A Stitch in Time – Kelley Armstrong #bookreview #books #amreading

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Thorne Manor has always been haunted…and it has always haunted Bronwyn Dale. As a young girl, Bronwyn could pass through a time slip in her great-aunt’s house, where she visited William Thorne, a boy her own age, born two centuries earlier. After a family tragedy, the house was shuttered and Bronwyn was convinced that William existed only in her imagination.

Now, twenty years later Bronwyn inherits Thorne Manor. And when she returns, William is waiting.

William Thorne is no longer the boy she remembers. He’s a difficult and tempestuous man, his own life marred by tragedy and a scandal that had him retreating to self-imposed exile in his beloved moors. He’s also none too pleased with Bronwyn for abandoning him all those years ago.

As their friendship rekindles and sparks into something more, Bronwyn must also deal with ghosts in the present version of the house. Soon she realizes they are linked to William and the secret scandal that drove him back to Thorne Manor. To build a future, Bronwyn must confront the past.

                                                                                                ***

Despite this book coming out last year, I waited until it was printed in the UK before I decided to read it as I have always read her books in paperback (printed) and I wasn’t going to change now. I devoured it in a day, which is par for the course with Armstrong’s books.

Bronwyn is from Canada, and as a young girl she used to visit her family in Yorkshire in the summer until a tragedy meant she could not/did not want to go back. Now 20 years later she has inherited Thorne Manor, her aunt’s house, after her death, and going back opens a door which she convinced herself wasn’t real – a door through time.

This is different from Armstrong’s regular books in that most of her other standalone books I would consider to have thriller or suspenseful elements about them. This book is a full dive into romance, with a dose of the supernatural and paranormal thrown in, so in this case it felt like stepping back into her Otherworld series, with ghosts and unexplained occurrences. For those who haven’t read any of Armstrong’s books but are keen on romance, this is the book for you. Normally I’m not keen on purely romance books and prefer books where there is still romance but it is secondary to the plot, but this book may have just swayed me to read a bit more in that genre. We shall see!

Bronwyn, upon returning to Thorne Manor, slips through time and ends up in Williams Thorne’s arms, literally. And it doesn’t sound like that is a bad place to be. She’s sure it is a dream, after she and others convinced her that William was not real, but it very quickly becomes apparent that William is real, and the ghosts she’s seeing around the manor are linked to him. While revelling in her re-found love with William and exploring the boundaries of this time travel, she soon discovers that all isn’t well and if she’s to live a peaceful life, she needs to solve the mystery of the ghosts – that is if they don’t kill her first.

One of the main things I loved with this book is that Bronwyn is older, it’s rare you read older protagonists in books and it was really refreshing to read about the life she’s had and how comfortable she is in her body. I normally read YA/fantasy or sci-fi books, and in the books I’ve read it’s rare to find someone that comfortable in their body. Not only that, but I love how Bronwyn rediscovered the moors in Yorkshire, and how she described. Despite living in the UK I’ve never been to the Yorkshire moors, but I live five minutes away from Dartmoor, so it was lovely to see a taste of home in the book.

Bronwyn’s and William’s relationship may not be conventional but they make it work. He could be a stereotypical Victorian man, but he’s quite ahead for his time with his views, partially down to when Bronwyn used to visit him as a child. He’s used her knowledge of the future to make wise investments which in turn ending up coming back to help Bronwyn. He could have been a stereotypical Victorian, controlling and lovestruck, but he’s very level headed and encourages Bronwyn to make the future her own, and doesn’t demand or even suggest she moves to the past to be together.

All in all, I loved the book and it was definitely worth the wait. The characters are relatable, endearing, and the book has a feel good feeling. It took me while to work out who was responsible for the ghosts due to the well placed red herrings, and even then when the killer is revealed I still didn’t quite believe, but I think that added to the enjoyment.

PS – I love the options on Wuthering Heights throughout, even if they aren’t the opinions of Armstrong herself, they show what is actually not that great about it.