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MacLeod #2.5

Veils of Time

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Four women find the bridegrooms of their dreams in another time.....

A Bride Most Common by Angie Ray
A time machine hurtled Lucy Taylor back in time to Regency England --- and into the middle of a wedding to a dashing gentleman! Could she change history to save her future, without falling in love with a handsome new husband?

And the Groom Wore Tulle by Lynn Kurland. (MacLeod, #3).
Scottish nobleman Ian Macleod falls asleep in a medieval dungeon --- and awakens in a room filled with long white dresses. Jane Fergusson longed to create great fashions, but instead toils in a bridal shop. Will their fateful meeting over dressmaker's shears lead to bloodshed or bliss?

Conyn's Bride by Ingrid Weaver
On the eve of her wedding, museum curator Alanna Moore is cataloguing antiquities, when suddenly a Celtic warrior appears --- claiming to be her long-lost betrothed! Can she listen to her heart, and remember a love that was destined to be?

The Con and the Crusader by Maggie Shayne
Fleeing thugs, con man Jack McCain jumps into a well --- and into the past. Mistaken for a criminal, he's headed for prison, until he's freed --- with a wedding proposal! The widow Hawkins marries him to get help for her farm, but the attraction between them makes Jack wish he'd never escape this sweet captivity. . .

377 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Lynn Kurland

58 books1,537 followers
Lynn began her writing career at the tender age of five with a series of illustrated novellas entitled Clinton’s Troubles in which the compelling hero found himself in all sorts of . . . well, trouble. She was living in Hawaii at the time and the scope for her imagination (poisoned fish, tropical cliffs, large spiders) was great and poor Clinton bore the brunt of it. After returning to the mainland, her writing gave way to training in classical music and Clinton, who had been felled with arrows, eaten by fish and sent tumbling off cars, was put aside for operatic heroes in tights.

Somehow during high school, in between bouts of Verdi and Rossini, she managed to find time to submerge herself in equal parts Tolkien, Barbara Cartland and Mad Magazine. During college, a chance encounter with a large library stack of romances left her hooked, gave her the courage to put pen to paper herself, and finally satisfied that need for a little bit of fantasy with a whole lot of romance!

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438 (34%)
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296 (23%)
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews
Profile Image for Laurie  (barksbooks).
1,840 reviews753 followers
December 20, 2010
Veils of Time is similar to most anthologies. At least most that I've read. Two of the stories are painfully average, one is good and only one outstanding. Few authors can create a full fledged love story in less than 100 pages and as a result most of these left me feeling less than satisfied with the too rushed outcome.

Lynn Kurland's And The Groom Wore Tulle is a good story if you're looking for a laugh. It's about a 1313 Scotsman who time-travels to 1999 (just don't ask me how because I still can't figure it out). He meets the heroine who immediately takes him home because he's all big and sexy. The heroine is of the doormat variety and the story is light on logic and romance development but it's a fun read despite itself.

The Con & the Crusader by Maggie Shayne doesn't fare quite so well. It's about a con man who gets flung back in time (at least this time it's explained!) and saved from life in the slammer when the heroine rescues him by offering her hand in marriage. She quickly proceeds to turn her criminal into a hardworking family man. Sorry, I just didn't buy his quick reformation and Jack was just too smarmy to fit my idea of a hero. This one is my least favorite of the anthology because of its predictability and over-the-top sweetness.

A Bride Most Common by Angie Ray starts out great but peters out by the end because it becomes overstuffed with plot threads. Lucy gets sent back in time by her kindly old boss to correct an error. She awakens holding the hand of a regency hunk and quickly discovers that she's no longer in her own body and is married to the dude! Like I said, this one starts out great with lots of wit and charm but quickly becomes bogged down with other less interesting stuff and I lost interest.

Conyn's Bride by Ingrid Weaver was my favorite. The heroine, an antiquities dealer, finds a gorgeous Celtic bracelet in one of her shipments and can't resist slipping it on her wrist and, boy, does her life ever change for the better! Suddenly a gorgeous man appears declaring his undying to love to her. He insists he's been traveling far and wide to find her and that she is long lost bride. She's excited (really, who wouldn't be?) but soon learns that he's only bumped his head really hard and is more than a little bit confused. Or is he? This story works on all levels and is simply charming. It's very romantic, super funny, sensual and may even evoke a tear from a few readers.
Profile Image for Brooke.
205 reviews3 followers
February 25, 2012
I'm so bummed, I didn't know this was an anthology, the story was way to short, and too easy... :( these stories take time to unfold... I'm hoping this is isolated, and no more of her stories are quickies like this.
Profile Image for July.
675 reviews1 follower
April 12, 2010
Jamie MacLeod's cousin Ian MacLeoad finally gets his story. He is near death in the dungeon of the Fergusson. He is being paying for his sins. When he wakes in limbo or is it Hell? He is surrounded by Angel clothing? What he doesn't realize at first is he has made it to the future. He is in a New York Bridal Shop. When he is confronted by Jane Fergusson he thinks she is a demon beastie. This is a funny story. I loved it.
I haven't read the other stories yet...
Profile Image for Elaine.
1,059 reviews14 followers
September 26, 2012
The first story is by Lynn Kurrland. " And the Groom Wore Tulle " it was only 97 pages, but it is actually book 3 of a series. Normally I don't like short stories, but this one ties in with her other books. It includes characters from her first two books. Rating for this one: 4

