Timeless #2

Published May 2, 2023 by Bethany House Publishers

Maggie inherited a gift from her time-crossing parents that allows her to live three separate lives in 1861, 1941, and 2001. Each night she goes to sleep-in one-time period and wakes up in another. Until, that is, she turns twenty-one, when she will have to forfeit two of those lives–and everyone she knows in them–forever.

In 1861, Maggie is the daughter of an influential senator at the outbreak of the Civil War, navigating a capital full of Southern spies and wounded soldiers. In 1941, she is a Navy nurse, grappling with her knowledge of the future when she’s asked to join a hospital ship being sent to Pearl Harbor. And in 2001, she’s a brilliant young medical student, fulfilling her dream of becoming a surgeon, yet unable to use her modern skills in her other paths.

While Maggie has sworn off romance until she makes her final choice, an intriguing man tugs at her heart in each era. The mysterious British gentleman. The prickly, demanding doctor. The charming young congressman. She’s drawn to each man in different ways, only complicating the impossible decision she must make, which looms ever closer.

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I can’t quite find the right words to describe how deeply moving, thought provoking and a wonderfully written this story is told. One must read the book for themselves to experience its offerings. Meyer has a God given gift to reach readers’ hearts and she deftly pulls you into the story as if you were the time crosser, experiencing firsthand the realities of the deeply layered events that was unfolding and the potential risks of losing everything you hold dear in life with a single life altering decision.

Often times with multiple timelines, world building often feels like a massive pile on, and the narrative is weighed down with too many complex moving parts. In this story, Meyer effortlessly weaves not one or two, but three different frameworks of world building in highly charged historic events in America history.

Meyer’s knowledge of historic events is shown throughout the story and how the theme of multiple wars converged in this story with life altering effects, was well conceived and thought provoking.

Meyer examines human traits, that too often, people are uncomfortable with talking about in an open and honest way. Especially for Christians in fear of judgment from others. For example, Maggie has an internal emotional conflict with being angry at God and the raw human side one may feel with that experience was honest, refreshing, and I highly appreciate Meyer for including this in the story.

I appreciated the family connections and historic implications from the first book to this book. I wonder, will the family connections be part of the whole series? I can’t wait to find out!

As the story built, the decision Maggie would have to make about which life she would choose was intense! I kept weighing the path she would choose and wondered how she would say her goodbyes in the others, left pondering what I would have done if I were in her shoes.

I felt such emotional intensity throughout this story and I have to admit, at first, I was a bit taken back by that fact. I didn’t expect the story to impact me that way on a personal level. That certainly shows how engaged I was with Maggie’s’ time crossing, the events unfolding, and the other characters’ lives.

When I finished reading the story, I couldn’t help think how will this series would get better because this book is outstanding. My hope for this series is that Meyer keeps adding to it!

Stephanie