Book Review: Scarlet Woods by Brooke Passmore

Scarlet Woods (Scarlet Woods #1) by Brooke Passmore

Genre: Young Adult (Science Fiction/Time Travel Romance)
Date Published: December 10, 2012
Publisher: Self

The Blurb:

Past, future, and love all exist in the door through time.

Modern and independent seventeen year old Morgan Westbrook thought she had seen all there was to her home town of Scarlet, Georgia, but one day while walking in the woods behind her house she discovers a mysterious door masked behind the trees. After admiring the door’s timeless beauty she walks through its entrance to venture into more woods, but what she doesn’t know is that the door is a gateway through time that takes her back to the year 1863 during the days of the Civil War in Scarlet.

Without knowing that she had traveled back in time, she stumbles upon Danny Carson, an attractive young man who is appalled to see that Morgan is wearing skimpy modern clothes instead of a nineteenth century dress. Although they find each other completely different than anyone they’ve ever known, they cannot help but feel drawn to one another. After spending time in another century, she discovers that she's time traveled back to the year 1863 and that the door took her there. For months she and Danny journey back and forth through the door to experience the joys of traveling to both of their centuries. When dilemmas of unwanted marriage, slavery, and war are thrown at them, they must face the perils that time travel has delivered them in both the future and the past.

My Review:

Scarlet Woods is the first book in the Scarlet Woods Series by Brooke Passmore. I really likes the premise behind this story. I like the time travel aspect and the era that was traveled to. I think this book needed some editing though. There were several instances of the wrong word being used within a sentence. There were also a few factual inaccuracies. That was distracting, but I'm not a history buff so, aside from a few things that really stuck out to me, I could ignore the others. I am an animal girl though, and if you've read my reviews in the past, you know I'm picky when it comes to animal details within a story. I can't help it. In this case, three Rottweilers were owned by someone in the South in 1863. This wouldn't be possible. The first Rottweilers weren't imported into the United States until sometime in the 1920's. There are other suitable breeds that could have been used that were in the US during this time, Rottweilers just weren't one of them.

Looking at the story alone, I enjoyed Morgan and Danny. I thought the author portrayed Danny's inner turmoil over some issues quite well. This fleshed him out and made him feel real. I enjoyed Sam and Emily too. We don't see as much of them together, because they aren't the complete focus of the story (Although Sam's role is very important). I would love to get to know them more in future books. They could almost have a book of their own.

While reading, the question I kept asking myself is: Whether they are in 1863 or 2013 or all the time in between, how has no one else found this magical time traveling door? Hmmm.

Scarlet Woods by Brooke Passmore was provided to me by the author for review. The opinions are my own.

About the Author:
I love to smile and I rarely am in a bad mood, unless my dvr didn't record Vampire Diaries. I am someone who tries to see the beauty in all things. If you really knew me you'd know that I've been obsessed with writing stories ever since I could hold a pencil. Give me a story with a captivating romance whether it be a comedy, thriller, action, or drama and I most likely will have seen/read it already.

To learn more about Brooke Passmore and her books, visit her blog.You can also find her on Goodreads and Twitter.