(HR) Journey to Yesterday by June Lund Shiplett

[Misfit]

Long before Claire Randall walked into a circle of stones and disappeared into the past....

Stacey Gordon jumped into a swimming pool in 1975 and disappeared and found herself coming out of a lake in Ohio in 1865. Got your attention now? Good. Stacey Gordon is a woman who has it all, a loving husband, two beautiful daughters, a lively social life and a career as a nurse and finding herself alone in another century is a bit of a shock to say the least. Dazed from her trip back in time she is nursed by a family and they eventually take her to Cleveland where she obtains work as caretaker of Ben Clayton's two young daughters. Widowed Ben is disgusted with his power hungry in-laws and is preparing to join a wagon train and start a new life in Oregon territory, and with no hopes for returning to her own family Stacey joins them on the journey as the attraction between the two continues to sizzle (it _is_ a romance novel).

Meanwhile, no one believes the tale of Stacey disappearing in the pool and her husband is #1 suspect by an over ambitious police detective and the press. Anyways, lots of ups and downs in the story as the wagon train rolls westward, Stacey tries to fit in (she does keep putting her foot in her mouth, LOL the Little Big Horn where Custer died comment), a couple of truly evil baddies lusting after her, and more as Stacey's memories of her husband in the future fade and she finds herself ready to make a lifetime commitment to Ben and the past until another twist of fate sends her back again to.....

Well I'm not going to tell you, read it for yourself. While I know this is all a bunch of silly fluff, I have to say I found it jolly entertaining fluff and had a hard time putting it down and I'm very much looking forward to the sequel Return to Yesterday. Even though this is a romance the author did a nice job of putting in some details of day to day life in 1865, along with how someone from the 1975 would react to missing some of those modern luxuries we take for granted (like bras instead of corsets). As I've found with other time slip books I enjoyed the sections in the past more than in the present and since this book was written in the late 70's it will be a bit dated at times -- smoking in a hospital room!!! From the prices listed by the Amazon sellers it appears this and its sequel to be a bit hard to find but you can find better prices elsewhere as I did. Four stars.