Timeless by Rachel Spangler

Timeless
by Rachel Spangler
Pages: 235
Date: April 13 2014
Publisher: Bold Strokes Books
Series: Darlington Romances

Review
Rating: 4.29
Read: October 27 to 28 2016

This is my first Spangler book since August 24 2015 when I read a short story that caused me to erupt in rage and had me rating it 0.5 stars. Mostly because I do not actually have a rating lower than 0.5. It was a ‘fun exciting story of lesbian rape instigated by a ‘friend’’ that I am in the minority about in terms of hating it – the story (heck, I gave it 1 star, and it is still all the way up at 3.68 overall rating on GoodReads; hmm – I was going to say that all my friends that read it loved it, but none of them have even read it. heh).

It’s funny, in its way that I used to write reviews for a website. I had it all figured out – I did a kind of teaser paragraph or mini-review (depending) because I knew people could see that teaser then would have to click a link. Here on Goodreads, people see a paragraph (or a little more) and have to decide to click or not. Yet here I am almost constantly filling up my first paragraphs with nonsense. Or paragraphs talking about reviews.

This is one of Spangler’s Darlington Illinois romances (lesbian romances set in Darlington). I’ve read two of the four that have been linked together under that tag – ‘Darlington Romances’. Those two, at least, follow a pattern. Relatively successful (though could do better) out lesbian returns home to Darlington (reluctantly). They find themselves a closeted lesbian who they may or may not have noticed when they used to live in Darlington, and they latch onto them. I worded that badly – one of the two characters in the book (Rory in Long Way Home, and Stevie in Timeless) flee Darlington, then, when they returned, hook up with women who grew up and remained in Darlington (Beth in Long Way Home, and Jody in Timeless (technically Jody is form a nearby town, and still lives there, though works in Darlington).

Rory ‘came home’ because she needed to – she got an offer at the local college, and she didn’t have much in the way of other offers. Stevie ‘came home’ because she was offered an ‘award’ by her old high school, and her publicist pushed her into accepting it because Stevie needed publicity.

The books are by no means carbon copies, though. One is a straight forward ‘return home, find love’ book. Then there’s this one. Which involves a ‘Pretty in Pink’ type situation. Bah, no, I mean “Peggy Sue Got Married’ – the one wherein ‘Peggy Sue Bodell faints at her high school reunion. When she wakes up, she finds herself in her own past, just before she finished high school.’ Stevie is Peggy Sue. She fainted in her old high school gym while on stage, and when she woke up she was 18 again and finishing up high school as a senior. Peggy Sue also fainted while in her old high school gym while on stage.

So yeah, that’s the plot. Peggy Sue Got Married. Starring a lesbian. And set in 2002, instead of in 1960. Add in a deep plot line about how Stevie is very anti-social and would prefer to never leave her apartment – just write, sell what she writes, and write more; lust for teacher plot line; bullies, both adult authority figures and teenage students; death of a classmate.

The book started slowly and I almost regretted attempting to read it. But it picked up steam and rather enjoyed the book. And it’s many plot-lines.

Of note: Rory and Beth from ‘Long Way Home’ have cameos in this book. I looked at the two books in the series that I have not yet read, and did not recognize the names listed in the descriptions.

Rating: 4.29

October 28 2016