Whisper Falls, by Elizabeth Langston, for Timeslip Tuesday

 

A YA romance for this week's Timeslip Tuesday--Whisper Falls, by Elizabeth Langston (2013).  Out mountain biking in the North Carolina woods, Mike sees a girl in strange clothes standing behind a waterfall.  Susanna is an indentured servant in 1796, bound to a cruel master.  Susanna and Mike discover they can cross through the waterfall to each other's time, and as Mike learns about Susanna's harsh life and researches what happened to her and the family she serves, he becomes desperate to save her.  And he does, bringing her back to the present, which is where this first book of their story ends.

Most of the story takes place in the past; and basically, it is historical romance, with lots of good details and descriptions of the past.  The time travel adds some additional interest, though Mike has too easy a time passing in the 18th century (language, for instance, isn't a problem, though idioms are different).  I was much more interested in Susanna's reactions to the modern world, which is a story that continues in the next book, A Whisper in Time.  

Short answer--it was fine, but not quite my personal cup of tea--a kind of boring boy saves a more interesting girl from a predictable situation thanks to a magical waterfall and they are in love. I had trouble caring as much as I knew I was supposed to, and the central conflict was so predictable there was no tension.  If I had lost the book halfway through reading it, I wouldn't have cared over much.