THE ACCIDENTAL STRANGER

A woman must learn to fall in love again after returning to her own time in Fosdick’s (The Accidental Wife, 2015, etc.) time-travel romance sequel.

Jessica Brewster thought she was done with traveling through time. Almost three years ago, this modern woman spent four months roughing it in 1886 after magically replacing her look-alike great-great-grandmother Jessamine. As she tried to fit in and keep her real identity secret, she fell in love with Jessamine’s husband, Mitch, and over that summer, she learned “what it meant to love, really love in a heart-thumping, tear-jerking way that would shred priorities.” Now returned to the present day, and separated from the man she loves by more than a century, she lives in a remote Wyoming cabin, raising the person she brought back with her: their son, Scout. But then food and other small items start disappearing from her home. When Jess accidentally shoots the thief responsible, wounding him in a way that results in amnesia, she notices that the man looks just like Mitch. Could he have found a way to reunite with them, even through time? Fosdick cleverly reverses the roles in this sequel as she continues Jess’ romantic tale. At first, Jess and the wounded man struggle with the fact that they’re effectively strangers to each other. But as their love blossoms and fragments of memories return, she starts to feel that something’s off. As Jess tries to dig up the truth about what happened to Mitch, the book grounds readers in wonderfully detailed, fully researched history. The book’s second part transports readers into a related story, set in Meirliún Manor in Ireland, involving the forbidden love between a servant and the daughter of the family he serves. Some parts of the story drag a bit, and readers of the first book may question some of Jess’ decisions in this one. However, Fosdick adroitly resolves her situation and thematically ties the various plotlines together to deliver a satisfying conclusion.

A transporting and satisfying read that offers a fanciful twist on its genre.