Déjà Vu is the sensation of having experienced something that you really couldn’t have experienced. Sometimes everyday experiences blend together making you wonder if you’re not repeating the same actions you did earlier. Sometimes you meet people you are sure you met somewhere before. Sometimes there is even the nagging impression that the person was significant in your past somehow. As hard of déjà vu is to grasp, what would happen if you discover a journal from another time when you realize you are not only attracted to the individual, but you actually know him? Definitely a hair-raising experience, one Emily, the protagonist of Gwynn Morgan’s Back to Tomorrow, experiences.

Emily’s life screeches to an absolute standstill when her fiancé, Richard Crandall, dies in a car crash days before the wedding. Angry at her absent fiancé and confused about her future, she takes refuge with her aunt while trying to find a path out of her grief. Her interest is piqued when her friend, Carol, sends her the journal of Zachary Tremaine, which Carol found tucked in an old trunk she bought in Tombstone, Arizona.

Zachary Tremaine is on the lookout for his sister, Mary Ann. He has heard that she may be in Tombstone. The only thing to do is to travel to Tombstone, find Mary Ann and bring her home. It is a long trip by stagecoach to a dusty town he has never seen. It seems only fitting that he records the experience in a journal. His only hope is to get Mary Beth safely home, especially before his mother hears the rumors.

Emily, an avid reader, falls into books, but reading Zac’s journal is something more. She can smell the dusty air, see Zac’s tall, handsome form, and it almost seems like he is looking for her as he searches the town for his sister. Her new obsession with Zachary Tremaine may play a part in her choice to travel to Arizona to see her pregnant friend, Carol. It will also give her a chance to walk the streets of Tombstone imagining how things may have looked in Zachary’s time. Suddenly, Emily is excited, instead of just going through the motions of living.

Back to Tomorrow thrives with tension and chemistry as Emily and Zachary try to connect across time. Emily drive to solve the mystery of Mary Beth ends with surprising results. Her burgeoning desire for the rugged Zac jump-starts her life anew. There is the inevitable problem of time travel and unsavory types in the hard-bitten Tombstone.

Back to Tomorrow is a great read. It includes some of my favorite things, strong alpha male, spunky heroine, the old West, and time travel. I would highly recommend it.

Reviewed by Morgan Wyatt
© July 2007