One Perfect Knight

by Judith O'Brien

Madison Avenue advertising executive Julie Gaffney is on th lookout for a good man and a love that will last forever. But heroes are few and far between in New York City, and--after one too many disastrous blind dates--Julie has all but given up. Then, while chaperoning a children's birthday party in a suburban medieval theme restaurant, Julie suddenly falls into a cold faint...and awakens in fabled Camelot, face-to-face with the greatest hero of them all--the legendary Lancelot.

Behind the suit of armor is a man of deep passion and sensuous masculinity, a loyal knight who is about to be ensnared in a web of royal deception that will tarnish his name for all time. Entranced by his azure eyes and mesmerizing voice, Julie realizes she has a mission to fulfill. Only she can divert the tragedy that dooms Camelot...and Lancelot. But in saving the kingdom and the knight she has come to love, Julie puts her own heart in great peril....

Genres: Time Travel, Romance, Arthurian, Adult, Historical, Paranormal Romance, Historical Romance

384 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Writing romance novels has got to be the way to make a living in the world. What other career allows you to send the kids off to school, walk the dog, and vanish into the most fascinating of historical times and places, with the most glorious of men, to escape danger and find everlasting love for the rest of the day?

Like most writers, I knew early on that I wanted to be a writer. Well, almost. Actually, writing was the third choice on my short list of career possibilities, right after Fairy Princess and Prima Ballerina. The first two didn't work out. So after college I moved to New York, where I worked for Seventeen Magazine. Not only had I never really been to New York before, but I believe I was the only editorial assistant in the magazine industry who still wore knee socks. Soon I was promoted to Editor of the "Letters to the Editor" department. Yes, there really IS an editor for the letters to the editor column. But it allowed me to write articles, answer the personal problems of teens (boys and zits were the big topics of concern), and rummage through the back files of the magazine. I found Sylvia Plath's original carbon of a short story she submitted while still in high school. There were articles on up-and-coming talents with names like Judy Holiday, Marlon Brando and Elvis. And very occasionally I was employed as a last-minute makeover subject. That was me looking miserable after getting the "Brideshead Revisited" bob.

Then I lucked into a fabulous job - as a jacket copy writer at a publishing house called Pocket Books. There I first read Jude Deveraux, Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood in manuscript form, and from those I would compose the blurbs for the book covers. It was heaven. I would read straight through my lunch hour, thus accounting for the chicken salad and iced tea on the returned manuscripts. But as much as I loved reading those marvelous stories, what I really wanted to do was to write one. Just one. Just to see what would happen.

Life interfered. I went back into magazines, this time at Self as an editor and writer. I got married, then had my son. I was still on maternity leave, writing general health articles while bouncing a newborn on my knee, that I began to dream once again of writing a romance novel. So that is exactly what I did. And I modestly claim to have written the most horrendous first three chapters of ANY book, in ANY genre, at ANY time in history. Unfortunately, still addled by the turmoil of being a new mom (hey, it's an excuse), I actually sent the wretched chapters to agents and publishers.

The rejections were polite form letters. Dozens of them. I shoved them into a bottom drawer and stuck to articles, becoming a free-lance writer and full-time mom. A few years later I gave romance writing another try. This time I sent it to only one person, Linda Marrow, with whom I had worked at Pocket Books years earlier. I certainly did not expect her to accept the manuscript. But I did hope she would let me know which editor at whatever house just might be interested in my time-travel romance.

Instead, I received a call from Linda three days later, offering me a two book contract.

Now I am a single mom. My son is twelve. I live in Brooklyn. And I'm lucky enough to write romance novels for a living. So please excuse me while I slip into something more comfortable. Such as Civil War Atlanta, or Tudor England, or Georgian Ireland, or....Did I mention how much I love this job?

Reviews

[Arthurianmaiden · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is an arthurian romance about Julie, a New Yorker, who ends up in medieval times during a party at a Medieval restaurant. She meets Lancelot and they, of course, fall in love.

I had many problems with this novel but I have to say that I also have very different opinions for the first part of the novel and the second one and I greatly preferred the second part.

