The Sapphire Brooch - Celtic Brooch 3
Formats: E-Book, Audio, Paperback
A trauma surgeon swept into the past. A Union spy determined to change history. A love that will survive trials, conspiracies, and the boundaries of time itself.
Dr. Charlotte Mallory is a trauma surgeon trained to save lives under pressure, but no simulated battlefield prepares her for the moment an ancient sapphire brooch hurls her from the Battle of Cedar Creek directly into the bloody reality of the actual Civil War. Captured by Union forces, she is hauled before the President himself. Abraham Lincoln has a desperate mission for her: infiltrate a Confederate hospital and save his top spy.
When primitive nineteenth-century medicine fails, Charlotte makes a reckless choice to save Major Braham McCabe—using her magic brooch to pull him into the future to heal.
But peace is short-lived. Upon discovering that President Lincoln is destined for assassination, a devastated Braham becomes obsessed with changing the past. Manipulating an unsuspecting ally, Elliott Fraser, to obtain a second brooch left behind in 1853, Braham plunges back into history on a rogue mission to save the Commander-in-Chief.
Terrified that he will unravel the future, Charlotte and her brother, Jack, follow him into the dangerous final days of the war. They are plunged headfirst into a nightmare of wartime espionage, navigating a collapsing Confederacy where one wrong move means brutal incarceration in the notorious Castle Thunder prison.
As Richmond burns and the fatal shot echoes through Ford’s Theatre, history shatters. In the tragic aftermath of a mission gone wrong, the scales of time cruelly flip: the future that once held Braham captive is replaced by a past that now traps a member of Charlotte's own family. Caught in a tightening net of suspicion and wartime justice, Charlotte and Braham are forced to face the ultimate truth: some pieces of history cannot be changed without costing them the very love they crossed centuries to find.
The Sapphire Brooch is a sweeping, fast-paced time-travel romance filled with high-stakes historical intrigue.
Reviews
This was a phenomenal time travel romance. It's intelligently written, the tension is just right, the pacing is perfect, and the plot is complex, entertaining, and unpredictable -- there were several *GASP* moments that made my husband look at me like I was crazy. Basics...it's a steamy standalone with a happily ever after. This is Book 2, and while I read it without reading Book 1 first, I didn't find that I was missing a whole lot. There *are* some family tree issues that get slightly confusing without having read book 1, but it wasn't anything that caused issue with my understanding of the story. I'll be going back and reading book 1 now. I became confused at the start of Part 3, until I realized the timeline had been altered because of events. I read quite a few historical and time travel romances, but the majority of them *touch* on the history - using it only to set the time and place - but not ever becoming more than that. Ms. Logan's use of history is well-researched and not forced into the story just for the sake of name-dropping historic personalities. In TSB, she brought in aspects of everyday Civil-War-life as well as the political intrigue surrounding Lincoln. It felt like a tantalizing thriller, and I was extremely impressed with the depth of her characterization of Braham and Charlotte. Her portrayal of Charlotte -- a surgeon -- impressed me most. I know and have met plenty of surgeons, and it takes a certain kind of personality to be one -- and Logan nailed it. I swear I thought she had to be one for her to have written one so well. When I read her bio after finishing the book, I was surprised to learn she wasn't. Braham was a soldier, spy, lawyer and vintner. There's a courtroom scene that felt like I was reading a legal thriller, and it was handled as well as the medical scenes in the book. (Her bio shows she has a paralegal background). If I had to criticize anything (and I use that word loosely!!), I'd say I wanted more details of their reunion at the end (that can't be a spoiler...it is an HEA romance after all). The epilogue was in Elliot's voice, and the last chapter, where Braham and Charlotte get together, ended quite abruptly. I guess I just like a more thorough reunion where you can hold your book/e-reader to your chest and sigh. It was still a satisfying ending though! Loved the book! Can't wait to go back and start Book 1!
Wow, I was totally amazed by this book’s plot elements and level of detail. I didn’t think that any book in the series could best Book 1, but the author’s creativity and attention to plot detail and historical detail are superb. It was very hard to take a break from reading, with an ending that was not at all predictable. It’s much more fun to feel like your living history, rather than reading non-fiction descriptions. This author has a wonderful way of integrating her characters into memorable historical settings and describing their emotional perspectives. She also doesn’t hold back with respect to including dangerous and life-threatening scenes that add to the adventure and thrills. Thanks for both educating and entertaining in grand fashion!
