Character Profile

Summary

​A slave boy with the telepathic ability reserved for those in the line of the king. A girl of nobility who disguises herself as an orphan to avoid unwanted romantic advances. Together they seek to reunite a world literally divided in half by darkness and light.

Stats

Genre: Teen (13-16 years) high fantasy with threads of political intrigue and romance.

Series length: Three books, plus prequel trilogy (The Kinsman Chronicles)

Violence: Moderate fantasy violence

Magic/Supernatural: Light to moderate supernatural

Romance: Minimal until the end of book 2; moderate after that. 

Christian/spiritual element: Overt allegorical elements

Recommendation: Excellent for boys or girls who enjoy medieval fantasy and high adventure

You might like this book if you liked... 
The Lord of the Rings, Eragon, or books by Chuck Black.

To Purchase

---

Opening Page: 

a

Waterfall (The River of Time, Book 1)
by Lisa T. Bergren

Gabriella has never spent a summer in Italy like this one.

Remaining means giving up all she's known and loved . . . and leaving means forfeiting what she's come to know--and love itself.
​
Most American teenagers want a vacation in Italy, but the Bentarrini sisters have spent every summer of their lives with their parents, famed Etruscan scholars, among the romantic hills. In Book One of the River of Time series, Gabi and Lia are stuck among the rubble of medieval castles in rural Tuscany on yet another hot, boring, and dusty archeological site . . . until Gabi places her hand atop a handprint in an ancient tomb and finds herself in fourteenth-century Italy. And worse yet, in the middle of a fierce battle between knights of two opposing forces.

And thus she comes to be rescued by the knight-prince Marcello Falassi, who takes her back to his father's castle--a castle Gabi has seen in ruins in another life. Suddenly Gabi's summer in Italy is much, much more interesting. But what do you do when your knight in shining armor lives, literally, in a different world?

---

Opening Page: 

a

Cascade (The River of Time, Book 2)
by Lisa T. Bergren

Mom touched my underdress--a gown made six hundred years before--and her eyes widened as she rubbed the raw silk between thumb and forefinger. She turned and touched Lia's gown. "Where did you get these clothes?"

In Cascade, the second book in the River of Time Series, Gabi knows she's left her heart in the fourteenth century and she persuades Lia to help her to return, even though they know doing so will risk their very lives. When they arrive, weeks have passed and all of Siena longs to celebrate the heroines who turned the tide in the battle against Florence--while the Florentines will go to great lengths to see them dead.

But Marcello patiently awaits, and Gabi must decide if she's willing to leave her family behind for good in order to give her heart to him forever.

---

Opening Page: 

a

Torrent (The River of Time, Book 3)
by Lisa T. Bergren

When Gabi and Lia finally learn to surf the river of time, they realize they must make hard choices about life and love in Torrent, the third and final book in the River of Time series.

Gabi and Lia Betarrini have learned to control their time travel, and they return from medieval Italy to save their father from his tragic death in modern times.

But love calls across the centuries, and the girls are determined to return forever--even though they know the Black Plague is advancing across Europe, claiming the lives of one-third of the population. In the suspenseful conclusion of the River of Time series, every decision is about life . . . and death.

---

Opening Page: 

a

Bourne & Tributary (The River of Time, Book 4)
by Lisa T. Bergren

BOURNE, a novella, picks up right where TORRENT left off...Find out what has happened to men returning from the battle, gravely wounded, to the Betarrinis, fighting for the men they love, and just who is hunting them next...

TRIBUTARY, a novella, picks up a year after BOURNE... Lia struggles to overcome the fear that constant battle has heaped upon her; Gabi and Marcello face an unexpected crisis; and Lord Greco just may be ready to leave the grief and loss of his past behind him, so that he might grab hold of the future...

---

Opening Page: 

a

Deluge (The River of Time, Book 5)
by Lisa T. Bergren

IT'S ONE THING TO BATTLE FOR LIFE...BUT WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN DEATH ITSELF COMES HUNTING?

The Bettarinis and Forellis have found rich fulfillment together in medieval Italia. But after fighting off countless enemies, they now must face the worst foe of all. As the Black Death closes in upon them, threatening everything and everyone they hold dear, Lia and Gabi–and the knights they love–must dig deep within to decide how they might remain safe…and if they need to risk it all in order to truly live as they’re called.