When a fourth-grade classroom of school children spend the night aboard a refurbished nineteenth century merchant brig in Dana Point, California, one of them disappears in the night. After a three-month fruitless investigation, the distraught parents are led to private investigator, Cara Edwards, who relies on her sixth sense as much her common sense to solve a case. But when her psychic connection to the lost boy draws her back to 1833 California, she must find a way to bring them both back to the future. Captain Blake Masters has sailed the oceans of the world for nearly twenty years, never once looking back on his dark childhood memories. When Cara enters his life and opens the door to his forgotten past, can he trust her psychic insight to lead him on an uncharted course toward a destiny of love and compassion?
In 1980s, I wrote as Susan Phillips, not to be confused with Susan Elizabeth Phillips or Silhouette Romance author Susan Phillips (later writing as Susan Sawyer). RAPTURE'S LEGACY was my first and only book published under this name.
In 1990s, to avoid further confusion, I switched to my maiden name, Susan Leslie Liepitz, publishing with Harlequin and Berkley Jove Time Passages.
Later, I dropped my maiden name and legally registered the fictitious business name of GILLIAN DOYLE. But when I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2014, I learned the state does not allow registering a fictitious business name that can be a real person's name. By then, there was a Gillian Doyle audio romance narrator and a Gillian Doyle nonfiction author.
In December 2016, my husband passed away shortly after diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. He made me promise to publish a book of my heart I've been writing for years -- a women's fiction novel, A PLACE TO BELONG. It is currently being shopped to publishing houses.
So here I am -- back to using my legal name, even though there are numerous writers with various versions of Susan/Sue Phillips. I have kept the same books covers except for changing the name.
Unfortunately, the Intuitive Investigator series has ended after two books. Sadly, Deanne Acuña passed away unexpectedly in November 2018. She is greatly missed by family and friends.
I read Mystic Memories by Gillian Doyle (now Sue Phillips) five years ago and loved it. I just finished reading it again and it is still a "WOW" read. Ms. Doyle's believable tale is expertly woven with wonder, adventure, courage, pain and love. Again, I was truly sorry to come to the end and can only hope to read.
I would have give this book 10 stars, but sadly five was my only option.
FYI: I also reviewed this book in 2014 on Amazon (as Rural Reader) and on BookBub. Because this book rated 5 stars, I also included its book cover on my Pinterest page (https://www.pinterest.com/marthajane6...).
I loved the magic, the setting, and side characters. Even the premise was promising. Two scenes ruined the book for me. In one scene the hero and heroine have sex next to a dying dog. The other scene is when the hero remembers he was sexually assaulted and then heroine decides she will "make love to him to heal him." If the author chose any other way to create the romance it would have been great. This was a no for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
I found an author that I want to read everything she has written!!! WOW
Cara was a widowed private investigator, and having a sixth sense was helpful, but her family and people she met didn't trust her intuition. Her best friend was her Aunt Gaby, who also had a special intuition. Cara reluctantly accepted a job looking for a 10 year old boy. What she finds is even hard for her to accept, but will change her life.
This book grabbed my attention from page one and didn't let go. It trancended all of my hopes for a time- travel Romance novel. I am very pleased with the way the ending wrapped up. I urge you to read this book now as you won't be making a mistake, I promise you. Great writing Sue .. keep them coming.
A time travel story that I found hard to put down and found myself reading even if I only had a few minutes to spare. The characters became so real. If I woke up in The middle of the night I'd grab my Fire just to read a little more. The dramatic finish had me going back a day later to re-read the last chapter again. Loved this book and immediately bought another book by Sue Phillips. You won't find a better book that will keep you wanting it not to end Absolutely recommend!
Follow along as Cara, a Psychic Investigator, accepts a case to locate a ten year old child who has been missing for the past three months. Her investigation takes her back in time to 1833 where this story takes many interesting turns. This excellently constructed and very well written tale will leave quite a lasting memory.
I am usually not a fan of time travel books since figuring out all the hows, whys, and wherefores gives me a headache. I am always left with unanswered questions, which I don't really want anyone trying to explain to me since trying to understand the explanations will give me a worse headache. Without getting into the "now how did they...?" and "what the...?'questions, I can say I enjoyed this story immensely and couldn't put it down until it was finished. If it wasn't such a great time travel tale, I could say it was a great mystery, and if it wasn't such a great mystery, I could say it was a great historical romance. The story hung together pretty well until the ending and the epilogue, then that is where all my "what the...?"s happened. I could understand Charlie and Cara's story, mostly, but Blake's left too many unfilled gaps for my taste, but until then, I had considered it a 5-star book, so I will just let it go at that.
Superb mix of time travel fantasy, mystery, romance, and historical. Private detective Cara Edwards looks for a ten-year-old boy who has disappeared from an 1800s ship while on a school field trip. She follows him to 1833 California (best to read the book to find out how). Aided by Captain Blake Masters, who has plenty of mystery himself, Cara searches for the young boy. The book is exciting, has lots of plot twists, an authentic sailing feel, and the settings and side characters (including Bud the dog) are terrific. A long book, but it reads fast and truly satisfies. Because I enjoyed this book so much, I bought two other books by this author, but I hope she writes a sequel to this one. I miss the characters.
Time Travel romance has always been one of my favorites... What would YOU do if you were tossed back in time?!?!? How would you handle being a shipmate and everyone thinking you were a boy? But of course, the Captain sees immediately this is a young woman and decides to help her in her quest...
Adventures ensue and of course they fall in love... but what happens when it's time for her to return to her time??? A surprising turn of events.
This author's writing sucked me right in to a 24 hour fantasy fest! I was enthralled from the beginning with the time travel aspect of it and the missing boy.
Not my usual fare but I sure loved it! the Hero and Heroine were a perfect couple together. They both needed each other. I did NOT see coming the surprise she threw in towards the end. Already looking at this author's other books!
I enjoyed this book immensely. It had a great twist on a time travel romance. The characters were likable and you felt the chemistry between the H & H. The story wasn't predictable or the same story told by many other books. Good summer read.
Great time travel romance. Loved the idea of how the time travel works in this book and how it effects more than one person. Loved all the tie-ins to Mystic and the ending is well thought out and delivered. This book is full of adventure and a wonderful romance too.
This was a great story! I loved Cara's abilities to help heal Blake and then bring them all together in the end. I was a little disappointed with the way it ended at the book signing. Is there another story that I'm missing? Overall, loved it!