Peggy Webb, $1.99, ISBN 978-1465820075
Paranormal Romance, 2011
Gilly Debeau is in her 80s, but she’s as fine as someone her age can be. Sure, it can be hard to accept that she needs help to do the things she used to be able to do on her own now and then. Still, she’s alright.
So many people she loves have passed on, but she still has her dear friend with her to brighten up the days when she feels lonely. Her granddaughter drops by occasionally to cheer her up too.
Then, one Christmas night, she falls asleep and wakes up in a… dream? She’s now a hot 18-year old Gilly, on her voyage with her father on that My Heart Will Go On Even After That Damned Thing Hit an Iceberg ship.
Oh, will she fall in love with some plucky American with a fetish for drawing women in the nude? No, of course not, the author goes for maximum pathos: she falls for one of those guys that played in the band that went down with the ship.
Well, there goes the jumping on ice scene.
Seriously, Christmas in Time goes just like how one would expect a romance on that ship will go. Since this one is a magical time travel thing, there are only a few possible happy endings: the two get plucked by a divine hand down from heaven in the nick of time, or she eventually dies and they meet again to have screaming orgasms—wholesome ones, of course, since they are in heaven and all—while the heavenly host clap and record the whole thing for their social media.
Guess which one applies to this story.
Still, Peggy Webb has been writing for a long time now, and hence it’s no surprise that this one is a breezy, polished read.
In fact, I actually love the early chapters of Gilly that is in her 80s, because those scenes, while still wholesome and sweet, resonate with a bittersweet kind of poignancy with old coots like me. The aging, the struggle to still be independent and in charge of one’s body even as it falls apart and even betrays you, the loss of loved ones, the loneliness… yes, the author can definitely prick the heart a little and let all the feels out.
The story becomes far less interesting when Gilly finds herself on RMS Iceberg Kisser, as it’s just another superficial story of a silly girl and some bloke that she doesn’t even know. In fact, it’s probably a blessing that this time travel thing makes sure that she will never have to see him grow old, learn of his more unpleasant habits, or discover that he has a wife and some kids stashed away somewhere.
Anyway, this is a serviceable, if predictable, read. Still, a part of me will always wonder what could have been had the story took on a more mundane path and had Gilly fall in love with some bloke in her time, as a woman in her 80s and not some conveniently hot 18-year old.
