Healer of Carthage by Lynne Gentry -- Time Travel + Christian Fiction!

Healer of Carthage
(The Carthage Chronicles, Book 1)
by Lynne Gentry
Copyright 2014
Howard Books
ISBN: 9781476746333

The Story:
A twenty-first-century doctor. A third-century plague. A love out of time. 

First-year resident Dr. Lisbeth Hastings is too busy to take her father’s bizarre summons seriously. But when a tragic mistake puts her career in jeopardy, answering her father’s call seems her only hope of redeeming the devastating failure that her life has become.

While exploring the haunting cave at her father’s archaeological dig, Lisbeth falls through a hidden hole, awakening to find herself the object of a slave auction and the ruins of Roman Carthage inexplicably restored to a thriving metropolis. Is it possible that she’s traveled back in time, and, if so, how can she find her way back home?

Cyprian Thascius believes God called him to rescue the mysterious woman from the slave trader’s cell. What he doesn’t understand is why saving the church of his newfound faith requires him to love a woman whose peculiar ways could get him killed. But who is he to question God?

As their different worlds collide, it sparks an intense attraction that unites Lisbeth and Cyprian in a battle against a deadly epidemic. Even as they confront persecution, uncover buried secrets, and ignite the beginnings of a medical revolution, Roman wrath threatens to separate them forever. Can they find their way to each other through all these obstacles? Or are the eighteen hundred years between them too far of a leap?

See more at: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Healer-of-Carthage/Lynne-Gentry/The-Carthage-Chronicles/9781476746333#sthash.8UiMPcfD.dpuf


My Thoughts:
I'm a sucker for time travel ever since I discovered Doctor Who on TV and read the best-selling novel Outlander. If you prefer your adventure with a Christian message, then Healer of Carthage is certainly a story you don't want to miss. Some of the aspects of the story didn't add up for me (how did she go from an elementary understanding of Latin to speaking it fluently in a few paragraphs?), but the overall story was interesting enough to keep me reading.


Lisbeth Hastings is a 21st century doctor who suddenly finds herself in 3rd century Carthage and ends up on the slave market after a plunge down a cave waterfall in Tunisia. She's "rescued" from a slaver by a somewhat surly but altogether too handsome, Cyprian Thascius, a wealthy Roman Christian. While a part of his household, Lisbeth discovers a missing link from her own childhood in the 20th century that she thought was gone forever. Lisbeth seems to take everything in stride, never really questioning the how or why she ended up in ancient Carthage. For me, her relationship with Cyprian was a bit unbelievable. For most of the story she was very wary of him and for good reason, he doesn't open up much. I felt her solution to the problems they faced at the hands of the antagonist Aspasius, was a little radical and out of character. Without spoiling the story, she jumped the gun a little with Cyprian.

Even with its flaws, Healer of Carthage was captivating and it was completely different from any Christian fiction I've read recently. I really hope this book is a sign of things to come in the adult Christian fiction/fantasy genre. Bring on more time travel romance please!

*I receive complimentary books for review from the publisher. I am not required to write positive reviews. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.*

~ My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars ~

Happy Reading!