Sunday 14 September 2014

Review~ To Be Yours Forever by Elliot Richard Dorfman

To Be Yours Forever
Elliot Richard Dorfman
 
 
 
BLURB
Since a child, drama teacher Norma Feinstein, has been infatuated with the 1940s after seeing a musical film made during that era. Her life begins to fall apart when at twenty-three years old she discovers she has the ability to travel back in time. To her shock, Norma learns she was Kathryn Murrow, the budding Hollywood star of “Sky’s The Limit”, the film which began her fascination with the past.
Unable to deal with the pressures of living two lives, one in the present time and one in the 1940’s,
Norma seeks help from Dr. Darryl Costner, an eminent psychiatrist interested in reincarnation. Darryl
becomes worried that Norma will negatively affect the time continuum when he learns she wants to
save her former fiancé Trent Taylor, crooner, and costar of “Sky’s The Limit,” from a so-called accidental death.
With this case becoming too complex for him to handle, Costner gets his friend, Shawn Nolan, a scientist from a governmental agency that has discovered how to time travel, to help him with Norma. Assisted by Gary Hertzman, Costner’s young associate, Shawn takes Norma to his secret lab in Arizona where
he searches to find a way to prevent Norma from saving her former lover from sixty-six years ago. If he fails in his task, the very future of the country could be extremely bleak. Will he succeed? The story’s conclusion will captivate the readers of this multilevel novel full of suspense, surprises, and twists.
 
 
Review
Reviewed by: Sharon_M745
Ratings:3 Stars
 
I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This is the story of Norma Feinstein a young drama teacher. She spends time researching and enjoying memorabilia of the 1940s. In her early twenties Norma discovers she has the ability to time travel back to 40s and from her travels she realizes she is the reincarnation of a young actress of that era Kathryn.
She travels back to her former life so often that it worries her parents and her boyfriend. Her loved
ones look for psychiatric help for her in the hope that this infatuation with the past will go away and
allow Norma to have a normal life.I had a hard time getting into this story. I liked the concept of the book but it didn’t come together for me.
 
What I liked about the book.
 
I loved the trips back to 1940 Hollywood. The 40s was big movie moguls who could make and break
careers easily. I loved seeing this through Kathryn’s eyes. The book during this era was very believable and I often forgot that Norma was transported to this earlier time—she really became Kathryn. I like the main characters. Norma is a strong woman even though so many events are working against her. I like Gavin, Norma’s love interest in the present. He has a dark past but he stands by Norma and loves her and is patient with her. Norma’s mother, Mildred, is a little strange but interesting. She pushes Norma because she want to see her happy. We know there is something to learn about Mildred that makes her the way she is.
 
What I didn’t like.
I hate the government agency and the men that work for that agency who come to “help” Norma. The
characters weren’t believable. I don’t like them at all. I don’t like how they are introduced, how they
interact with Norma, nothing. I suspect they aren’t meant to be liked but they didn’t even appeal to me as decent villains.
 
About 50% of the way through the book it started to drag. I had to force myself to read the next
paragraph. I’m sure some of this had to do with the DARPA (government) group but I just didn’t care
what happened next. That was a shame because there was potential.
I read some time travel books that were interesting and pulled me into the world the author created.
There is a lot of potential to do that with this story but it just didn’t happen. In my opinion, this book
might have a stronger appeal to a younger audience. I can see teens getting past some of the things I
don’t like and enjoying the story more.
 
EXCERPT
A crowd of people gathered in front of a well-maintained cottage on a corner near Main Street. They
gawked as a disheveled young woman kept turning round and round senselessly while mumbling
something incoherently. Finally, a police car arrived. “Get away from me,” the woman screamed wildly when the two police officers tried to approach her. The police immediately phoned in for an ambulance.
When it arrived, the medics spoke cautiously to her. The woman quieted down and stared at them
in utter confusion. For her protection, she was carefully strapped to a stretcher and then taken to a
nearby hospital for an examination and observation. It was the spring of 1996. Word quickly spread
throughout Northington—a small picturesque town in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains of
Upstate New York—that Norma Feinstein, the popular young Drama teacher at Andrew Jackson high
school, had a nervous breakdown. Intelligent, pretty, and talented, she was the only child of Ken and
Mildred Feinstein. The Feinsteins were the richest family in town. Many jumped to the conclusion
that Norma’s breakdown was the result of becoming too high strung, most likely stemming from her
“artistic” temperament and over active imagination. If you had refuted them and tried explaining her
breakdown was the result of not being able to handle the uncanny ability of traveling back and forth
from her present life to one of forty-eight years ago, they would have laughed in your face and called
you a weirdo. Yet, who could really blame them for reacting like that? After all, our vain species finds it difficult to accept that we have such little understanding about the universe or life itself.
 
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Elliot Richard Dorfman taught theatre arts, broadcasting, music, and social studies in the New York
City School System for more than three decades - as well as teaching private vocal and piano lessons
from the time he was seventeen years old. Elliot founded Suma Play Productions, Inc., and was the
artistic director of the American Youth & American Theatre Repertory Companies. Many of his former students have become successful actors, singers, writers, producers, directors, and teachers in various entertainment fields.
Mr. Dorfman is a former member of the NY Dramatist Guild. He has appeared on and has written for
radio and television. His dramatic and musical plays have been performed professionally, at schools,
community centers, and camps.
After retiring and moving from the city to Upstate New York, Elliot began focusing on writing. Since
then, 120 short stories have appeared in 32 publications and several poems in 4 magazines. In 2008,
the readers of Golden Visions Magazine voted Elliot as their favorite author. His novels include CHOSEN ABOVE ALL OTHERS, released by WORLD CASTLE Publishing (2013), and TO BE YOURS FOREVER, released by BEAU COUP PUBLICATIONS ( 2014). A RAINBOW FOR TOMORROW, a sequel to this novel, will follow.
 
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