Ripples Through Time
A love that will change them forever
A treasure that will bring them home
West Mercia, AD 873 – Merewen's settlement is on guard against the outside threat of the ‘Heathen’ Norsemen. But for Merewen, the real threats come from within, as her future is cruelly snatched away from her.
Eirik, a Norseman, finds himself abandoned and injured after his uncle’s plunder of Mercian land goes wrong. He thinks his fate is sealed – until Merewen saves his life.
Hereford, Present Day – Left reeling after a huge betrayal, Alix moves to her grandfather's farm in Hereford to heal her broken heart. There, after being given a family heirloom, she soon finds herself haunted by memories of a life she never lived, a relationship she never had, and a time in which she never existed.
Local farmer Noah is being hounded by the police to find the Viking hoard that his sister and her criminal boyfriend stole from his farm. Noah must prove his own innocence while struggling to decipher the curious connection he has to newcomer Alix – a bond that seems to transcend their own reality.
As they search for the lost treasure, Alix and Noah start to feel the whispers of a love they never expected, one powerful enough to echo through history.
Purchase Link - https://geni.us/ripplestime
London, present day – heroine discovers betrayal of the worst kind
‘How long do we have to keep sneaking around like this? Can’t we just tell her and get it over with?’
Alix Howell stopped abruptly at the sound of her younger sister’s voice. It was coming from the mud room beyond the kitchen in their parents’ house, and although Autumn was whispering, the words were still perfectly audible.
‘Patience, baby.’ The voice replying belonged to Alix’s fiancé, Sean, and hearing it made her freeze in shock. ‘We have to wait until the mortgage application for the flat has been approved,’ he continued. ‘You know we need Alix to cover the down payment. It’s not like we can afford it ourselves. Once all the paperwork is signed, it won’t matter so much, and I’ll pay her back when I can. Or you can pay her rent so she can go and live somewhere else. I doubt she’ll want to share with us, even though there are two bedrooms.’
A muffled giggle was the answer to that statement. What the hell? The pain of betrayal hit Alix right in the middle of the sternum, knocking all the air out of her. She clutched her stomach and tried to breathe while processing what she’d just heard. Her sister was having an affair with Sean? Since when? No. This couldn’t be true. Alix hadn’t noticed him acting any different recently. There had been quite a few late nights in the office and some outings with his mates that he’d claimed were for boys only, but no other red flags. He’d acted as loving as normal. What a consummate liar! She hadn’t suspected a thing.
And what was this about the down payment? Was he seriously planning to use Alix’s life savings, combined with his own meagre contribution, to obtain a mortgage for the flat they were buying together, then dump her? A flat that apparently she was never going to live in. The utter bastard!
So not happening.
After the week she’d had at work – although she didn’t want to think about that right now – this was the last straw. She marched over to the door that separated the mud room from the kitchen and threw it open.
‘No need to wait. I won’t be signing any of those papers now, or providing any money, so you can go ahead and make your relationship official,’ she announced, pulling off the cheap zirconia ring Sean had bought her instead of a diamond one and throwing it at him. It was supposed to have been temporary until he could afford something better, since they’d needed the money for the flat. So much for that.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to afford the mortgage payments anyway, as I quit my job yesterday,’ she added. She hadn’t had a chance to tell anyone yet, and now it probably didn’t matter. It might even be a blessing in disguise.
Autumn and Sean’s stunned expressions and gaping mouths would have been hilarious if the cause hadn’t been so hurtful. Alix didn’t intend to stick around and wait for them to recover, however. No doubt they’d try and come up with some excuse as to why they were perfect for each other. Judging by previous experience, it would involve a variation on the theme of Alix being too serious or boring, compared to her uber-glamorous sister. Autumn was the ‘fun one’ of the two, according to most of their friends. The one with the natural charm and a gift for socialising and hogging the limelight. Whereas Alix was shy and introverted, more interested in reading than partying.
Being less than a year apart, most people had mistaken them for twins when they were children. They did look fairly similar when in their natural state, but Alix always felt overshadowed by her sister. Autumn was a beautician and knew how to enhance her looks; from chemical hair-straightening and lip fillers to a year-round spray tan and hours spent with a personal trainer each week, nothing was left to chance. And it would seem that Sean preferred this improved version of what the gods had given them. He was welcome to it.
‘Alix, wait! I can explain! Stop for a minute …’
She ignored the increasingly anxious pleas from behind her and swore that this was the last time she’d allow Autumn to steal anything that belonged to her. Her sister had been doing it more or less from birth, and mostly getting away with it too. She had been the golden child for as long as Alix could remember. The one who could do no wrong. As soon as she’d been born, Alix had been effectively sidelined. Autumn had been a beautiful, contented baby, by all accounts, whereas Alix had been colicky and difficult. The new baby was able to charm their parents in a way that Alix had never mastered, and later she had lying down to a fine art as well. More times than she cared to count, Alix had been blamed for every misdemeanour, despite any lack of evidence. It was enough that Autumn turned her limpid gaze on their parents and shed a few theatrical tears. They fell for it every time. There was no competing with her. She always got her way. Well, enough was enough.
Sweeping past their astonished parents, and assorted other relatives who had come over for Sunday lunch, Alix grabbed her handbag and jacket and slammed her way out of the house. Thank goodness she hadn’t completed the flat purchase with Sean yet. She was still sharing a loft apartment with two friends, but that would have to change too. Now that she’d left the job that tied her to the capital, it was time to move somewhere far from London. Anywhere her sister wasn’t living would be fine.
Vindictively, she hoped it would be many years before Sean and Autumn could afford to buy a flat. Her own nest egg would be used to purchase a property that was all hers.
Author Bio –
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip/dual time and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a Vice President and former chairman and of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. RIPPLES THROUGH TIME (dual time historical romance published by Headline Review 21st November 2025) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
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