Journey to Yesterday

Yesterday #1

by June Lund Shiplett

Stacey Gordon tried to tell herself this couldn't be happening to her. Suddenly she was no longer contented wife of a brilliant architect. Instead she had been spirited away to the nineteenth-century American frontier - and into the arms of a handsome, virile man whom she could not tell the truth about herself, and who made her forget who she really was and what she should not do.

Genres: Time Travel, Historical Fiction, Romance, Historical Romance, Time Travel Romance, Historical, 19th Century

373 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 4 out of 5]

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. 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.

[Mary23nm · Rating 2 out of 5]

I decided to finish the book after initially dropping off at 59%. I am a lover of time-travel romance, but I couldn't get past some of the issues with this one. My opinion of the story did improve somewhat.
My main issues start out right at the very beginning. Why make the heroine married? How was this going to work out? The way the heroine and her husband reacted to events was not logical to me at all.
The "heroine" and her husband are a modern day happily married couple. Yes, very happily married. They are at a party when the heroine takes a dive in the swimming pool and comes up in a lake 110 years in the past. She realized something was wrong and eventually dives back in for awhile to try to get back, but then gives up. She finds a nice couple at a farmhouse near there, who help her and give her a place to sleep. The very next day, the heroine decides to go with their niece, who is going back home to a big city, a full days travel away. She actually leaves the area where she came through time, figuring she is lost forever to her family. From there, she gets a job that will take her out west, farther yet away from the area and they leave within days. She is not really mourning her "beloved" husband and two daughters and is resigned to the fact that she will never see them again. At this point, I cannot believe she would not stay near the lake and continue to dive, maybe for weeks or months before she would give up. She came through once, right? So the heroine is attracted to her employer(H) and they end up having smex, after knowing each other a few days and her only being gone(to the past) a little over ONE week!
Meanwhile, the happily married husband is going crazy over the wife's disappearance and is being watched by the police because they think he murdered his wife. His friends (a couple which includes the wife's sister) are giving him a little bit of a hard time because he is still moping over his wife, five weeks after her disappearance. Then he meets a woman who he is attracted to and they make out a little bit and he asks her out on a date. FIVE WEEKS after his beloved wife is missing! What is with these people? He knows she just disappeared and is not dead. (It turns out he does not sleep with his girlfriend-so at least he (partially) honored his marriage vows!)
The heroine is now with the hero on a wagon train with his daughters and cook bound for Oregon. Our hero cannot understand why the heroine is so reluctant to 'get busy' with him again, even though she had told him that she had just lost her husband and daughters in a bad fire. It just gets crazier from there with her attempted rape, a murder attempt and crazy jealous (of her) females all over the place. Initially, I stopped here but something compelled me to go back and finish. It did get better and I did like the ending, but the way the heroine acted about her marriage(s) and the relationship with her doctor friend was a little odd. 2.5/5 stars

[Jacqueline Hopkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This and her other one, Return to Yesterday, are my two best time travel novels anyone has ever written. Just beautifully well-written and I read them such a long time ago, but to this day they still stay with me and not many books do.

[Shabby Girl ~ aka Lady Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this two book series years and years ago in my 20s and I still remember how much I loved it. Wish it was out on digital and/or not like $200 on Amazon used!

[Laurel Bradshaw · Rating 3 out of 5]

Savage excitement? Who writes these blurbs?! I thought the sex was pretty tame for a romance novel. I really didn't feel the attraction. The historical romance was more compelling than the contemporary one, and yet it was left hanging unresolved at the end. I suppose there must be a sequel. I like time travel novels, and for that reason it held my attention. The author did an okay job of portraying the look and feel of the 19th century, but it was like watching a movie rather than "being there." I really didn't feel transported along with the character to another time and place. There was just enough character development at the end, to make you feel that the "journey" was worth it. But I don't think I care enough about the loose ends to go looking for the sequel. Still, enough substance to have made a pretty good movie...

Description:
The men at the party couldn't take their eyes off Stacey as the stunning redhead jackknifed into the swimming pool. But suddenly, mysteriously, she was gone, torn from her husband and daughters in Cleveland and thrust into the untamed pioneer days of America's past. Frightened and bewildered at first, Stacey felt safer when she became governess to handsome Ben Clayton's two motherless children. When he proposed to make the perilous journey out West by covered wagon, she agreed to go. But Stacey didn't know the depth of her desire for Ben, nor the savage excitement that awaited her. Would she ever return to her safe and comfortable life in the twentieth century? Or did her destiny now lie in the past with a love as strong and powerful as the one she left behind?

Series info:
Yesterday
1. Journey to Yesterday - read
----------------------
2. Return to Yesterday

[Diane Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very entertaining story. Despite the heroine being a little too perfect, I really enjoyed this time slip adventure. It all starts in 1975 when Stacey dives into a pool and comes to the surface in a lake in 1865. She has to figure out how to support herself and she doesn't have a lot of options. I enjoyed the wagon train aspect of the book. That surgery on the road was well done!

[Kattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am so happy to finally finish this book. It has taken me months to read this. A lady who works at the same place as I do lent it to me. I can finally return it.

[Barbara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of fun. Not the most complicated book but very entertaining.

[Belinda Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite books. I can’t even think of how many times I’ve read it. Romance, heart stopping, I book to get your heart racing. From the beginning to the end you can’t put it down.

[Betsy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I originally read this back when I was in college in the early 80's and the only reading I did besides school was trashy romance novels :-). This one stuck with me because of the time travel aspect and the fact that the protagonist was a surgical nurse did surgery on someone while on a wagon train. That was unique enough to really stand out and it stuck with me over the years. Thirty years later, I finally tracked down the title and found an old copy and re-read it. Ok - it's not fabulous fiction, but for a trashy romance novel, it's not all that bad :-) I enjoyed my trip down memory lane.

[Leslie Erkman · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an old book (1979) but I remember me and my grandma reading it years ago. This is the first time travel book (romance any way) that I had read.
I found this at amazon and snatched it up. I also discovered that it has a sequel! Score! I told my grandma about it and she is as excited to re read this book as I am.
Is it perfect? Well no. But I love this book, but maybe it's because I think of my grandma and I having convos about it. :-)

[Evelyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stacey Gordon tried to tell herself this couldn't be happening to her. She dives into a pool in 1980s Gates Mills, Ohio and, suddenly she's no longer the contented wife of a brilliant architect. Instead she's in 19th century Cleveland, Ohio and in the arms of a handsome, stranger who would never believe the truth.

[Coco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Time traveling? That did it! I found this book on the Salvation Army store, and for .25 cents I got me a great read! Historically correct. And of course all the people she confides her knowledge to dies.

Great read.

[Gaile · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite time Travel.

[Carolee · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you enjoy Diana Gabaldon [The Outlander series] you'll enjoy this novel. It was written 30 years ago (early 80s). To be followed by 'Return to Yesterday'.

[Sherry · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the first time travel I ever read and I loved it !!

[Frances Hughes · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favourite time travel books. Read years ago and recalled it recently and ordered from Amazon. Enjoyed it every bit as much

[Greyland Reviews]

DNF at 31%
I'll back to this book later.