The Con and the Crusader by Maggie Shayne

Profile Image for Susan.
1,368 reviews5 followers
July 15, 2017
Lynn Kurland- And The Groom Wore Tulle : I love this story as with all of her works. It is funny and a fun adventure. 5 Stars

Maggie Shayne- The Con & the Crusader : I thought it was an interesting idea of time travel and I enjoyed the characters and interaction. It had a detailed love scene. I did enjoy the character development as Jack learns about work and love. 4 Stars

Angie Ray- A Bride Most Common :

Ingrid Weaver- Conyn's Bride :

177 reviews
June 24, 2023
I did not enjoy this book and it was hard for me to pick it up every time I put it down. The only reason I finished it was I was hoping it would get better and I wanted to pass it on. I usually enjoy time travel books but I didn't like this one. It has four stories in it and they were decent but I guess not my cup of tea,
Profile Image for Marlene.
390 reviews
May 27, 2019
Based on the consensus of reviews, I read the 1st and 4th stories of this anthology, which fell into my hands as a free book. I enjoyed Kurland's tale the most, but find novellas unsatisfying on the whole.
Profile Image for Kim.
855 reviews2 followers
October 15, 2020
Lynn Kurland's "And the Groom Wore Tulle" was amazing! I loved how the characters thought everything they were doing was completely justified (like putting on a wedding dress!). Again, I wanted a complete book, but at the same time, I think it was the perfect length.
Profile Image for Maura.
3,883 reviews103 followers
March 4, 2017
And the Groom Wore Tulle - Lynn Kurland - 3/5 - This seems to be a continuation of a novella about time travel that I read once before about the MacLeod family and pockets of time traveling space. This time, the cousin, Ian, imprisoned for sleeping with the wrong girl finds himself waking up in a bridal shop’s backroom. Jane, the more or less indentured servant employee finds him, helps him and takes him back to Scotland. They meet up with the cousin and his wife and take up residence there. Ian and Jane realize they love each other. In all honesty, this just isn’t my kind of romance. It’s a clean romance for one and I prefer a bit more passion. These two barely had any chemistry though they did develop a solid friendship and appreciation for each other before even kissing. It just felt like Jane was wondering about being Ian’s girlfriend and I was wondering when there was any evidence that that was even on the table. So yeah - just not my cup of tea.

The Con and the Crusader - Maggie Shayne - 4/5 - Jack McCain is a con man with a fear of hard work who inadvertently gets thrown back into 1890 and into a gang of convicts. Bound for jail, he is rescued by the widow Emily Hawkins who offers to marry him in name only, so she’ll have someone else to help save her farm. Only Jack doesn’t know anything about farming and Emily is surprised how much she wants the marriage to be real - even though she knows Jack won’t be staying in the past. This was a really cute story. I don’t usually like cons as characters, but Jack grew on me. Emily wasn’t too prim or self-righteous and the kids didn’t irritate at all. The story paces well and was very entertaining, but maybe suffers from the typical novella issue of characters that aren’t fleshed out sufficiently. I really appreciate the unique setting and situation - it’s not usually the hero that gets thrown into the past (nor is there often a hero from the present who seems to know exactly what a woman’s “shift” is.)

A Bride Most Common - Angie Ray - 3/5 - Lucy Taylor works for a company who has been secretly working on time travel experiments for the government. She’s asked to go back in time to fix a mistake. She finds herself arriving in the past at the moment her “host” is marrying her new husband. So Lucy has to figure out how to survive the past, accomplish her mission and avoid falling in love with her husband before she has to return to the present. Usually I have issues with time travel because someone does something that would surely mess up the time continuum or something. Ever see the movie Lake House? Drove me up the wall! This story starts out making sure that doesn’t happen...it answers the questions before I even have them. And the way it’s set up, felt a bit too straightforward. Like getting hit with a brick. And how strange that just as the bossman explains that history is resistant to change and it hardly ever happens, we learn that it actually has happened and it’s Lucy’s job to fix it. The romance was okay - it was fairly clean and the H/h more or less develop a friendship first and foremost. I did notice that this author preferred not to use tag lines in dialogue that often, so I frequently found myself questioning the attitudes of characters speaking. Were they angry? Sad? Happy? I think I needed a bit more instruction about how certain dialogue is said.

