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Unwavering Devotion
A Time for Us is a heartfelt historical romance that follows two love stories across 1947 New York and 1987 North Carolina, asking whether a bond powerful enough to survive prejudice and loss can also survive death. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
The inspiration for A Time for Us began with a real moment in my life. In 1987, I was working the breakfast shift at a fast-food restaurant in Clayton, North Carolina; a married mother of two, living a very routine life where I saw the same faces every day.
Then one morning, a new face appeared. There was an instant, unexplainable familiarity between us. We found ourselves stealing glances, both trying to place where we might know each other from. When he came through my line, we realized we were strangers, but neither of us could shake the feeling that we weren’t.
He was in town temporarily, and for the next several weeks, he came in every day, always choosing my line. Our conversations were light and innocent, but there was an undeniable connection neither of us could explain.
On his last day, he brought me two dozen yellow roses to thank me for making his time in town special. I told him I couldn’t take them home, but I accepted them anyway. Before he left, he looked at me and said, almost in disbelief, “I still feel like I know you… maybe from another lifetime.” I laughed it off at the time, but that moment stayed with me.
I never saw him again. But I kept one of those roses, pressed inside a book of poetry that I still have. And over the years, I found myself wondering… what if that feeling meant something more?
That question became the seed for A Time for Us. The story itself is fiction, but that moment… that unexplainable connection was very real.
How did you approach writing the 1947 romance so that its tenderness and danger would feel equally present?
I’ve always been drawn to historical documentaries, especially those centered around organized crime. That’s where the element of danger in their story was born. The tenderness, though, came from a much more personal place. It was shaped by my imagination and reflects the kind of love I believe in and would want for myself (minus the “forbidden” complications, of course).
What I love most about Mario and Jeannette is that they choose each other again and again, under every circumstance. Even when tragedy should have driven them apart, they hold on tighter. There’s something incredibly powerful about that kind of unwavering devotion.
What drew you to write a love story that is so openly sincere and emotionally heightened rather than restrained?
I write the way I live my life now: from my heart. And I think that’s exactly why it took me over 30 years to finish and publish A Time for Us. For a long time, I lived with a quiet fear of what people might think of me, of my choices, of my voice.
If I had published this story decades ago, it would have been very different. More restrained. More concerned with being palatable… telling a neat, tidy story that didn’t push too far or risk offending anyone.
But the version I ultimately wrote is the one I was always meant to tell. It’s raw. It’s real. It leans fully into emotion without apology. And if that sincerity feels a little too much for some… well, I’m finally at a place where I’m okay with that.
What do you hope readers carry with them after finishing A Time for Us, the romance, the idea of fate, or something else entirely?
More than anything, I hope readers walk away believing in the power of love, not just the idea of it, but the kind of love that endures. The kind that isn’t conditional or convenient, but steady, selfless, and deeply rooted.
Life is going to bring obstacles; we all know that. But when you have real love in your life… not the transactional kind we sometimes settle for, but the kind that says, “I’m here, no matter what”, it gives you the strength to face anything.
If readers close this book feeling like that kind of love is possible… and worth holding onto… then I’ve done what I set out to do.
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In A Time for Us, readers are drawn into the life of Deborah, an African-American woman whose dreams reveal a connection to a previous existence. These dreams lead her to Pauli, a Caucasian man whose presence stirs a deep sense of familiarity within her. As Deborah explores the concept of reincarnation, she uncovers the tumultuous love story of Jeannette, an African-American seamstress from Harlem, and Mario, an Italian man entangled in the dangerous world of organized crime in 1940s New York City.
Deborah’s journey is fraught with peril as she risks everything to uncover the hidden truths surrounding Jeannette and Mario’s lives. Each revelation pulls her deeper into a historical landscape marked by racial tensions and societal constraints, where love defies the boundaries of time and circumstance. The intensity of Jeannette and Mario’s love story resonates with Deborah, forcing her to confront her own feelings and the commitments she has in her current life.
As she navigates the complexities of her dreams and the realities of her present, Deborah finds herself in a profound struggle between the haunting allure of a past love and the fragile ties of her current existence. A Time for Us is a compelling exploration of love’s endurance across time, challenging readers to reflect on the choices that shape their lives and the legacies of love that linger long after the moments have passed.
A Time for Us
A Time for Us is a historical romance with a strong reincarnation thread, and it opens by splitting its heart across two eras. In 1987, Deborah Brown, a married waitress in small-town North Carolina, meets Pauli Giovanni and feels an immediate, unsettling recognition she cannot explain. In 1947 New York, Jeannette James, a Black seamstress with dreams of college and teaching, is drawn into a risky romance with Mario Leonetti, a white man, in a world shaped by open racial tension and real danger. As the novel unfolds, those two love stories begin to mirror each other and point toward a bond that seems to outlive one lifetime.
I liked how earnestly the author writes about recognition, longing, and the strange feeling that some connections arrive already carrying history. The book does not play coy about emotion. It leans into it. Sometimes that gives the story a soap-operatic intensity, but I mean that in a positive way. Author Rachel Anthony clearly wants the reader to feel first and sort things out second, and I found myself going along with that because the central pull between these characters is so immediate. The 1947 sections especially worked for me. Jeannette and Mario’s first meeting in the rain, followed by that mix of charm, caution, and social danger, gives the novel a real spark. Their romance feels warm, but never fully safe, which gives the sweetness some weight.
I also appreciated the author’s ambition. This isn’t just a love story. It’s a love story that wants to ask whether love can survive history, prejudice, memory, and even death. That’s a big reach, and I respected the book for going there without trying to sand down the harder edges. The author’s note makes clear that the novel includes violence, death, self-harm, and racial conflict, and those themes are not decorative here. They’re part of the book’s moral weather. The reincarnation angle could have turned flimsy, but the author treats it with real conviction, and that conviction gives the novel its shape. I think readers will need to be open to heightened dialogue and dramatic turns, because this book doesn’t aim for cool restraint. It aims for sincerity. It wants your heart before your distance can settle in.
A Time for Us will appeal best to readers who enjoy historical romance that is emotional, fate-driven, and a little metaphysical. If you like love stories that cross eras, wrestle with social barriers, and ask you to believe that some people find each other again and again, this will be your kind of book. For anyone who wants a heartfelt, old-fashioned, high-stakes romance with a speculative twist, I think this one has something real to offer.
Pages: 373 | ASIN: B0G4WBV9KB
