Synopsis
Centuries ago, by a scaffold in Manhattan, rose petals drifted gently to the ground...
...like snow on a wintry Massachusetts night. Melody Tarleton is driving home for Christmas when a man—clad in Revolutionary War-era costume—appears out of nowhere, right in the path of her car. Shaken, she takes the injured stranger in, listening with concern to Jake Mallory’s fantastic claim that he’s a Patriot soldier, sentenced to death by British authorities. The last thing he remembers is the tug of the noose.
Safe at her parents’ house, Melody concocts a story to explain the handsome holiday guest with the courtly manners, strange clothes and nasty bump on the head. Mark, her close friend who wishes he were more, is skeptical and her family is fascinated—though not half so fascinated as Melody herself. Jake is passionate, charming and utterly unlike anyone she’s ever met. Can he really be who he claims? And can a man from the distant past be the future she truly longs for?
With the aid of enchanted petals, ancient potions and the peculiar magic of the season, Melody and Jake embark on an unimaginable Christmas adventure—and discover a love that transcends time.
Library Journal
Whisked from the gallows in a bizarre flurry of rose petals just as he is being hanged as a traitor to the Crown during the American Revolution, Jake Mallory is stunned to find himself in the 21st century, being taken in by the woman who accidentally hit him with her car on an icy road and whose family lives in "his" house. Of course, artist Melody Tarleton thinks he's an actor who's lost his memory, but as the evidence mounts, she begins to wonder. VERDICT A creative blend of humor, witchcraft, science, and history, this delightfully offbeat yet sometimes unexpected story whips up its own brand of holiday magic, assuring that two happy couples will make it "home in [their] time for Christmas." Graham (Unhallowed Ground) lives in southern Florida.