Return to Exile by Lynne Gentry

A year in exile has been hard on Cyprian Thascius. Before his exile he was a man of firm faith and belief  so firm he willingly offered his life for his faith, but since returning his faith is unsure. He left behind a wife Lisbeth, a woman who had fallen into his life from far in the future, but upon his return she was gone, returned to her own time.  Cyprian with the help of his late friends dear wife he tries to rally the believers in this trouble time. A few months later his wife comes home to save him and prevent an epidemic, bringing with her their daughter, Maggie. However in the time Lisbeth was gone and his exile lifted Cyprian has married another and she carries his child. Will fate allow these star crossed lovers to be together, or will all end in tragedy?

I liked and didn't like the characters.Cyprian because he terribly failed at the two wives thing. He blatantly ignored Lisbeth most of the time, when by all laws she was his true wife. Ruth was Cyprian's second wife and Lisbeth's closest friend, the fact he was barely home from exile and she married him right a way was a sucky move, but was also a major plot device. The other characters I mostly like some I wish I knew more about, but I'd probably learn quite a bit from reading the first book.

I really loved the time travel aspect of this story. How it is all tied to one point, one cave, one source of water. Also how time passes differently, what was a year and a half in third century Carthage, was almost 6 years in the 21st century. It allowed for Maggie to be born and to be old enough to have a personality, mind and fears of her own. It was slightly weird however when it came to Cyprian meeting his daughter, he could have been a little more shocked at the fact that she was 5 rather than slightly over a year as she would have been if born and raised in Carthage.

All in all I liked this book and the series shows some definite promise. This is the second novel in The Carthage Chronicles however you get enough back story as to not be confused.

I received this book compliments of NetGalley in exchange for my free and honest review.