston
Setting: Canada, present time mostly with little mentions of 1821 England.

Read in Sept, 2012.

My rating:

                                                     [spoiler alert]

KG’s Timeless Heart was a sexy little novella for sure. I really liked the concept of the time travelling Regency folk in the 21c. I was interested, mainly because I wanted to see how this works. I don’t read time travel a lot, but when I do, I want the story to be interesting. Saying all these, this novella was interesting but it could’ve been more. I thought it had a better potential but not executed as per my expectations.

In 1821, Jerrod, a rich squire of Cornwall was travelling by coach with 3 other people when a powerful storm surged. Suddenly, lightening stuck his carriage and things begin to change around him. Jerrod became confused by the darkness and the pull afterwards... Without any knowledge of what really was happening, Jerrod travels into the 21st century and loses consciousness.

Sandra is a school teacher on a break. She had a little misfortune of sort in her job, and now, is guilty of it. She’s heartbroken over the whole thing. She takes a day to go outside for a lonely picnic. Sandra is single and a bit on the introvert side. From all things, I got the impression that her love life wasn’t very interesting at all. When suddenly, she comes across this carriage that looked like transported from the olden days, Sandra is dumbstruck... or so she thought she was until she found this stud with blonde hair and a big d*ck waiting for her inside... Umm, yah, from his breeches she peeked at his tool and it’s measurement through the tight fittings! But the said stud, who is also dressed in Regency fashion (yep, Sandra is like me, reads a lot of Romance novels *heehee*); Mr. Darcy came to life. After a good debate with herself about what to do, Sandra takes it up on her to help the chap, whoever he was.

As Jerrod gets back into the reality, he’s dumbstruck as well. Where the hell was he? And who is this wee lady talking to him? Jerrod realizes soon enough that something has gone horribly wrong after the lightening because it’s not the Truro of Cornwall but the Truro of Canada... in 2011. Hallelujah!

Sandra doesn’t know if to believe Mr.-Darcy-the-stud-man but she is totally into his d*ck. Sorry but it was so unsubtle, her lusting after Jerrod’s d*ck (even in her mind), I can’t explain it otherwise. And Sandra wants that for herself, though she doesn’t know if to take Jerrod to a Bedlam or keep him with her.

Then there were some really funny moments (that I enjoyed) with Mr. Darcy’s introductions to various 21st century ‘contraptions’. I really have to quite some stuff here:

Mr. Darcy meets ‘the toilet that flushes itself and water comes through the pipes’:

Did he have a concussion? How could he not know what a toilet is? And his mode of speech and dress...Sandra sighed in confusion. All she could hear was the toilet flushing, over and over and over again.

(Lordy, I had an apoplexy while reading this part, he was sooo mesmerized by the flush! )


Mr. Darcy meets ‘the television contraption (and Saving Private Ryan)’:

“God’s Blood! Sandra!”
She almost dropped the teapot from her hand. He ran into the kitchen, looking stricken. “Bodies on the beach, blood everywhere, in that box contraption! I’ve never seen the like, never have I dreamt such carnage, how is it possible?”
The terror and confusion on his face and in his voice was plain to see. Oh hell, he must have turned on the TV. She hadn’t a chance to explain it yet.

(Poor guy, I had an urge to hug him though, he was so shaken with the horror, thinking it all real.)


Mr. Darcy meets ‘jeans with the zipper contraption’:

Jerrod pulled on the black 'jeans', as Sandra called them. They were as form fitting as any of his breeches, very form fitting. Sandra had shown him how to operate the zipper contraption, amazing really. He grasped the metal tab and pulled, taking a slice of skin off his finger in the process. Sandra came running in when she heard the cursing. "Damn and blast! One can suffer serious injury just dressing.

(Psst, Mr. Darcy is a big show-off, he doesn’t like to wear small clothes and you know what that means... )


Mr. Darcy meets ‘Gillette Fusion razor’:

Not a straight razor as he was used to, but some sort of razor nonetheless. He pressed a button and the bloody thing began to vibrate in his hand. He shouted and dropped it like he was handling hot coals.
“The bloody thing is alive!” he cried out.

(Don’t even ask, I had another of those apoplexies... )

But, all was ok, and in a day or two, Sandra knew that Jerrod can’t possibly be lying. His surprises and reactions of these modern equipments are those that can’t be faked so neatly. It was also plain that he would never be able to cope with all these modern stuff and information… it’s just not his life. Sandra also had no idea how to remedy this situation and her growing lust for Jerrod.

Jerrod, of course, was already lusting after Sandra. He’s an amorous man and we get the repetition of his ‘amorous nature’ and his past liaisons with various whores and so on, over and over again, in almost every single page, whenever they were together. Jerrod’s mind would venture to his past liaisons and how Sandra is compared to those. I got tired of how he liked his f*cking in the dark alleys or in the backrooms, hard and fast, without any finesses blah-di-blah-di-blah. He never even had a mistress in that sense but the dark alleys, against the wall types. I DID NOT like to be reminded of these at all. It didn’t really prove him to be an accomplished lover IMO, when he himself admitted that he never tried ‘to make love’ to a woman, and a whore’s pleasures hardly mattered to him.

No, that was NOT well done, really.

It got worse, when they finally gave in and the first sex scene happened just the way Jerrod liked it, with those whores. He even feels guilty afterwards to have treated Sandra this way (though she liked it!). I have NOTHING against sex against the wall (because I find it sexy as hell) but c’mon, why the comparison?

F*ck NO!

This is something I couldn’t get over. Nevertheless, they were going at ‘it’ like bunnies for the next few days, more so when they realized if Jerrod has a chance to return to the past, they’d never meet again, see each-other again. There were some really emotional moments too, and I had tears in my eyes. One was Jerrod’s realization that he might never get back to his real life, and by estimation, his family has been dead for more than a 100 yrs. It was very heart wrenching. I felt his pain and wanted to hug him when he cried himself to sleep. I liked that Sandra tried to help him, knowing she’d lose him if everything goes alright. She does some researches on his family and finds information that only depresses Jerrod. Apparently, his disappearance went down as a famous mystery and he was declared dead after sometimes. How utterly horrible and sad! I really felt for him in those moments.

All these things, the pressure, the confusion and of course, being able to do nothing about it takes a toll soon and Jerrod becomes cranky. He began feeling like he’s paying Sandra’s generosity with his body. I could understand how he might feel this way. Sandra was hurt by his insinuations. She’s also hurt that Jerrod makes no positive implications about their relationship. I don’t know, but she should’ve known before jumping into bed with him. He never made any promises and she knew there is a big possibility that there would be no future for them.

That was one hell of a situation and I was eagerly waiting to see how things are solved; who has to leave their life behind. Gotta tell you, I’m not sure what would’ve made me happy because it was such a one-of-a-kind situation but that, I kind of guessed the way it was resolved finally.

Best of luck Mr. Darcy! Lol

3.75 stars. It was a good (and steamy) read overall but I might’ve enjoyed it more if there were a bit more twist in the story.