Book ~ "A Tumble Through Time" (2013) Callie Hutton

From Goodreads ~ Anna Devlin, a recently jilted bounty hunter is a modern woman from the twenty-first century. She is anxious for the hearing that will reinstate her law enforcement career but an encounter with a strange Native American woman sends Anna back in time to the year 1870.

Federal Marshal Wesley Shannon of Denton, Kansas, has no idea where this woman with the strange clothing and way of speaking came from. Since he fights his own inner demons, the last thing he needs is an attraction to a woman who has given him no clear idea who she is. But when danger arrives in the form of stagecoach hold ups where drivers and passengers are being killed, Anna torments Wes with plans to help him bring in the outlaws. Will Wes be able to keep Anna out of harm's way, or will his attraction to her distract him enough that they are both in danger?

The day before she is going to get married, Anna walks in and finds her fiancé and her best friend doing stuff they shouldn't be doing!  Needless to say, the wedding is off.  She comes across a Native American Indian store and sensing her inner turmoil, is directed to relax in the peace chair ... and wakes up in 1870 (in a pair of jeans and a halter top)!

Anna was quiet on the walk to the café. Her eyes darted back and forth as she took in the sights around her, all the time fiddling with her ring, spinning the silver and black circle round and round. She continued to draw in deep breaths and chew on her lower lip, occasionally muttering ‘not possible’ under her breath, as if fighting an internal battle. Her natural color seemed to have paled, the light dusting of freckles more prominent.

Once they’d settled in their seats at the café and ordered dried apple pie and coffee, Wes rested his forearms on the table. “Tell me a little bit about this ‘Tulsa.’”

Anna cleared her throat. “It’s in Oklahoma.” She flinched when he shrugged, still not sure what she was talking about.

“Oklahoma. You know, the state south of Kansas?”

He narrowed his eyes. “The only thing south of us is Indian Territory, then Texas.”

“No,” she whispered, her eyes round as saucers.

Wes nodded at the waitress as she placed cups of coffee and two cuts of pie in front of them. She glanced at Anna, who stared straight ahead, taking in shallow breaths.

Once the waitress left, Anna nodded, as if she’d made a decision. “Wes, can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

She looked him in the eye, seeming to draw strength from within herself. “What year is this?”

His forkful of pie stopped halfway to his mouth. “What?”

Anna licked her lips and cleared her throat. “Just tell me, please. What year is this?”

He frowned and lowered the fork. “It’s eighteen hundred and seventy. Why?”

Then he leapt forward as Anna’s eyes rolled to the back of her head and her slack body slid to the floor.

Needless to say, she is quite surprised.  When she realizes she can't go home, she tries to settle into life ... a life that is very different from what she's used to.  Respectable women were expected to get married, have children, cook, sew, etc.  As an ex-cop and bounty hunter, she asks for a job from Wes, the marshall, who, of course, says "no".

I like time travel books ... I think it's fun to see how someone from today deals with going back in time and not having our conveniences like computers, the Internet, cell phones, etc.  With Anna, what she missed the most was her Keurig coffee maker!

This is the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it.  I liked the writing style and found that it flow well and kept me wanting to read more.  Because it was sent back in 1870, it is a Western with stagecoach robberies, gunfights, saloons, etc.  I liked the contrast between 1870 and 2013 with the discussions between Wes and Anna when she would mention something from her time and he would kind of go "huh?".  The language at times is for mature readers.

I liked the characters.  Wes is struggling with things he'd witnessed in the war, which he felt made him a coward.  Anna is a woman from 2013 trying to fit in in 1870.  Not a big surprise that they get together and I thought it seemed like they genuinely cared about it other.

I was curious to see how the author would end it ... would Anna stay in the past or would Wes come to the future (you're going to have to see it to find out!)?

I would recommend this book if you are into time travel stories and/or romances.