Daily Archives: January 31, 2016

2016 Book #8 – Mercer Street by John A. Heldt

Posted in Book reviews, Fiction by

51p1JJ+GdUL._SX328_BO1,204,203,200_.jpgTitle: Mercer Street
Author: John A. Heldt
Date finished: 1/31/16
Genre: Fiction, Time travel
Publisher: Self-published
Publication Date: October 21, 2015
Pages in book: 431
Stand alone or series: #2 in American Journey series
Where I got the book from: Author/publisher NOTE: I received this book for free from the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. This in no way affected my opinion of the book, or the content of my review.

Blurb from the cover:

Weeks after her husband dies in the midst of an affair in 2016, Chicago writer Susan Peterson, 48, seeks solace on a California vacation with her mother Elizabeth and daughter Amanda. The novelist, however, finds more than she bargained for when she meets a professor who possesses the secret of time travel. Within days, the women travel to 1938 and Princeton, New Jersey. Elizabeth begins a friendship with her refugee parents and infant self, while Susan and Amanda fall for a widowed admiral and a German researcher with troubling ties. Filled with poignancy, heartbreak, and intrigue, MERCER STREET gives new meaning to courage, sacrifice, and commitment as it follows three strong-willed souls on the adventure of a lifetime.

My rating: 3.5 stars out of a scale of 5

My review: I was provided a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. This book is about a trio of women, Elizabeth (the grandmother), Susan (the mother) and Amanda (the daughter). This trio of women are on vacation when they attend a lecture being given at their resort that will change their lives forever. Following the lecture, they spend some time with the speaker, Professor Bell, who asks them to come to his house for lunch. It is there that he reveals that time travel is in fact a real thing and that he would like to invite the trio of women to participate if they would like.
And so Elizabeth, Susan, and Amanda travel back in time to 1938. There they make friendships and develop relationships with many people in the time period. From those relationships, both Amanda and Susan have to decide how to move forward with the rest of their lives and what to do with these men they’ve grown fond of even though they eventually have to return to the twenty-first century. For Elizabeth it is a different issue. She traveled back to 1938 specifically to see her estranged parents when they first moved to America with her one-year old self. And that is what she does. She develops a friendship with her mother that she was not able to enjoy in her normal life and has to decide whether to tell her mother and father about who she really is.
Overall I enjoyed this book. I liked the story line and honestly there was a surprised twist at the ending that I didn’t really see coming which was cool. For me I found some of the points in the story line slightly unbelievable so there were some small holes there but I still enjoyed the book overall. I’ve read other books by this author and also enjoyed them, also about time travel. I think the concept of time travel is just really interesting and I like the story lines of these books and how the author approaches time travel. This was a good read and I would say anyone who likes to read about time travel should definitely give it a try!

The bottom line: I found both the story line and the characters in this book interesting. I thought there were a few holes in the story line and some of the conversations were a bit awkward but it didn’t detract overall from my enjoyment of the book. A good read and I would recommend!

Link to author website

Click on the cover to go to the book’s Amazon page