Title: Royally Courted
Author: C. S. Nolan
Publisher: Toplink Publishing
ISBN-13: 978-1475934311
Pages: 133
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction
Reviewed by: Jason Lolus
Pacific Book Review
Author C. S. Nolan paints a poetic portrayal of an unworldly strong love between two people: one that is not bound by the limits of space and time nor life and death. Nolan’s love story is beautifully written, charming, and far-fetched, as it should be. Cliché to say it, but it is a story attempting to prove (in court, no less) that love conquers all.
The time is the mid-17th century. The winsome Althea, from a noble French family, falls for Matthew MacDonnell, a Scottish sailor and cartographer. It is a storybook, medieval love story. Althea is happy, lovely and giving but her occasional, distant stare suggests a prophetic vision of a burden far off. Likewise, Matthew is impossibly thoughtful and warm but seems to carry some burden as well. They are a perfect romantic couple who seem to intuit that armies of men and time will prevent them from being together. Set against the backdrop of the Reformation, their families are destroyed, seemingly ending their fairytale life.
The time is the modern era. Collette Peters, a recent divorcee, attends jury duty and becomes enamored with one of the attorneys, also named Matthew. Infatuated with the court system, she switches careers, becoming a DNA analyst. She is hired for her expertise in a case Matthew is involved in. Connections between the 17th century Althea and Matthew and the 21st century Collette and Matthew begin to crystallize via intuition, strange phenomena, poetic visions, and dreams. The most interesting bridge between romance and science fiction occurs in this second half of the book. Collette’s residual, genetic memory of 17th Matthew is one thing. Quite another that she physically travels to the 17th century in her dreams, bringing back proof of her journey. This leads to a dramatic and improbable climax in court wherein Collette’s notion of Common Stream of Consciousness or “Forensic Time Travel” offers unique insights into this pan-historical love affair.
This is a pretty clever take on romance in that Nolan suggests that true love not only spiritually survives the deaths of the lovers but is actually encoded in things like DNA. It is metaphysically and physically eternal: like a universal law. This tale is over the top at times but this is a sublime romance about love pure as the driven snow. Romance readers will surely enjoy this book and science fiction readers may appreciate the metaphysical-genetic connections.
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