If Only in My Dreams

In Markham's latest winning romance, rising actress Clara McCallum has just landed the part of her dreams, starring in a WWII film as a woman in love with a doomed soldier named Jed Landry. Unfortunately, the 29-year-old thespian has also just been diagnosed with breast cancer, sending her into a spiral of regret and melancholy. While filming, she finds herself magically transported back in time to 1941, scant days before Pearl Harbor, where she meets the real-life Landry on whom her character's love interest is based. Naturally, she feels an instantaneous connection to him. Fleeing back to modern New York, McCallum realizes the depths of her feelings for Landry and must reconcile her need for modern cancer treatments against her need for Landry—and to save him from his fated death at Normandy. The fantastic setup is balanced with convincing period details and strong characters, and the story's conclusion is unexpectedly real and refreshing. Though it's a Christmas novel, Markham happily refrains from over-using the holiday's bells and whistles, making this a subtle, effective and enjoyable entry into the growing field of time-travel romance. (Dec.)