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A Wife In Time
A Wife In Time by Cathie Linz released on Aug 25, 1995 is available now for purchase.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published October 1, 2008
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47 people want to read
About the author
Cathie Linz
98 books126 followersCathie Linz Baumgardner was an American librarian and a prolific romance novelist, publishing over 50 novels under the names Cathie Linz and Cat Devon. Her books, known for their humor and witty dialogue, have been translated into nearly 20 languages worldwide. She contributed to the acclaimed anthology Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance and received multiple honors, including the Romantic Times Career Achievement Storyteller of the Year, Reviewers' Choice Award, eHarlequin Readers' Choice Award, and Write Touch Award. An avid traveler, she lived in the Chicago area with her family and her cat.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
August 27, 2020
To be quite honest, I probably wouldn't have read/finished this book if I didn't love another Cathie Linz book (Between the Covers) so much. I was only able to track this down through Open Library as her other titles that interest me are hard to find these days.
So that's how I found myself reading a time travel romance that mostly takes place in the 1880's. The initial set up to get the H/h to meet and the conflict that keeps them from acting on their mutual desire is very dumb. In present day, the H accosts the h at a publishing conference because his married younger brother told him that the reason he's having marital problems is because he is having an affair with the heroine. She's his superior at work. He's an intern. It's dumb but it's just a thing you have to deal with to get into the rest of the story.
The actual story is the time travel part. While on a tour of a historical house The bulk of this story is wandering through the 1880's dealing with typical time travel stuff and solving this mystery. CL helpfully lets the H/h have some modern conveniences thanks to the heroine'sbag of holding purse. CL clearly researched things about this era and wants to show that off in the book. This romance is like a "pop-up video" of historical fun facts. But the story still feels anachronistic and like a bad choice if you're looking for proper historical fiction. This is meant to be a fun romp. The mystery is not much of a mystery which is a good thing considering that these two are not great detectives. It's like an episode of Cold Case where them being in town and asking too many questions just riles people up and ends up making the bad guys reveal themselves.
A strength of CL's writing that's retained here is her banter. It's very cute. It might not be the funniest or wittiest dialogue but she does like to let her couples banter. The H/h argue about his brother, exchange a lot of cute banter, feel desire, and somehow stumble into insta-love in a couple of days. The romance of the book reminded me a lot of Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick (specifically Absolutely, Positively and the Lavinia Lake/Tobias March trilogy) but JAK tends to just cheat and use unexplained paranormal reasons to explain the H/h's deep attraction and then fairly sudden jump into OTP love. CL has no trouble just saying the H/h are in love even though it mostly seems like lust with little time spent talking or bonding.
If you are concerned about the time period they're traveling to, it's... fine. This is not an antebellum/Gone With the Wind fantasy. Instead of romanticizing the period, the H/h mostly complain about the clothes they have to wear. If anything, the book expresses more nostalgia about a time in the past without so much technology than the more problematic things you could be nostalgic about. However, no black people exist in this version of post-Civil War Savannah, Georgia. The historical backdrop is mainly there to add flavor to the H/h's romance.
From a 2020 perspective, this book is incredibly dated because of all the contemporary references. It's like reading a historical novel twice over. CD-roms are a newfangled technology. The heroine has a cassette player. People boast about the number of books they can fit on a CD and the number of alarm sounds available on a digital watch and it is... laughable. So there's that.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the sexytimes. First, there are some pretty weakly justified kisses given that the H still thinks the h is a harlot who seduced his married brother. Then, there is some And then, there is some pretty standard I vaguely remember another moving prop in Cold-Hearted Rake and certainly there is a lot of carriage sex in historicals that reads similarly, but I'll still give this book credit for something unique that I haven't read in any other romance. CL has some word choice issues and some clunky prose but overall, those scenes were pretty steamy. However, I draw the line at that
I read the whole thing but this is a good book to skim. You won't miss much by skipping over the duller scenes.
So that's how I found myself reading a time travel romance that mostly takes place in the 1880's. The initial set up to get the H/h to meet and the conflict that keeps them from acting on their mutual desire is very dumb. In present day, the H accosts the h at a publishing conference because his married younger brother told him that the reason he's having marital problems is because he is having an affair with the heroine. She's his superior at work. He's an intern. It's dumb but it's just a thing you have to deal with to get into the rest of the story.
The actual story is the time travel part. While on a tour of a historical house The bulk of this story is wandering through the 1880's dealing with typical time travel stuff and solving this mystery. CL helpfully lets the H/h have some modern conveniences thanks to the heroine's
A strength of CL's writing that's retained here is her banter. It's very cute. It might not be the funniest or wittiest dialogue but she does like to let her couples banter. The H/h argue about his brother, exchange a lot of cute banter, feel desire, and somehow stumble into insta-love in a couple of days. The romance of the book reminded me a lot of Jayne Ann Krentz/Amanda Quick (specifically Absolutely, Positively and the Lavinia Lake/Tobias March trilogy) but JAK tends to just cheat and use unexplained paranormal reasons to explain the H/h's deep attraction and then fairly sudden jump into OTP love. CL has no trouble just saying the H/h are in love even though it mostly seems like lust with little time spent talking or bonding.
If you are concerned about the time period they're traveling to, it's... fine. This is not an antebellum/Gone With the Wind fantasy. Instead of romanticizing the period, the H/h mostly complain about the clothes they have to wear. If anything, the book expresses more nostalgia about a time in the past without so much technology than the more problematic things you could be nostalgic about. However, no black people exist in this version of post-Civil War Savannah, Georgia. The historical backdrop is mainly there to add flavor to the H/h's romance.
From a 2020 perspective, this book is incredibly dated because of all the contemporary references. It's like reading a historical novel twice over. CD-roms are a newfangled technology. The heroine has a cassette player. People boast about the number of books they can fit on a CD and the number of alarm sounds available on a digital watch and it is... laughable. So there's that.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the sexytimes. First, there are some pretty weakly justified kisses given that the H still thinks the h is a harlot who seduced his married brother. Then, there is some And then, there is some pretty standard I vaguely remember another moving prop in Cold-Hearted Rake and certainly there is a lot of carriage sex in historicals that reads similarly, but I'll still give this book credit for something unique that I haven't read in any other romance. CL has some word choice issues and some clunky prose but overall, those scenes were pretty steamy. However, I draw the line at that
I read the whole thing but this is a good book to skim. You won't miss much by skipping over the duller scenes.
July 25, 2025
DNF at only 17%. Sorry, but the male lead is so annoying, I don't want to hear/read another word from,him. Every single thing the woman says, he has a negative, sparky, sarcastic or downright stupid response. It's meant to be banter, I guess. I'd just get away from him and find my way without him. Right from the start, going after her because he thinks his little brother is having an affair with her, he is irrational and immature. Deal with your brother. Stop chasing the woman all over town to harass her. This book.. cannot recommend.
April 5, 2024
3 1/2 ****
May 27, 2012
I ordered this due to a HABO on the Smart Bitches, Trashy Books website. I did it because of five words - sex in a rocking chair! I had the read that, see if it actually works! Lol.
It's surprisingly good and really amusing to read a book before computers massively took off, the heroines attitude to technology is quite funny.
It's surprisingly good and really amusing to read a book before computers massively took off, the heroines attitude to technology is quite funny.
May 28, 2014
Little depature from her normal fare. She didn't spend a lot of time trying to define how they got from 1995 to 1884, but that was okay, it wasn't necessary. Very good.
October 4, 2012
a feelgood book- cute and light with typical cathie linz humor and style
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews