Review: One Enchanted Evening by Lynn Kurland

One Enchanted Evening
Author: Lynn Kurland
Publication: Jove (April 27, 2010)


Description: Time-travel romances have made Lynn Kurland a bestseller in the here-and-now. 

A duty-bound knight has taken on the task of rebuilding the most dilapidated castle in all of England.

A costume designer gets her chance to shine by showcasing her fairy- tale designs at an upscale party in an authentic medieval castle.

And the magic that whispers along the castle's hallways is about to orchestrate an improbable happily-ever-after.


My Thoughts: I enjoyed this time travel romance. Even though it is clearly part of a larger web of stories, it was completely readable as a stand-alone. I like Pippa's personality. She has a dream of being a fashion designer who draws inspiration from the Middle Ages. However, she has been having a run of bad luck culminating in her losing almost all of her belongings when her apartment building catches fire just as she is off to England to meet with a potential backer. She is convinced that she is the victim of bad karma. 


In England, she is visiting a fully restored castle from the Middle Ages that is owned by her sister and used for theme parties when she enters a time warp that takes her to the year 1214. Her spoiled and egocentric older sister is swept along with her. 


In 1214 they meet Montgomery de Piaget who has been given the castle by his father. The castle is almost in ruins and is inhabited by cousins who deeply resent Montgomery's arrival. Montgomery has had some previous experience with time travelers though he doesn't let the girls know that. The older sister, Cinderella, embraces the mistaken idea that she is a fairy queen and immediately begins to treat Pippa as her lowly, servant girl causing additional problems for Pippa. Although Pippa is disoriented and put-upon by her sister, she is the one that Montgomery falls for. She falls back. The conflicts in their romance come from the fact that they are from two different times and that Cinderella and the cousins are constant sources of trouble.


There is a lot of time shifts in this one. Pippa and Cinderella go to 1214. They go back to the present. Montgomery comes to the present to court Pippa. Montgomery goes back to the past. And, finally, Pippa goes back to the past. Along the way they find that many members of Montgomery's family are also out of the times when they were born. 


This was a fun, sweet romance and is recommended to lovers of time travel stories. If my TBR stack was even a hundred books smaller, I would be looking for more books about other members of the family. The is a lovely chart of the families in the back with the associated books. Check here for a listing of other books by Lynn Kurland.


Favorite Quote:

Pippa sat down gratefully, realizing only then that she'd been on her feet almost all day long. She wasn't unused to physical labor--sewing was harder on the back than it looked--but the past few days had been absolutely draining. Maybe time travel was harder on a person than she'd imagined it might be.


And Montgomery de Piaget was more distracting than any man had a right to be. 

Challenges: RYOB Reading Challenge