Once Upon a Kiss

Eileen Goudge's Swept Away #6

by Eileen Goudge

Miranda longs for a knight in shining armor until a computer error transfers her and her friend Ashley to Camelot, where they barely escape execution

Genres: Young Adult

Paperback

First published January 1, 1987

About the author

I began writing at the age of eight and wrote my way through the lean years before I found success as New York Times' bestselling author with my first novel GARDEN OF LIES. To date I have published 19 novels and a cookbook. Every life experience I've weathered has found its way into my novels in one form or another: bad exes, births, deaths, divorces, romances, and even true crime. My heroines are like me: tough cookies who don't crumble.

My latest novel, Book One of my Gold Creek series, ALL THEY NEED TO KNOW, is the story of a woman fleeing her abusive ex who finds refuge in a small California mountain town, where she's befriended by a group of women who call themselves The Tattooed Ladies and reinvents herself as a police sketch artist. Kyra "draws lines to stop crimes," as they say in the biz, never imagining she'll one day be forced to confront the biggest criminal of all: her ex.

I'm married to former entertainment reporter Sandy Kenyon and the mother of two grown children. We live in Sacramento, California, where we remodeled a 1940's house for which I was the on-site project manager. Fortunately, multi-tasking is my superpower, so I was able to write a book and supervise a home remodel at the same time. The latter is sure to find its way into a future book. Follow me on Instagram and Facebook to see pics of my home remodel and other adventures.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book #6 of the Swept Away series and it was my favorite of the 6 I've read so far. Well, this is a re-read of the entire series. Maybe I like it so much because it takes place in Camelot in the 6th century and I always love the romance of King Arthur's court. The book is also well-written and I like all the characters.

For background: Ashley, a teen living in Westport, CT, is a whiz with computers (this was written in 1987) and has invented a way, using a fractal of the 4th dimension, which is time, to send herself and her friends back in time. Her computer, Merlin, is hooked up to the library. Each of her friends has gone back to a different time period. There's always a lesson to be learned. And the reader learns some history, too.

In this book, Miranda, who s a new girl in Westport, is always dreaming about finding the perfect chivalrous boyfriend. Her dad is an ancient history aficionado so her mind automatically goes to King Arthur's time period. She is accidentally sent back in time to the court of King Arthur with Ashley accompanying her, where they are immediately throw into the dungeon. But soon they are in King Arthur's Court, where she becomes enamored of Tristan, a young knight. Ignoring Ashley's warning, when she starts to disappear back to her own time period, she's clinging to Tristan and he comes too. At Westport High Tristan is not chivalrous. He's just plain weird. And Miranda realizes that modern boys aren't so bad after all.