TEST
Although A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur’s Court is labeled as a Time Travel Romance, it obviously has Chick Lit elements. While debut author Marianne Mancusi’s writing is quite readable and smooth, the first half of the book is ordinary and lacked the elements of surprise I expect from TT Romance. Worse, in order to forward the plot, the heroine turns TSTL.
Fashion editor Kat is at a medieval fair for her latest writing assignment. A palm reader gives her a dire fortune of tragedy and death. Kat blows off the strange predictions, thinking the palm reader is a “psycho psychic.” She strolls off to a jousting tournament, and as she enjoys watching it, an errant lance whacks her in the head. Kat revives to find some medieval fair actors hovering concernedly over her, except why do their costumes appear less cheesy and more authentic now and why are they tossing her in a tower for spying? Once she realizes that these “Dungeons and Dragons lovers who lost their marbles” didn’t kidnap her for nefarious purposes and Kat really is in England during King Arthur’s reign, she tries desperately to get back to her own time.
This should sound interesting, but it seems rather ordinary and predictable. I could anticipate that Kat would vehemently deny she’s trapped in medieval England, escape Camelot, fall into the hands of dangerous men as a result, and be rescued by the gorgeous knight, Lancelot. It’s connect the dots plotting. I’ve read a fair share of time travel romances, and this book doesn’t compare to the singular The Changeling Bride by Lisa Cach or Teresa Medeiros’ charming Touch of Enchantment.
When Kat inadvertently blurts out that she’s from the future, Lancelot doesn’t seem surprised at all. He explains that his childhood under the Lady of the Lake fostered an open mind for the strange and unusual. He decides to take them to the mysterious woman to find a way to send Kat home. The proposed solution is a time portal, but it won’t be available for ten months. In the meantime, Kat hangs around Camelot and eventually gains the loyal friendship of Lancelot and Guenevere (yes, that’s an alternative spelling).
Also in this time Mancusi skillfully weaves in the various threads of King Arthur’s story and the treacheries perpetuated by Morgan le Fay and Mordred. She shows the mutual love existing between Guenevere and Arthur, and offers a clever explanation to the story that Guenevere was unfaithful to Arthur with Lancelot. Because Mancusi expands the Lady of the Lake’s role for the story’s purpose, unfortunately, she diminishes Merlin’s role to a practically non-speaking one.
Kat is a typical Chick Lit heroine, toiling in a job she loves with a boss who barely acknowledges her existence. Her constant snarkiness at the beginning is intended to portray her as funny and outrageous, but makes her shrill and unlikable instead. Nevertheless, she possesses some common sense, which helps her to cope with medieval life.
Lancelot becomes attracted to Kat for reasons that aren’t quite convincing. For instance, Kat scolds Lancelot for maintaining honor during a vicious fight; he’s not perturbed that she pooh-poohs the import of honor to a medieval knight. Lancelot is very generous-hearted, in addition to being hunky, noble, strong, and honorable. In fact, he greatly resembles the knight Colin from Touch of Enchantment. Lancelot is a great catch; he just doesn’t have any deep layers and the reader never hears his expressed thoughts.
Kat can’t help falling for Lancelot’s sterling traits and wonders if he’s really interested in an embarrassing, smart-mouthed ninny like her. In a moving scene, she vents her angst and insecurities at him. Later, knowing that history foresees that Lancelot falls in love with Guenevere and not with her, she agonizes if he’s truly committed to her. In both of these scenes, Lancelot reassures Kat of his feelings for her in some very sweet and satisfying ways. These are the best parts of the book, and help finally to raise Kat from a cardboard character to one of depth and interest.
My admiration for Kat plummeted when she lost her common sense and IQ points to force a contrived dramatic point in the story. Having supposedly learned her earlier lesson that wandering from the castle without any protection would land her in the clutches of villainous characters, Kat does it again at the end of book with predictably similar results.
Mancusi has a breezy way with words; I just hope her next book features a plot that rises above the ordinary.
Grade: C+
Book Type: Chick Lit|Time Travel Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 29/06/05
Publication Date: 2005
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.