Conyn’s Bride - Ingrid Weaver - 3/5 - Alanna Moore is working at a museum on the eve of her wedding when some magic related to a bracelet occurs and out pops Conyn, a man claiming to be a Celtic Warrior from the past and her betrothed. Evidently, Conyn used magic to reunite himself with the reincarnation of his lost love and Alanna isn’t believing. He has one day until she marries and to convince her he’s telling the truth and that they’re destined to be together. At times I was confused with this story. I wasn’t quite sure how Alanna retained memories of that specific past life and as she had flashbacks of it I wasn’t sure if she was recalling her past life or her childhood in this life. This story was also based on the assumption that a person in their past and present lives is exactly the same in both lives...which I don’t really believe so there was that believability aspect in the way for me. However, I loved Conyn. At first, I found him too naive and a little irritating while he was always saying how much he loved Alanna. But, as the author pointed out, Conyn wasn’t afraid of his emotions. He wasn’t limited by some view of masculinity which prevented him from openly displaying his happiness, his sadness and his love. And that was what I found so charming about him. He really grew on me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Denise.
415 reviews31 followers
May 10, 2013
I read this book because it is listed as #3 in The MacLeods time travel series by Lynn Kurland, which is true but it is an anthology with 4 time travel short stories/novellas. I was a little disappointed in "And the Groom Wore Tulle" which is the Kurland story. Only 97 pages. Ian and Jane's story deserved a book by itself.

The other stories in this volume are:

The Con and the Crusader by Maggie Shayne
A Bride Most Common by Angie Ray
and
Conyn's Bride by Ingrid Weaver

I actually enjoyed all the stories. I think that The Con and the Crusader and A Bride Most Common were the most satisfying because they seemed to tell the whole story (in that you didn't feel rushed as in a short story even though it was one--if that makes any sense to anyone but me).

I had never read anything by Maggie Shayne, Angie Ray, or Ingrid Weaver but I fully intend to see what else they have written.

I also appreciated a list of more time travel books in the back of the book, none of which I have read so look forward to seeking them out and reading all of them.

One last thing, I got this book through interlibrary loan and want to thank Snowflake-Taylor Public Library in Snowflake AZ for participating in the interlibrary loan program and loaning me this book.
Profile Image for LilaBird.
104 reviews16 followers
October 18, 2012
This was a nice little anthology. I liked each story for different reasons. The Kurland story was my favorite, not just because I am a huge Lynn Kurland fan, but because it was the sweetest and best written. I also loved the crossover of familiar characters from previous books. Seeing the rest of Ian's story (Jamie's cousin) was wonderfully unexpected. He was supposed to be a rough, gruff sort of guy, so I pictured him as Gerard Butler -- yummy.

The Regency England one with Lucy was a bit weird and not fully explained. I did like it, but something about it was weird. Maybe it should have been a full novel instead of a short story so that I could have gotten more details and some better character development.

The Conyn (Conan) one with the museum artifacts was nice...almost a little Karen Marie Moning Highlander vibe, but sadly, stayed "clean".

The fourth story seemed slightly out of place...maybe because it takes place in a rural farming community in early 1900's America. Not my favorite time period by a long shot. The characters were alright. I like how the main guy (Jack?) had previously vowed never to do manual labor, and then came to discover a wonderful work ethic in himself come out when it was needed to take care of the woman and children that he loved.

All in all, a pretty enjoyable anthology about time travel.
Profile Image for Mary Beth.
786 reviews
March 9, 2013
I enjoyed several stories in this collection. I was already familiar with some of the authors and their characters. The first story is And the Groom Wore Tulle, by Lynn Kurland and it follows the time traveling romance series starring the MacLeod and Fergussons. If you haven't looked at this series you should, it is very fun and interesting. I enjoyed this short story very much.

I also enjoyed the second story, The Con and the Crusader by Maggie Shayne. It is a lovely time traveling story set in the old west or pioneering days, possibly turn of the century and the characters were a bit of a surprise. It involves a wishing well and a whole mess of trouble! It was a cute story.

The third story was a little ridiculous for me. I didn't finish it. It was a Bride most Common by Angie Ray. It involved a time machine made in a factory by a bunch of not so bright people. I couldn't imagine this, so I moved on to the last story in the book.

