Plague in the Mirror by Deborah Noyes (review)

May's sense of stability shattered when her parents announced their split and demanded that she choose sides. Now May is wondering if the stress is also affecting her sanity when, while vacationing with friends in Italy, she discovers a wormhole that takes her to medieval Florence. There she meets Marco, a handsome painter who sparks her as-of-yet unawakened desire, and Christofana, May's fourteenth-century doppelganger, who is willing to do anything to escape the Black Death that has taken hold of the city. Christofana offers May a deal: change places with her, so May can spend a lifetime with Marco while Christofana takes May's place in modern-day Florence. May's intrigued but she's also aware that risking her life during a historic epidemic to pursue a relationship with a man she barely knows (and with whom she shares no common language) is unwise. There's therefore little suspense regarding May's ultimate fate, as readers will correctly gauge early on that May is too smart to choose romantic love over certain survival—despite the excellent sex she has with Marco. The real appeal here lies with the temperamental and chaotic Christofana; her bitter rage at being born during such a hopeless time is palpable, and the horrors of her world bring May's more insignificant woes into sharp contrast. Laden with atmospheric details and bits of Italian history, this is most likely to find an audience among history buffs and armchair travelers.