cover image Harlequin Historical #203: Across Time

Harlequin Historical #203: Across Time

Nina Beaumont. Harlequin Books, $3.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-373-28803-8

A great deal of research clearly underlies this interesting but overlong historical romance. In Normandy in 1794, Adrienne de Beaufort is being threatened with rape by a local revolutionary leader. She escapes wondrously through a portrait of Isabella di Montefiore, an Italian ancestor of hers whose diaries Adrienne has read, and finds herself inhabiting Isabella's body in Renaissance Siena on the night of Isabella's marriage to Alessandro di Montefiore. The gentle Adrienne knows that Isabella was heartless; she eventually betrayed her husband and helped arrange his murder. But Adrienne falls in love with Alessandro and attempts to change history. Beaumont ( Sapphire Magic ) realistically includes even unpalatable details about the era: Adrienne arrives on the wedding night, when the couple are slated to perform the ritual loss of virginity in front of a crowd. One of Isabella's brothers lusts after her shamelessly, but Adrienne makes an odd bargain with him that they will have intercourse only after she is pregnant with Alessandro's child. Alessandro also participates in a bloody campaign with Cesare Borgia, who is astounded by Isabella's apparent ability to tell the future. (Jan.)