Today, I am pleased to say I am on the Book tour for A Shape On The Air by Julia Ibbotson. Thanks to ZooLoo’s Book Tours and the author for the copy of the book for me to take part.
A haunting Anglo-Saxon time-slip of mystery and romance
Can echoes of the past threaten the present? They are 1500 years apart, but can they reach out to each other across the centuries? One woman faces a traumatic truth in the present day. The other is forced to marry the man she hates as the ‘dark ages’ unfold.
How can Dr Viv DuLac, medievalist and academic, unlock the secrets of the past? Traumatised by betrayal, she slips into 499 AD and into the body of Lady Vivianne, who is also battling treachery. Viv must uncover the mystery of the key that she unwittingly brings back with her to the present day, as echoes of the past resonate through time. But little does Viv realise just how much both their lives across the centuries will become so intertwined. And in the end, how can they help each other across the ages without changing the course of history?
For fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, Christina Courtenay.
This is the first book in the Dr Dulac series. This is a triple book tour, so I will be bringing two more reviews for the rest of the series. A historical timeslip of mystery and romance story. I was in my element with this book. I love timeslip stories, and I am a history nerd as well! It is a perfectly woven tale that blended historical fiction, fantasy, and even science fiction together.
Dr Viv Dulac is an academic who specialises in Anglo Saxon history. She finds herself on the brink when her partner leaves her for her best friend and her world crumbles. As it crumbles, she finds herself back in the Dark Ages as Lady Vivienne, facing her love troubles as well. The story slips back and forth as Viv begins to realise how much their lives intertwine.
The author has created a rich and detailed story that shows just how much research has been poured into these books. The settings are so vivid that I could imagine it so clearly. I loved how the timeslips were dealt with. The rationale of the explanation of the portals. It made Viv even more of an academic for me.
I love myths and legends, and this story certainly fulfilled that love, too. Julia Ibbotson has brought elements of the Arthurian legends and grounded it in a real historical setting. This was like better for me. Especially when we discover the heroine is linked to the Lady in the Lake, too. It’s almost like Christmas and Easter have arrived at once! History, Fantasy myths, mystery… so good.
The author has succeeded in making both ends of the time slip as interesting as each other. This does make a nice change as I am always drawn to the historical setting and not the modern day. With the issues Viv is experiencing in the real world, it draws more interest than if she was just spirited away from normal life.
In conclusion, this is a captivating story that swept me out of my day-to-day life until I sadly got to the end.
Purchase Link – http://my.Book.to/ASOTA
“In the best Barbara Erskine tradition …I would highly recommend this novel” –Historical Novel Society
“Amazing …a really great book …I just couldn’t put it down” –Hazel Morgan
“Well-rounded characters and a wealth of historical research make this a real page-turner” –Amazon review
“Enthralling” –Amazon review
“Julia does an incredible job of setting up the idea of time-shift so that it’s believable and makes sense” – Amazon review
“Viv/Lady Vivianne … lovely identifiable heroine in both time periods….I love her strength and vulnerability. And Rory/Roland is simply gorgeous!” – Melissa Morgan
“gripping … a very real sense of threat and danger, an enthralling mystery … a wholly convincing romance, across both timelines” – Anne Williams
Author Bio
Julia Ibbotson is fascinated by the medieval world and the concept of time. She sees her author brand as a historical fiction writer of romantic mysteries that are evocative of time and place, well-researched and uplifting page-turners. Her current series focuses on early medieval time-slip/dual-time mysteries. Julia read English at Keele University, England, specialising in medieval language/ literature/ history, and has a PhD in socio-linguistics. After a turbulent time in Ghana, West Africa, she became a school teacher, then a university academic and researcher. Her break as an author came soon after she joined the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme in 2015, with a three-book deal from Lume Books (Endeavour) for a trilogy (Drumbeats) set in Ghana in the 1960s. She has published five other books, including A Shape on the Air, an Anglo-Saxon timeslip mystery, and its two sequels The Dragon Tree and The Rune Stone. Her work in progress is the first of a new series of Anglo-Saxon mysteries (Daughter of Mercia) where echoes of the past resonate across the centuries. Her books will appeal to fans of Barbara Erskine, Pamela Hartshorne, Susanna Kearsley, and Christina Courtenay. Her readers say: ‘Julia’s books captured my imagination’, ‘beautiful story-telling’, ‘evocative and well-paced storylines’, ‘brilliant and fascinating’ and ‘I just couldn’t put it down’.
Social Media Links
Amazon Author page
Author website & blog:
Facebook (author):
https://www.facebook.com/JuliaIbbotsonauthor
https://twitter.com/JuliaIbbotson
https://www.instagram.com/julia.ibbotson
Goodreads author page
sharonbeyondthebooks.uk 
Oh, thank you so much, Sharon, for your wonderful review today for my book, A Shape on the Air, the first of my Dr DuLac series! Really appreciated! I hope you enjoy the other two as much!
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Thank you so much for your support on the tour x
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