The Palace of the Stars

The Palace of the Stars a fiction about time travel written by using some facts from history, there was some romance but it wasn't the main subject most likely was a side story. It is an interesting story is about Micheal, ex-cop, who lost his memories and was trying to go on living. But just when he began to cured with his company Mari's help, they found a portal to the past. After that, he decided to go through it. I can't say they thought it through, after decided to go he just jump in and find himself clueless all again. He assumed he will go there and come back immediately after just looking around, well, of course, it wasn't that simple.

This is well-written fiction but wasn't full action. I mostly liked how we read about both Mari and Micheal sides. I really loved the side character Gordon he was a charming gentleman. Without knowing who was Micheal, he helped him. We couldn't learn more of 1904 because Mike was in a well-protected place mostly in the palace of the stars which is Gordon's theater. The end was a short cut for me but I enjoyed the story. With that, I learned about some facts about that time and I liked how Karina McRoberts added more explanations about them at the end.
Thanks to #NetGalley and the BooksGoSocial Publishing Group providing me a copy of the book in exchange for an unbiased review.

I liked that this book doesn't focus on the romance novel, overall I enjoyed reading this and liked getting to know these characters.

An interesting concept of time travel. Mari Linden takes in Michael Harker after he has been in a coma from being beaten. She has a bookstore in town but has a house out of town. Never had children but takes to Michael and tries to help him get his memory back. One day in the bookstore Michael goes through a rip in time to 110 years ago, He is there until the building which houses the bookstore is built. The book covers what happens to Mari with Michael gone and what happens to Michael in the past. Michael sees many wondrous things and learns about the Australia of then.

This is a very interesting book to try and review because I'm not sure what genre to put it under. It has elements of fantasy, history, romance, and murder.

Mari is an ex nurse who now has a bookshop called Book Nook and also does work for the "Red Cross (though this isn't really explained) through which she has taken in a young man, Michael. Mari was without a doubt my favourite character. As a nurse myself I was convinced the author must have been a nurse herself to write her and the hospital scene so convincingly.

Michael is given into Mari's care after waking up from a six month long coma, with no apparent next of kin and amnesia. All that is known about him is that he was a rookie policeman who had been badly beaten. Mari is warned he will be difficult and he certainly proves himself to not be very likeable, to the extent that Mari is a bit afraid of him.

Mari finds a portal in her bookshop which she wants to explore herself, but can't because it causes her pacemaker to play up. So Michael goes through and immediately discovers he can't get back because in the era of 1904 Mari's bookshop had not yet been built.

The rest of the book is divided between Mari's vigil in her bookshop, waiting for Michael to be able to return, and Michael's experiences in 1904 York where he is taken in by the owner of the Palace, an entertainment entrepeneur.

I really enjoyed Mari's chapters, possibly because I found her very real and relateable in many ways. I didn't feel as invested in Michael's as he falls in love at first sight with a woman in one of the acts, but I did enjoy his story arc. The pieces of history that were skilfully inserted into the story were very interesting.

This story was chock-full of vivid characters. I loved the magic and the time travel as well as the historical element. The story kept me turning the pages.
Many thanks to BooksGoSocial and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This was a good, easy read. It's reminiscent of Outlander - someone goes back in time and falls in love with someone in that time period. However, because Mike is a cop, he's asked to help solve a murder. It's the first in a series and I think I'll read the next one.