By Kirsty McKay

Cover Blurb:

In the late nineteenth century Lydia Prescott has no ambition to settle down to marriage until she has travelled and seen the world. But her life and emotions are shaken up when she meets Doctor Russell Brooks. Unknown to Lydia, Russ is actually an electronics engineer and living in 1998. They are linked by Lydia’s home, Prescott Grange on the outskirts of Worcester. In Russ’s time, this has been converted into stylish apartments and he has discovered a winding staircase that leads him into the Victorian era.Russ finds he’s attracted to the beautiful fair-haired young woman; a woman very different from those he knows in the twentieth century. But is their love possible when it spans over one hundred years? Russ endeavours to turn himself into a nineteenth century gentleman hoping to win Lydia’s heart by playing to her rules. A rival in the person of Doctor Aiden Kinkard spoils his endeavours since Kinkard is determined that Lydia will become his wife. Russ hopes that one day he will persuade Lydia to live with him in his time, but this has terrible consequences for Lydia and will put her life in danger. As Russ learns more about Doctor Kinkard and begins to question the man’s motives and identity, he comes to realise he has met pure evil. NB: This story contains scenes that some readers might find distressing for a time travel romance. Be advised if you’re of a sensitive nature.

To Guide Her Home By Author Julia Bell – Book Review

I’m a fan of Julia Bell’s writing, so I came to To Guide Her Home with high expectations — and it still managed to surpass them. If I could award more than five stars, I would. This is, without question, my favourite of her books, and I’d recommend it wholeheartedly to anyone who enjoys historical romance, time travel, or just a genuinely gripping story told with real skill.

The premise is wonderfully inventive. Lydia Prescott is a spirited, independent young woman in late Victorian England, with little interest in marriage and every intention of seeing the world first. Russ Brooks is an electronics engineer living in 1998, who discovers a winding staircase in his converted apartment — once Lydia’s family home, Prescott Grange on the outskirts of Worcester — that deposits him squarely into the nineteenth century. What follows is a love story that has to work against not just social convention but more than a hundred years of history separating them.

Bell handles the time travel with a deft touch — it adds a wonderful dimension to the romance without ever feeling gimmicky. Watching Russ navigate Victorian society, doing his best to pass himself off as a gentleman of the era in order to win Lydia’s heart, is both charming and quietly funny. But the story has real darkness in it too, and that’s largely down to the villain. Doctor Aiden Kinkard is exactly the kind of antagonist this period demands — menacing, calculating, and deeply unsettling. As Russ begins to uncover the truth about the man, the story shifts into genuinely tense territory, and the stakes feel very real indeed.

Fans of Barbara Erskine will feel right at home here. Bell blends historical atmosphere, romance and danger with the same confidence that makes Erskine’s best work so compelling. The plot is excellent and well-constructed, the pacing assured, the dialogue natural throughout. Russ and Lydia are characters you root for from the first page, and the question of whether their love can survive what separates them — not just a century, but he very real dangers that closing that gap might bring — keeps you turning pages well into the night.

Dramatic, romantic, and at times genuinely spine-tingling — this is an enormously entertaining read and one I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend. Do not miss it.

NB: This story contains scenes that some readers might find distressing for a time travel romance. Be advised if you’re of a sensitive nature.

I award 5 stars.

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