THE FIRST HALF OF THE NOVEL

I didn't like this part very much. While reading it I even decided to give the book one star or zero star.
First of all Julie is presented as a miracolous woman and as "different from others". It's her trait: being different. She is lovely and smiling and nice, and it's such a strange feature among the train of New York; she is one of the youngest and most famous senior executive; she is under thirthy and she is "legendary" in her business because of her brilliant ads; she is the only woman with such a position of power in the advertising industry.
I found all of this a bit irritating as the peak of her presentation is based on telling us how exceptional she is while others around her are not. And the same pattern seems to return when Lancelot says that he can't find a woman because there can be only one woman who is both beautiful and intelligent and able to anticipate a man's needs and because that woman is Guinevere then it's done, no other women in the world like her (and he is not in love with Guinevere). She also accepts quite readily her new life. She simply accepts her new life with joy. It is true that later we find out that she has always believed in Camelot and loved the idea of Camelot, and I admit this helped me a bit to imagine how a modern age person could simply roll along with time traveling, without too many questions. Her characters also gets a little more deepening in the rest of the novel and a possible explanation about why she is so acceptant of Camelot and Lancelot.

Another problem I had with the novel was the rampant sexism.
Let me tell you something else about the sexism of Lancelot and this book. There's a scene where Lancelot brings Julie a gif. Julie had just arrived in Camelot, she doesn't actively believe it's a dream so she actually thinks she is in Camelot, she has been locked into a room by Lancelot for the past few hours. When Lancelot comes in he has something behind his back and when she notices he says: "Aha you are a woman. Only a woman can detect the scent of a gift at twenty paces." And Julie is happy. HAPPY. And even the dress (the gift) is unusual and "it would take a woman with a rare figure to do it justice". A rare figure. In the second part of the novel, Merlin says he can't build women (as in create characters, creation like god in the Bible, as he created Camelot from scrap) because he is too focused on the legs.

But the part where I truly laughed was when the book presented King Arthur. And the Round Table. While the knights sit at the round table, which is round, Arthur sits on another table. On another table? How is he going to talk with his knight? Some knights will have to get closer to hear him surely, and some others will have to turn in the chairs because their back is to the king. I literally started to laugh and for a moment I was confused about what book I was reading because at the same time I was also starting "The Table of the Less Valued Knights" which is an amazing arthurian parody.

Other little details that confused me and pulled me right out of the novel: Malvern (one of the knight) saying that the queen reacted to Lancelot like a "besotted schoolgirl"... I am quite sure there were no schoolgirls in medieval Camelot; Arthur himself, in his pov, thinks that he could never trust Malvern and everyone in the book seems to 'feel' his darkness, and yet Arthur trusts him enough and trusts him a lot just a couple of pages later. His character also changes when the plot needs it: from weak and useless, someone no one trusts, someone who is full of darkness, then suddenly Arthur trusts him, then everyone considers him harmless, but as soon as he is New York, Lancelot compares him to the great leading figures of the past like Julius Ceaser.

SECOND HALF OF THE BOOKS

In this part, ironically, Lancelot and Julie appear a lot less, leaving more space for other original characters as the rest of the book is placed in New York. This is all about finding out how to return Lancelot to Camelot, why he is quickly aging and getting sick, protecting Excalibur from Malvern, who followed them there, and finding out how the story goes. I truly found the idea original. Merlin created Camelot, he created Arthur and Guinevere and the perfect world of Camelot, how he did a mistake and created Guinevere a bit in love with Lancelot, how he did it over again and again and that's why there are so many different versions. Julia and Lancelot are destined for each others and by the end the popular version of the story goes from "Malvern as the good guy and Lancelot as the villain" to "Malvern as the villain and Lancelot as the hero", so a version we are too more familiar with.
I also quite liked the extra characters even if it seemed a bit weird to have it all so focused on Julie and Lancelot in the first part, differently from the second part.


Said this, I rated this book with a confrontation to other two similar books I've read: "A Fashionista at King Arthur's Court" and "Believe", both romance, the first one about a modern woman falling in love with Lancelot, the second one with a modern woman falling in love with Galahad. I enjoyed them both and knowing what I could have in such a type of romance (chemistry between the characters and a bit more balance between the romance and the adventure) I had to give to "One Perfect Knight" only two stars.

