Right on Time

Title:  Right on Time

Author:  Dawn Kimberly Johnson

Publisher:  Dreamspinner Press

Length:  210 pages

Rating:  B+

Quad Shot of Love

Blurb:  Sequel to One Constant

Throughout his life, successful artist Barnaby Rosenthal has been rescued repeatedly by his one constant, Charleston Meeks. But it’s been seven tumultuous years since he’s last seen the temporal agent outside of his dreams and paintings.

Recently retired from his father’s Restore Point Program, Charleston’s ready to approach Barnaby in their present year of 2020 and discover if the two of them can build a future on their harried past.

Standing between them is a conservative senator determined to erase the people saved by the RPP, and much of her rage is focused on Barnaby. For the senator, time travel goes against God’s plan, so with the help of her hired guns, she intends to correct the program’s meddling by any means necessary.

For the first time, Charleston may not be there to save Barnaby.

Review:  What a fun book! There were a lot of other emotions – sadness, fear, love, loyalty, anger, passion. And things were crazy – hitmen, deranged and homicidal senators, ex drama, kidnappings and many thwarted attempts, car chases and car wrecks and it was funny – Barnaby was spunky and sassy and his mouth tended to run off on him when facing bad guys, everyone was pretty sarcastic so there were some good one liners and snark. But most of the time I kept thinking how much fun it all was.

After the initial setup of the story and characters the book takes off. The action starts and doesn’t stop. I mean they got to sleep and they had a few moments of being able to connect intimately and they talk, but they were basically running from their first moments together and fighting to stay alive. Anything else that happened was only able to occur while they were driving, flying or in between sleeping and showering. It was action packed and high speed the whole way as soon as they meet up. Or it happened to someone else.

Charleston, “don’t call me Chuck”, was a big badass sweetheart. I mean he was trained and he could totally hold his own against all the people that were trying to kill him and get to Barnaby. But he was a romantic softy when it came to his Barnaby. He’d do just about anything for his man.

Barnaby was drawn into a whole crazy world from the time he was little. He fell in love with his rescuer (who wouldn’t) and was a bit haunted by the time he actually caught up with Charleston’s timeline and they could be together. He’d already been through so much and been saved so many times by Charleston. And he’d learned a few things along the way.

I loved that Barnaby was able to hold his own. He didn’t panic or act the damsel who always had to be saved, but rather kicked ass and fought back. He’d learned to protect himself by the time he and Charleston were really together.

There is an element of family that runs through this story. Parents and acceptance, or not. Loss and grief and the lengths people will go to in order to justify their pain. The group that rallies together to figure out what is happening and stop the bad stuff from destroying things was very much a ragtag family. Every one of them was there because they cared enough about the rest of the group and the project to risk themselves. Barnaby’s close group of friends was another type of family. And Charleston and Barnaby were their own little family, the only ones who were aware of everything and always supportive of each other.

I really liked this book and would enjoy visiting this world again. It was a different take on the ideas of time travel and it’s consequences and benefits. While I had a niggle or two at the end (one big “huh?” question), I thought that the ideas overall were relatively plausible and interesting and enjoyed their execution.

A fun adventure with a sweet romance and an interesting concept. Recommended for all of those who love time travel and can suspend their disbelief. There will be a lot of butt kicking, running from bad guys and even more falling in love.

Reviewed by Nina