A Review of Out of Time by Monique Martin

I truly believe that you should read in the genre in which you want to write.  My most recent foray into this principle concerns time travel.  Once I finish up the sequel to The Wanderer’s Guide to Dragon Keeping, I have an outline that I’ve started for something a little different.  I don’t have a title for it yet, but it’s based on a dream I had once and revolves around (you guessed it) time travel.

During a quick little shopping trip to Amazon, I found Monique Martin’s Out of Time.  Since I always try to support other indie authors and it had good reviews, I decided to download it.  I haven’t regretted it.

Elizabeth and Simon find themselves transported to 1920’s Manhattan.  While they search for a way back to their own time and place, they have to face some major challenges.  Not only do they have to blend into this new world, but there are vampires to fight as well.

The characters are well developed and experience genuine arcs as the plot progresses.  Martin lets the reader into the minds of both of the main characters throughout, bringing their emotions right to the forefront of the story.  Martin fully employs her descriptive powers, whether she is letting us in on the in’s and out’s of what life was like in the 1920’s or simply waxing literary.  One of my favorite lines from the book:  “Umbrellas blossomed like black flowers in a potter’s field.”

I noticed that another reviewer on Amazon stated that the vampires seemed to come out of nowhere in the story and were a bit misplaced.  I humbly disagree.  I think the problem is simply that Ms. Martin plunges the reader so thoroughly into the time period of the story, that the reader forgets what the book is actually supposed to be about.  It’s a rare occasion that the author does such a good job that we forget what’s going on.

I highly recommend Out of Time to anyone looking for a great sci-fi romance! I look forward to reading further into this series!