Heir Apparent

by Sheri Vangen-Ratcliffe

When stonemasons find the decomposed remains of a pregnant, unidentified mistress of King Henry VIII inside a crumbling window seat at Hampton Court Palace, curator and historian Kaitlyn Rose gets the shock of her life.Sparked by the exciting discovery, a chain of events unfolds that sends Kaitlyn's life veering wildly off course. First, she discovers that Colin Wycliffe, her best friend of seven years and the man she loves, isn't who he's claimed to be. Then, when Colin's misogynistic half-brother, Brighton Jones, turns up after a fifteen-year absence, things become even more bizarre. Brighton, an arrogant but brilliant physicist for British Intelligence, dazzles the pair with his latest top-secret project on time teleportation and sets their course spinning into the sixteenth century. After teleporting to the dangerous court of King Henry VIII, Colin and Kaitlyn make a daring attempt to save the twenty-first century monarchy from absolute extinction.Intrigue and sexual blackmail unfold when the scheming King Henry VIII-desperate for a male heir-sets his sights on the beautiful Kaitlyn. Will Kaitlyn provide an heir for King Henry VIII or will her love for Colin keep her faithful?

364 pages, Paperback

First published July 19, 2005

Reviews

[Misfit · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do you remember those campy scifi movies in the 50s that were so bad they were fun to watch? Well, that's pretty much the way I had to look at this book and certainly the only way I finished it (although I don't think the author intended this to be a satirical farce). The basic premise sounded interesting for readers looking for an entertaining time slip of a book - masons working at Hampton Court in 2070 find a woman's body and a letter that leads them to believe that she was Henry VIII's mistress and pregnant. Curator Kaitlyn Rose has issues of her own, as Anne Boleyn's ghost seems to really have it in for her, and she's in love with Colin. Half brothers Colin and Brighton (who have a mysterious past that shocks the you know what out of Kaitlyn) and the aging Queen Mum sends them all back to Henry VIII's court to find the pregnant woman and bring her back to the future so England will have an heir. Once our intrepid time travelers arrive they hook up with Henry and Anne and their court and surprise (!) Henry immediately starts lusting after the beauteous Kaitlyn while the evil brother Brighton schemes to leave his hated brother Colin in the past. OK, now that I've put that down on paper it is sounding a bit silly.

Where to begin on what is wrong with this book when there are so many places to start? First off, this is apparently self-published POD which means no editor. And boy did this book need editing. Typos on almost every page -- you instead of your, now instead of know, you're instead of your, 5:00 shadow and then two pages later it's five o'clock shadow -- get the picture? Now for the setting of London in 2070, outside of a few Jetsonesque like references to 3D TV, I really didn't get much feeling for being decades ahead of our current lifestyle. Worse yet, the way the dialogue was written in an attempt at British accents was way over the top - virtually every sentence had either bloke, bloody or ballocks in it.

Now for the story itself. Two men and a woman traveling alone and walk right into Hampton Court and they're just accepted like that? No one is shocked at unmarried Kaitlyn traveling alone with two men and no chaperon? No lady to attend her? Righto. They're promptly given rooms by Henry and Kaitlyn is given the room of Henry's absent mistress - yet still no lady to attend her. Worse yet, Colin comes and goes and spends the night (!!) in her room and not an eyebrow raised. Want more? How about Anne Boleyn, the Queen of England, running off to the forest to make whoopee with Brighton and nobody notices? I could go on and on but you get the picture.

Now, why is this so campy and hysterically funny? For starters, the emergency kit brought along by Kaitlyn was priceless - "her tried and true pink and blue plaid pajama pants with their matching pink tank top", biscuits, diet cola, chocolate, tampons, anti-bacterial soap and lice killing shampoo (I did not need to read about the other part of her body that needed shampooing). Kaitlyn keeps getting tipsy during the Court entertainments and ends up on Colin's lap (!!), or better yet all the times she's mad about something and in front of the King and Queen she pouts and puts her arms akimbo. Although the flat out hands down winner that had me on the floor laughing was when our intrepid heroine displays her skill in martial arts and karate chops Henry's guards when they attempt to arrest Colin. ROFL. One of my favorite quotes:

"Without hesitation, Henry snapped back into king mode, hastily slipped through the door, sans shirt, with his breeches half opened, barely containing his thwarted..." (I won't use the word but it starts with an "e).

There you have it, a silly plot filled with huge gaping holes that falls apart quickly, poor sentence structure laden with typos and way too many commas along with cartoon cut-out characters all add up to a mess of a book and a serious waste of a tree. If you find it at the used bookstore for a penny (no more) and want a few laughs go for it, otherwise skip this. It doesn't even deserve one star.

[Mary Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Didn't thnk I was going to like this book. However, as the story went on I found myself intriqued about how the story was progressing and how it was going to end. I liked the time travel part into the court of Henry VIII. The ending did not disappoint.

[Heather]

Really fun book on time travel back to the time of Henry VIII.