IT’S PUBLICATION DAY FOR CHOC LIT AUTHOR JANE LOVERING’S LATEST NOVEL LIVING IN THE PAST…

LIVING IN THE PAST

Do you ever wish you could turn back time?

Grace Nicholls has a few reasons for wanting to turn back the clock … although an archaeological dig at a Bronze Age settlement on the Yorkshire moors is not what she had in mind. But encouraged by her best friend Tabitha, that’s exactly where she finds herself.

Professor Duncan McDonald is the site director and his earnest pursuit of digging up the past makes him appear distant and unreachable. But when a woman on the site goes missing, it seems that his own past might be coming back to haunt him once again.

As they dig deeper, Duncan and Grace get more than they bargained for – and come to realise that the past is much closer than either of them ever imagined …

MY REVIEW

Jane Lovering is a very unique voice and brings both drama and humour to the romantic fiction she writes. Living in the Past centres on a dig which takes place in North Yorkshire during the summer holidays. Young widowed history teacher Grace still mourns the loss of husband Jamie who died of cancer two years ago. Her friend Tabitha suggests a break away but the thought of working on an archaeological dig – somewhere which conjures up images of heavy rain and plentiful amounts of mud – holds little appeal. Despite her initial reservations Grace joins Tabitha at the dig. When Tabitha’s partner Millie arrives on site and she has to move out of their tent she is offered a room with Professor Duncan McDonald, the dig leader; a large, scruffy unapproachable man. When one of the dig members goes missing and the police arrive to interview Duncan, Grace learns she is not the only one with a troubled past. Despite still mourning husband Jamie, Grace has her witty moments. She’s also a strong, compassionate character. Discovering her ability to move between present day and the past she uses it to help Duncan find closure on a situation that has haunted him for fifteen years. An incident he has never stopped blaming himself for. It has a bit of a domino effect too. As Grace becomes more involved with helping Duncan so her preoccupation with Jamie and the past gradually begins to fade. Duncan is not your usual Choc Lit hero either. In fact he’s anything but. Scruffy and more often than not covered in mud, at the beginning of the story he’s distant and unapproachable. But meeting Grace causes a shift in his attitude and begins to mellow him. And when all that mud is showered away, Grace discovers underneath his worn jacket, baggy jumpers and faded jeans there’s quite an attractive man lurking… The title Living in the Past has been well chosen. It not only relates to the fact the story centres around an archaeological dig, both characters are also in some way tied to previous events in their lives. Well deserving of five stars…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

jANE LOVERING Jane was born in Devon and now lives in Yorkshire. She has five children, four cats and two dogs! She works part-time and also teaches creative writing. Jane is a member of the Romantic Novelists’ Association and has a first class honours degree in creative writing.

Jane writes romantic comedies which are often described as ‘quirky’.

Her debut Please Don’t Stop the Music won the 2012 Romantic Novel of the Year and the Best Romantic Comedy Novel award from the Romantic Novelists’ Association.