Review: The Gods Time Forgot

The Gods Time Forgot by Kelsie Sheridan Gonzalez
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.3 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

Why couldn’t she remember her name? 

The Gods Time Forgot had an intriguingly mystery start with leads that had catch your attention flickering chemistry but stagnated too much in the middle and delivered a rushed ending. Told from the leads, Emma/Rua and Finn's point-of-view, readers come into the story as a girl awakes lost in the woods, without her memory. A search party is crowding her and calling her Emma, but she doesn't recognize or feel that name. When the searchers express horror at her standing in a river, without harm, and she flicks water at a man, which in turn burns him, she's frightened into going where they want to lead her. She's brought back to her home and is impressed by the grandeur but still doesn't recognize anything. A portrait on the wall looks exactly like her and we learn she is supposed to be Emma Harrington, the only daughter of a rich tycoon in Gilded Age New York. 

After what they’d just done— after what Badb had made Rua do? How dare she speak of love. Rua let out a sob. 

“I have done this for us,” Badb said, desperate to make Rua believe it. She cupped Rua’s cheek, blood lust swirling in the gold of her eyes. “I will protect you, always.” 

Lies. Rua jerked her head away. 

While Emma goes along with the identity everyone has given her, she starts to have memories of a different place, time, and called Rua. In that place and time, she loved a man called Cú Chulainn (Irish mythology is woven into the story). It's hard for Emma to act proper and she has the looming threat of her mother telling her if she doesn't act right, she'll be sent to an asylum. Her maid, Mara, seems to know what happened in the woods but is cagey about giving Emma any true answers. When the Harrington family arrives in New York City, Emma meets a Lord Donore, Finn, and they are instantly drawn to each other. We don't get much about Finn, except that he's trying to get in with society's elite so that he can gain enough money to support his charitable works. He's in business with one of the top families and is about to propose to their daughter. After the beginning of the story's allure, who is Emma really?, what happened between the time she entered the “hellmouth” and left it?, and what do these memories/dreams mean?, the middle stagnated with Emma/Rua contemplating the same questions over and over without many trickling answers given, and Finn constantly saying he couldn't have anything to do with Rua because it would ruin his reputation and thus money flow. 

She continued walking, flexing her palm, wondering why she could still feel the touch of his hand on her skin. 

As we get a little more from Finn in the latter second half, we learn that he is also having dreams of a different time and place and when Rua and Finn finally confide into each other about their dreams, the story and pace finally leaves the embedded in place of Rua trying to behave to appease her mother and Finn trying not to be drawn to Rua so he can marry rich and high society, and we get movement on the Irish mythology woven in plot. If Morrígan; Macha, Badb, Nemain are names that mean anything to you, then you'll have some knowledge to where the story is heading and if it's all new to you, you'll probably enjoy some of the reveals. I liked the Irish mythology inclusion and general plot idea but it stagnated far too long. I know the middle is supposed to be where Rua and Finn are falling in love but after that initial spark of chemistry, it felt more like words telling me they were made to be together instead of providing the emotion. 

The man was quarrelsome and arrogant, born to be her adversary. But there was something else there, something warm and familiar, and it felt like hers. 

The ending will give you the hows and whys of Emma/Rua and Finn but, for me, left out some dynamic scenes of confrontation and overcoming with key characters (Badb). I don't know, it just felt like the ending was left dangling, even though it was sort of wrapped up. The Irish mythology was a delightful additive but the story's pace stagnated too much for me in the middle.

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