Book ~ "The Show" (2013) John A. Heldt

From Goodreads ~ Seattle, 1941. Grace Vandenberg, 21, is having a bad day. Minutes after Pearl Harbor is attacked, she learns that her boyfriend is a time traveler from 2000 who has abandoned her for a future he insists they cannot share. Determined to save their love, she follows him into the new century. 

But just when happiness is within her grasp, she accidentally enters a second time portal and exits in 1918. Distraught and heartbroken, Grace starts a new life in the age of Woodrow Wilson, silent movies, and the Spanish flu. She meets her parents as young, single adults and befriends a handsome, wounded Army captain just back from the war. In The Show, the sequel to The Mine, Grace finds love and friendship in the ashes of tragedy as she endures the trial of her life.

Grace had followed Joel through a mine which was actually a time travel portal that took her from 1941 to 2000.  She finds him and they start a happy life together ... they get married and have a family.  Through an unfortunate and unexpected accident in 2002, she enters another portal and is transported back to 1918.  She tracks down her great uncle and he takes her in.  Eventually she loses hope that she will be able to return to 2002 and starts a new life in 1919 Seattle.

I love time travel books and this book was entertaining ... watching Grace adjust to 2000 (with cell phones, computers, Internet, etc.) and adjust again to 1918 (prohibition, the end of World War I, etc.).

I had just finished The Mine so it was still fresh in my mind.  Though this book is a sequel and picks up the last couple chapters of The Mine, it can also function as a stand alone as there is lots of information so you know what had happened in The Mine if you hadn't read it.

I liked the writing style, though I didn't find it as amusing as The Mine, which was focused on Joel (he has a more fun and sarcastic personality than Grace).  The story was interesting as we get to meet Grace's relatives as they were in 1918 ... her now deceased parents as they were just meeting each other (how weird would that be?!), her beloved Aunt Edith, and her great Uncle Alastair, his wife Margaret and their daughter.  The author captures the time period well.

I liked the characters.  I found it a bit unbelievable, though, that as much as she loves Joel and misses her children, she begins to have feelings for Captain Walker and considers having a life with him within four months of meeting him.

I would recommend this book and look forward to reading others by this author.

I received a copy of this ebook at no charge from the author in exchange for my honest review.