Blog Tour: West (History Interrupted #1) by Lizzy Ford: A Book Review

October 30, 2017

Author: Lizzy Ford

Narrator: Lillian Yves

Length: 7 hours and 50 minutes

Series: History Interrupted, Book 1

Publisher: Lizzy Ford Books LLC

Released: Jul. 31, 2017

Genre: Romantic Fantasy

If you could change history, would you?

College graduate Josephine "Josie" Jackson answers "yes" to the question on a survey while visiting the Old West tourist town of Tombstone. The next morning, she wakes up in Indian Territory in the 1840s, where she's given a mission to complete before she can return to her time: to reset history, and prevent the deaths of hundreds of thousands over the next century, by convincing the man responsible for kindling the war between settlers and natives to stay home on the day he's supposed to start the war.

But someone is hunting down time travelers and killing them. Three other women have been sent back to the same time period with Josie's mission. When she stumbles upon what happened to them, she realizes the chances of her getting out of the past alive are not good. To survive, she'll have to trust the person who's there to stop her from changing history, someone who has every reason to distrust her and only one reason to help her - to save her from the mysterious man who sent her back in time to start with.

I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Lizzy Ford. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it.

Josie is a college graduate that loves Doctor Who. One day, she is approached by a stranger named Carter that’s claims he has a time machine. He persuades Josie to travel through time to save a million lives. Josie agrees and finds herself in the Old West. She is to find two people - the sheriff and an Indian named Running Bear. As she locates these two men, she impersonates the lost daughter of a wealthy man. As she continues to fulfill her mission, she learns that Carter is hiding something from her and that she is in grave danger. Can Josie ever trust Carter and save herself?

I really loved Josie. Josie is a strong and smart protagonist. She is very identifiable to the reader. She is a big Doctor Who fan. She is a college graduate with student loans. She likes to have fun and would love to change history if given the chance. What I really love about Josie is that when questions arise, she never stops looking for answers. Also, Josie is not a damsel in distress and can take care of herself. Thus, Josie was a very fun and plucky heroine, and I could not wait to find out what happens to her.

While I liked the story, I did not care for the audiobook. The narration was evenly paced. The narrator did a great job in bringing Josie to life. However, her acting ability was very limited. The male characters all sounded alike, and I had a hard time distinguishing which character was which. The narrator also gave the male characters Southern accents, which I thought was weird since the setting was the Wild West. Thus, if I ever have the chance to experience the story again, I would rather read it than listen to it.

Overall, this book is full of romance, mystery, and action. While Josie was developed, the other characters were still one-dimensional. The writing could be a bit repetitive at times. However, I loved the setting, and it’s clear the author did her research. While the mystery was predictable, West was still a very suspenseful novel, and it kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what happens. I can’t wait to read the sequel so I can find out will happen to Josie and what Carter’s endgame is! I recommend this novel for fans of The Keys of the Watchmen, Into the Dim, and A Murder in Time.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

I breathe stories. I dream them. If it were possible, I'd eat them, too. (I'm pretty sure they'd taste like cotton candy.) I can't escape them - they're everywhere! Which is why I write! I was born to bring the crazy worlds and people in my mind to life, and I love sharing them with as many people as I can. I'm also the bestselling, award winning, internationally acclaimed author of over sixty titles and counting. I write speculative fiction in multiple subgenres of romance and fantasy, contemporary fiction, books for both teens and adults, and just about anything else I feel like writing. If I can imagine it, I can write it! I live in the desert of southern Arizona with a pack of spoiled dogs and Tubbs, the Godfather cat who rules them all.

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Lillian Yves grew up in Oklahoma, went to school in NYC and now lives in Southern California. She considers herself from the East, West and somewhere in the middle. She is a graduate of The American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC for Musical Theater. She adores acting and performing so much that she teaches an after school program for the local school system. She got her start working in audio books when she narrated her own novel, Yonder- A Southern Haunting and shortly after the release of Yonder she was contacted by Warren Adler (The War of the Roses) to narrate two novels for him and after entering the world of narration, she has never looked back. She performs on most weekends and does play readings through out the Los Angeles area. Her main hobbies include her husband and her cats. She loves to hear from listeners.