[Paranormal Romance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Surrounded by work and the pressure that comes with it, the heroine dreams of Camelot and of a time with magic and romance and honor. She dreams of Lancelot- the perfect man regardless of the fables that depict him as a adulterer and a villain whos' act of betrayal towards his king caused the fall of the perfect city. While on a trip to Medieval Times with her friends kid, the heroine is suddenly thrust back into the time of Camelot. Even knowing that history doubts the existence of Arthur or the knights of the round table, it's plainly obvious she's living in this world without knowledge on how to return. Upon first meeting, Lancelot believes she's his new squire before realizing that she is in fact a woman. Taking her back to his rooms, he's unsure of what to do with her. She's obviously addled mentally what with her claiming to be from the future, but can't turn her away. He truly in gallant and kind and something about this enchanting creature has him captured. The heroine is surrounded by perfection. The streets are clean and the air smells so beautiful-nothing at all like Manhattan. There is no war, no hunger and everyone is happy . Well at least until one evil soul starts to plant the seeds of doubt. She tries to warn Lancelot of the stories, of the tales spoken of how he'll betray his king and sleep with the queen. He's is furious by such talk and refuses to acknowledge the possibility of such a thing but he doesn't need to. The villain has already turned Arthur against him despite the heroine's warnings. And now, is the middle of the confrontation, the hero and heroine are suddenly thrust forward into the future. There the roles are reversed. The hero is the one who is lost, without purpose, without knowing how to live or survive in such an unhappy and dirty place. The heroine's work, which she takes up immediately upon return, puts the hero on the second shelf. It hurts to have her disregard his fears and uncertainties. He has no money, no knowledge of the stranger world and no way to defend himself as his sword is taken for safe keeping. Plus, the stories have changed from Lancelot the home wrecker to Lancelot the villain, the man responsible for the destruction of Camelot and everything good. Lost, he turns to a homeless shelter, helping those in need, helps him in return. But he doesn't belong in the world, he's rapidly aging and sickening. Soon he will die if he can't return home. The heroine doesn't know how she'll live without him in her life but somehow she must see him returned to Camelot if he's to live at all. This book was bizarre. The first half which is set in Camelot was nice. It was filled with mythology and intrigue. The chemistry between the characters was great and the tension between Lancelot and Arthur was awesome. Then...it's changed. When they were brought forward, it signaled the end of any such courtship between the hero and heroine. Instead, it focused everything on the hero, trying to find his way and to discover a way home. They behaved like roommates for most of the second half and had little to no interaction, let alone passionate moments. I hated the fact that the heroine returned to work and forced the hero to wander the city, alone and searching for purpose. I like the hero as a character but he was rather like a child and I never felt that strength behind him, he was a bit of a push over when it came to maintaining his place in the heroine's life. Just...odd. I can say it was like no other book I've read to date but that doesn't mean it was all that good unfortunately. I say 3 stars to put it in the middle, 50% passing grade but I have no interest in reading it again.

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

While chaperoning a children's birthday party at a medieval theme restaurant, Julie Gaffney suddenly faints while examining a suit of armor. She awakens in Camelot, face-to-face with the legendary Lancelot. Julie soon realizes she has a mission to fulfill. Only she can stop the destruction of Camelot and save Lancelot from the royal deception that will tarnish his name for all time.

While I've liked other time-travel books by this author, I wasn't crazy about this one. I really didn't see any connection between Julie and Lancelot. Don't know how they suddenly fell in love. Camelot was a very over-the-top fairy tale land. I was glad when the story went back to present day NYC. The rest of the book was trying to get Excalibur and Lancelot back to Camelot. Interesting but no real originality. My rating: 2 Stars.

[Stacie Jordan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the typical romance story. This book takes the heroine into the medieval time of Camelot. She discovers the plot against the King and Lancelot. She tries to save Camelot and accidently brings Lancelot and Excalibur back to her home in modern day New York. There is much confusion, and their enemy who had come with them stalks them through New York. The heroine must save her love Lancelot and try to change public opinion on Camelot. They save the day, and end up living happily ever after in Camelot. Overall this was an okay story, but the concept was too far out there to actually ever feasibility happen. This is the reason that people read romances, because they can picture the story happening. If you want a more unique concept on Camelot romance read this book.

[Huda Sarkowi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not exactly what I would consider perfect, but worth my time reading it.

[Katharine Ott · Rating 2 out of 5]

"One Perfect Knight" - written by Judith O'Brien and published in 1998 by Pocket Books. A Camelot story that was not very good.