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THE STEALING TIME SERIES
Stealing Time
Shattering Time
Killing Time
by
KJ WATERS
Time Travel / Suspense / Romance / Alt History / Mystery
Publisher: Blondie Books
Stealing Time, December 20, 2014, 319 pages
A devastating hurricane. A time travel betrayal. Will Ronnie survive the witch hunt or forever be lost in time?
Stealing Time is the first book in the “breathtakingly original” Stealing Time Series of time travel wrapped in a hurricane. If you like strong-willed modern women and gripping stories that transport you back in time, then you’ll love KJ Waters’s Books.
As Hurricane Charley churns a path of destruction towards Orlando, Florida, Ronnie Andrews scrambles to prepare for the storm and seeks shelter at her boyfriend’s weather lab. What she finds there is more terrifying than Mother Nature’s destruction.
During the peak of the hurricane, Ronnie is hurtled back in time to eighteenth-century London where she is caught in a web of superstition, deception, and lies in a life and death struggle to return to her own time. Her best friend Steph is thrust into the middle of the hurricane.
Shattering Time: June 27, 2017, 336 pages
A hurricane the size of Texas. Another time travel betrayal. Will Ronnie figure out how to return home or die trying?
Shattering Time is the second book in the best-selling “Breathtakingly original” time travel series that will keep you on the edge of your seat.
Ronnie Andrews returns from 18th-century London shell-shocked from her first terrifying time travel encounter. Her boyfriend, Jeffrey Brennan, casts doubt on her sanity leaving Ronnie wondering if she went back in time or is having a mental breakdown. To add to the tension, Hurricane Francis, a storm the size of Texas, is barreling towards Florida and her fears of a repeat time travel experience mount. Ronnie’s best friend Steph, along with her friend Nick and Steph’s younger brother Ian, shield Ronnie from the dangers of Francis but cannot save her from traveling back in time. Unfortunately, their meddling brings Ronnie to the brink of destruction as they are caught in the throes of the hurricane’s wrath.
Once again, Ronnie is transported to dangerous places and desperate situations, while experiencing perilous cultures including one of America’s first mysteries — the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. A stunning conclusion brings Ronnie face to face with a dangerous ally who may hold the key to her past while offering salvation for her future.
Killing Time: August 27, 2021, 437 pages
When the Strongest Hurricane in Decades Takes Aim at Florida, Ronnie Tries to Escape its Wrath. Will she Die in the Storm or Be Lost in Time Forever?
Ronnie Andrews is lucky to be alive after a time travel glitch nearly took her life during Hurricane Frances. When Hurricane Ivan, one of the strongest storms in decades, sets its sights on Florida, Ronnie jumps at the chance to join Mike, her mysterious new boss, on a business trip to Puerto Rico.
Sparks fly, but when a newspaper article surfaces with horrific pictures of a woman who may have died at Mike’s hands, Ronnie regrets the decision. Before she can confront Mike about what she knows, Hurricane Jeanne forms off the coast, trapping them on the island. Her doctors warned that another time-travel-induced illness may kill her. Mike may be her only salvation.
The storm strikes and Ronnie time travels to Texas in 1872 where she is taken by Comanches. A rescue party saves her life led by Jesse and Frank James, hiding under assumed names.
Will Ronnie find a way to make the time-traveling episodes stop before the dangers of the past, and the damage from the journey destroy her?
This review is for KILLING TIME (Book 3 in the STEALING TIME series).
I’ve always been a fan of time travel, from books to movies to TV shows. But I’ve never had any actual interest in travelling through time myself (no antibiotics, no indoor plumbing). KILLING TIME has certainly reinforced my belief that time travel is not for the faint of heart (or me!).
The highlight of the book for me is the imaginative method through which Ronnie, our heroine, travels in time. Instead of physically travelling to another time (Back to the Future, Outlander), Ronnie slips into the lives of others living in another time (Quantum Leap style). Given that I read the third book in the series, and not the first two, Ronnie has some better insight in this book than I imagine she did in the first two novels. That’s great from my perspective. Knowing how\why she is travelling would be a mystery that I would want to be revealed early in the series.
I also appreciate the nod to the multiverse theory by author KJ Waters. There are subtle hints from the narrative that Ronnie might be visiting alternate versions of history. This novel further shows that it truly does pay to understand history to be a time traveler! From scenes with Frank and Jesse James to notes on the Civil War, Ronnie is thrown directly into history. As Ronnie explains to Mike:
“It is horrible, you’re right. The cost is too high. Despite the incredible opportunity to live how our ancestors lived for a brief time, the time traveling always ends in a horrible death.”
I was left wanting, though, at the end of the novel. I was expecting more time travelling, but there were only a few scenes. I also have some questions in the time travel process which were not answered. Specifically, I’d like to know what happens to those whose ‘consciousness’ Ronnie replaces while travelling back in time. Maybe that and more questions will be answered in the fourth novel? I guess we’ll need to stay tuned for that!
The characters in KILLING TIME are well developed and believable. For most of the novel, I really was not a fan of Ronnie. True, I understand that she is really struggling with being stuck in yet another hurricane (and travelling back in time once again). But for me, Ronnie’s indecisiveness and lack of confidence was grating. But once she finds her spine and starts to stand up for herself, I did a bit of a fist raise! Jeffrey, Ronnie’s boyfriend, is conniving and emotionally abusive. To say Jeffrey is slimy is an understatement. Rounding out the usual love triangle is Mike, Ronnie’s new boss. Mike is former military, trying to protect Ronnie, and an all-around good guy. I am team Mike for sure.
I was worried about picking up this series with having to read scenes describing the horrible hurricanes mentioned in the previous two books. But honestly, hurricanes should have been the least of my worries. There are four different sexual assault scenes in this novel. I can see how those scenes impact the plot, but genuinely did not enjoy reading those scenes.
KILLING TIME is an intriguing twist on time travel. There is a smattering of B-plot mystery, with a smattering of action and heroics. And enough of a cliff-hanger of an ending to have me intrigued to read the next novel in the series.
KJ Waters is the international best-selling author of Stealing Time, Shattering Time, and short story Blow. She is currently working on book four, Fracturing Time.
In addition to her writing, she runs KJ Waters Consultancy and is the co-host of the popular podcast Blondie and the Brit, and she provides author consulting services covering branding, social media, and publishing.
Grand Prize: $25
Amazon Card & signed copies of three novels in a swag bag
Three Winners: eBooks of novella Blow
US only for print copies & swag bags; international winners: eBooks
(Ends midnight, CDT, 6/10/2022)
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Thank you for this piece. I am so happy to have discovered your blog. Your post expresses much of what I’m working to express in a book I’m writing. I’ve posted an excerpt and link on my blog.
It’s so hard to jump in on a series that’s already established, but it sounds like this one was okay as a stand-alone — except for that cliffhanger ending! I want to just binge-read all 3 books in time to jump into the 4th. Thanks for a great review (and the trigger warnings).
Thanks, Kristine! And yes – I agree. It is a challenge to jump into the middle of a series!