Conyn's Bride by Ingrid Weaver was a good deal far-fetched and it strained my patience a bit, but in the end I enjoyed it. It involved a museum curator and a past life love who comes forward in time to find her.

These stories were fun and interesting.
Profile Image for Diane Wachter.
2,312 reviews9 followers
March 1, 2016
PB-B @ 1999, 11/00. Anthology. Lynn Kurland, And the Groom Wore Tulle, Scottish nobleman Ian MacLeod falls asleep in a medieval dungeon and awakens in a bridal shop with Jane Fergusson. MacLeod/McKinnon Book 3, Fun. Maggie Shayne, The Con and the Crusader, Fleeing thugs, con man Jack McCain jumps into a well and into the past. Mistaken for a criminal, he's headed for prison until the widow Hawkins frees him with a wedding proposal for help with her farm. Good. Angie Ray, A Bride Most Common, A time machine hurtles Lucy Taylor back in time to regency England and into the middle of a wedding. Ingrid Weaver, Conyn's Bride, On the eve of her wedding, Museum curator Alanna Moore is cataloging antiquities, when suddenly a Celtic warrior appears, claiming to be her long-lost betrothed. Can she listen to her heart and remember a love that was destined to be?
Profile Image for Penelope West.
Author 4 books1 follower
July 12, 2008
This was an anthology. I normally don't read anthologies, because I prefer a full length novel. Too much has to be left out when three or four stories are contained in one book. As usual, Lynn does a fantastic job, even though it is too short. This is another story in the MacLeod family series. Ian escapes death in the Fergusson dungeon and is sent to the Future. Lynn's superior sense of humor is well showcased in this romp through time. She refers to this story in her other tales of the MacLeods, so it was a hoot to finally read the details. A Keeper, for sure. (The other tales in the book were pretty good, too. In their cases, short wasn't a problem.)
Profile Image for Kara.
795 reviews10 followers
July 28, 2009
This is a compilation of 4 stories by 4 different authors, but the only one worth anything was the first one by Lynn Kurland. That is the only reason I gave it 4 stars because that first one was great. I'm glad I was able to read Ian Macleod's story since he was a character I looked forward to knowing more about from her first Macleod book. Lynn Kurland is definitely far and above other romance writers.
Profile Image for Eileen.
2,090 reviews
December 24, 2015
I wanted to go back and reread some of these novellas I had and read some of the older characters again. Ian MacLeod went from dying in a dungeon in 1313 then transported in time to the future and in a NY storeroom in 1999. Jane goes to investigate and finds a very large man wearing one of her bridal gowns and can't believe her eyes. She helps him return to Scotland with a few twists but home they go. A very good story to see him change his ways for a woman he's come to admire and love.
Profile Image for Stacey.
956 reviews
October 30, 2012
I prefer this collection of short stories by Lynn Kurland, over buying them individually in anthologies shared by other authors that I do not always prefer. My favorite story was "The Groom Wore Tulle."
Profile Image for Wendy.
211 reviews2 followers
July 2, 2008
I liked the Lynn Kurland in this anthology, but some of the others were blah.
Profile Image for Cindy.
18 reviews
July 17, 2008
Four shorts of medieval romance, time travel, and adventure in the Middle Ages. Good quick reads.
Profile Image for Lisa.
995 reviews
August 6, 2009
Since this is a compilation of 4 stories, the only one I chose to read was And the Groom Wore Tulle by Lynn Kurland. It was actually my least favorite Kurland story to date.
Profile Image for Serena.
196 reviews
May 5, 2010
Only read the one by Lynn Kurland --- The Groom Wore Tulle -- Very good story!!! Finally I got to see how Ian got here!!! YAY!

Ian MacLeod & Jane Fergusson
131 reviews
May 29, 2010
Only read the Veils of Time from this book. There were other books from different authors. It was okay. The man character changed too easily from a womanizer to a one woman guy.
Profile Image for Brenda.
562 reviews14 followers
July 9, 2010
Only read and loved Lynn Kurland's story.
Profile Image for Kathy Davie.
4,831 reviews721 followers
Read
November 13, 2022
Lynn Kurland's "And the Groom Wore Tulle" (McLeod, 2)
Maggie Shayne's "Con and the Crusader"
Angie Ray's "A Bride Most Common"
Ingrid Weaver's "Conyn's Bride"
39 reviews2 followers
April 10, 2011
I really enjoyed 2 out of the 4 stories in this novella. All 4 were good, but 2 were historical romance (my favorite) vs modern romance.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 54 reviews

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