The Old Royal

by J.R. McLemore

Anthony Jessup is a daydreamer who works at a dead-end help desk job. His greatest fantasy is to become a famous novelist like his idol, Roger Kurrey. However, Anthony's stories receive more rejections than accolades from editors. When Anthony receives an old Royal typewriter as a birthday gift, he soon learns that the typewriter is more than meets the eye. Armed with the ability to alter the past, Anthony realizes that he can fulfill his dreams. But, to do so comes at a cost. If you could change the past, would you? If so, at what cost?

326 pages, Paperback

First published June 12, 2012

About the author

I recently moved to upstate NY after spending 45 years living in GA. It's been an adjustment to say the least, but I'm enjoying it. I live in an apartment with my wife and couple of cats. I'm a computer programmer by day and a writer only on occasion these days. I have several novels in various stages waiting for me to finish. One day I hope to have them published. In the meantime, I hope people enjoy the few books that've managed to escape my clutches and live out in the world.

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Old Royal, by J.R. McLemore

I received this book as part of a goodread’s giveaway, in exchange I offer an honest review. I am very thankful for the chance to read and review this book.

The Old Royal is about a man named Anthony Jessup. Anthony wants to be a full time writer like his Stephan King-ish idol, Roger Kurry. But Anthony isn’t that great at writing and he knows it, but he continues to persevere. When his girlfriend buys him an Old Royal typewriter from an antique shop, he begins writing his tales on that. He then finds out that the old royal has a special power—it can take him back in time. Villainy ensues.

Yes, you read that right; although by villainy I mean Anthony travels back in time and steals his favorite author’s work before Kurry can publish it. This leads to Anthony getting published and becoming wealthy while Roger Kurry loses his wife, becomes a drunk, and not rich and famous.

The main thing you need to know about this book is that it’s okay . The only thing really special about this book is that the medium of time travel is the typewriter. See, the way it works is you have to write about the time you want to go to. And that’s pretty cool.

Now to the technical stuff. One of the biggest problems I had with this book was the way some of the sentences rambled. There are times where there are theses rambling sentences of useless information written not so much as if the author’s trying to describe the world around us and more like he had a word cap he couldn’t quite reach so he decided to fill the space with white noise. It was tedious and I found myself skipping through paragraphs in hopes of reaching something pertinent. This book has a serious case of telling and not showing.

Although it does get better. I always make an effort to get to the first hundred pages, if a book hasn’t picked up by then I tend to get bored. But this book did pick up by a hundred pages and got to the meat of the story. There were still places were the prose was awkward and oddly formal, but since we were finally “getting to the good part” it got better. And honestly, some of the problems with this book are because of editing, not noticing the incessant use of “however” or the fact that Roger was married to Evelyn and then literally nineteen pages later is married to Elizabeth without any explanation, so I’m inclined to believe it’s a typo.

On another note, Anthony is an asshole. But this is good, because I’m pretty sure that’s on purpose. I mean, the guy steals his favorite author’s life’s work. He’s a jerk to the tenth degree. I also liked Mr. McLemore’s nod to Steve Jobs; that was nice.

All in all, I liked the book. I didn’t love it, but I seldom do really love any books these days. Mr. McLemore wrote a good story, it had its flaws, but I would read him again.

[John Phelps · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really looking forward to reading “The Old Royal” and I was not disappointed. Having spent some of my early years pounding the keys of an old Smith-Corona, I couldn’t wait to see how wanna-be novelist Anthony Jessup makes out with an old Royal picked up at an antique store. He soon learns the secret behind the old typewriter and, as rejection letters for his own sorry attempts at getting published pile up, he decides to use the antique to his advantage. Soon he has put together a scheme to steal the words and wealth of his favorite author. Although the plan works, he can’t ever escape the life he left behind.

I must admit to being a little bit disappointed in the ending. As Anthony’s plan unfolds, various events take place and numerous people enter his life. I felt that somehow, all these things would come back to haunt him. The ending was quite a bit simpler than I would have expected. Still, The Old Royal is a well written and captivating story that grabs your attention from the first page.

[Sabrina Laitinen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this book in a giveaway and couldn't wait to read it! This was such an enjoyable fast paced read! Couldn't put it down and hope to see a sequel! The main character, Anthony, is a writer with chronic writer's block and frankly, just not good enough to get published. When his girlfriend buys him an old Royal typewriter, his life changes as this typewriter has magical qualities - he has to ability to go into the past. After several attempts to get it done right, he goes back in time and plagiarizes his favorite author's works and becomes a successful writer, his dream is fulfilled, but at what cost?!!! Wonderful character development and a surprise ending that ties the whole story together. Totally recommend this read and it is sure to open lots of dialogue for book clubs! What would you do?!!!!