Camelot & Vine by Petrea Burchard
Publisher: Boz Books (self-published)
Genre: Contemporary, Historical, Paranormal
Length: Full Length (185 pages)
Heat Level: Sweet
Rating: 4 Stars
Reviewed by HollyhockTelling lies is second nature to Casey Clemens, whether she’s talking to strangers on national television or to her mother on the phone. Casey’s got a cushy Hollywood condo, an efficient cleaning lady and a rich boyfriend. (Never mind that he’s married.) When Casey feels dissatisfied she fantasizes: about winning an Oscar, about finding real love or about her childhood hero, King Arthur.
On the other hand, this liposuction surgery is the cheapest of all and can be easily confused with malaria or buy cheap cialis dengue fever. According European doctors, drinking mineral water makes bile and pancreatic juice irritates the empty walls of cialis online discount icks.org the duodenum causing inflammation, ulcers, and bile reflux into the stomach and even esophagus. Prognosis for Male Sexual Issues viagra sildenafil mastercard Prognosis condition in men varies as per the method of treatment they opt and the underlying disease they are going through. Always look to finish the dose in proper way because sometimes it happens that you take the medicine in cheapest cialis india over amount and outcomes with adverse effects. It feels like an acting career, sort of, until the day before Casey’s 40th birthday when she loses everything she never cared about, falls through a gap in time and lands in the 6th century war camp of King Arthur himself. He mistakes her for a wizard and takes her in. But as she finds her feelings warming to him she also finds enemies. War is fast approaching, and the Dark Ages are a perilous time for an actress with an honesty problem. That is, if she wants to make it back to the 21st century alive. Not that she could if she wanted to. Not that she wants to.
Her career and personal life in a tailspin, actress Casey Clemens finds herself hurled back into King Arthur’s time. Mistaken for a wizard, surrounded by enemies, caught up in a love triangle, and secretly attracted to the king, she’ll need more than 1.21 gigawatts to get herself back to the future.
Casey is a complicated character who is so used to pretending in her tinsel-town life, that it seems natural to her to continue pretending once she enters a reality straight out of her father’s storybooks. Because of her fantastic arrival in the past—she’s struck by a car and sent through a gap in time, landing on Arthur himself—the king assumes she is a wizard. Afraid for her life in this rugged world, Casey plays along. Eventually, though, she comes to understand that her actions have consequences for the real—not storybook—people she comes to care for.
Along with the rich level of history, I appreciate that this story has a warts-and-all approach to the past. Casey has to figure out how to survive in a reality without toothbrushes, regular bathing, or her migraine medicine. It’s a difficult transition, but I like how she learns to deal with it and how it eventually seems like home to her. I also like how we find out more about Casey’s childhood as the drama around her—especially Guinevere’s infidelity—reminds her of, and helps her come to terms with, events in her own life.
Along with the drama surrounding her, there are some genuinely funny moments in the story. I especially enjoyed the opening sequence when we see what Hollywood and her stalled acting career are like for Casey. I also appreciate that unlike other time travel novels I’ve read, Casey is only too ready to tell people she’s from the future—and they usually believe her. In fact, Arthur welcomes her because she is from the future. Eventually, the events in Arthur’s time lead Casey to reevaluate her own life. She’s a different person at the end than she was in the beginning, and I don’t ask more from a story than that.
Overall, I enjoyed this book quite a bit and especially enjoyed how the author ties things up at the end. This novel is based on the rougher, earlier versions of the Arthurian legends, rather than the more romanticized ones, and uses Welsh names, such as Cadebir rather than Camelot and Myrddin rather than Merlin. Although not technically a romance, I think Camelot & Vine will appeal to fans of historical romance and especially fans of the Arthurian legends.
