Loving on Borrowed Time (Lovers' Leap, #1)

Loving on Borrowed Time (Lovers' Leap, #1) - Olivia Cunning I would never have guessed the Olivia Cunning wrote this book - doesn't read like her style. Then again, I've ever only read her Sinners books. But if I didn't know better, I'd say this series was written a few years ago, as one of her first books. Not that it's bad... but it's not as tight or as good as her Sinners books. Just doesn't seem like her style.But the characters are intriguing - sort of a Quantum Leap meets Indiana Jones or something. The main characters are Lara, a museum curator who longs to be discovering artifacts rather than just cataloging and displaying them, and Reece, a bad boy archeologist, who claims he's from the future - a future where he and Lara are engaged and lovers. Reece mumbles something about time travel, throws his arms around Lara, mumbles some ancient words, and voila! They're off ... to Viking times.See, Reece claims that one year in the future, Lara was killed, and he (Reece) has come to prevent that from happening. His former partner, Carl, wants to stop Reece and leave Lara as dead. Did Carl have something to do with her death? Lara doesn't know, but Reece seems to know a lot about her. When Carl comes rushing in before Reece and Lara time travel, Carl seems to look like the janitor one moment, and then like someone else (Carl) the next. What's going on? Reece tells her that Carl has the other half of the amulet, and when the two amulets get close by, they hum and vibrate. So before Carl can catch them, Reece mutters the ancient spell to start the time traveling. Reece tells her that Carl wants to prevent Reece from saving Lara.When they "land" from their time traveling, they seem to "occupy" bodies of others. In the Viking incarnation, Reece is Eirik, the head Viking who lead his men to pillage a village and take the women. Lara seems to be the women that Eirik was taking - Helga. Whenever anyone else is around, Reece and Lara can only utter names and words that those around them understand, in their native language or Norse. But both Reece and Lara can see each other and hold their own conversations in private. It seems that whenever emotion is really high, the host can fight for control and gain it. But in the meantime, Lara and Reece have control - except that their hosts experience what they do, but not necessarily everything they say or think privately. Quite the set up!Reece is adamant that they not change history. And, per Quantum Leap, the two have to figure out what they're supposed to do - not to move on, but to help the couple along and prevent any major changes in history. Which seems to be about helping the couple learn about each others' emotions and have good sex. Go figure.There's a lot that we don't know, but only get hints of. And the book ends on a cliff-hanger - the 3rd leap. (The 2nd leap is into middle England and knights, maidens, and tourments.)It's a clever idea, but not all that well-written. More like a few hot scenes that have a story written around them to justify putting this together as a book.But it's intriguing... enough to make you want to find out what happens next. So, despite these books not sounding or feeling at all like the Olivia Cunning books that I know, and despite not being all that well-written or well-rounded, I find myself reading the next one in t the series.